BBC<\/a>, one woman alleged she was raped and threatened with an acid attack by her television husband.<\/p>\nAnother claimed she had reported an alleged rape to Channel 4 and production company CPL Productions before her episodes aired, but they were broadcast anyway.<\/p>\n
A third woman, Shona Manderson, who appeared on the 2023 series, publicly accused her on-screen husband of sexual misconduct.<\/p>\n
All three men were understood to have denied the allegations.<\/p>\n
The allegations prompted Channel 4 to launch an external review, examining the show\u2019s welfare procedures and how complaints were handled.<\/p>\n
While the review found the broadcaster and production company had complied with broadcasting regulations, it identified occasions when welfare procedures were not fully followed.<\/p>\n
A separate investigation, led by former BBC One controller Lorraine Heggessey, raised concerns that elements of the show\u2019s format could place pressure on contestants to be intimate.<\/p>\n
It also found participants could become dependent on production staff and lose touch with reality, potentially affecting their decision-making.<\/p>\n
Recommendations included scrapping Intimacy Week and Partner Swap Week, introducing panic buttons and CCTV in contestants\u2019 apartments, and allowing participants to leave the experiment without their partner\u2019s agreement.<\/p>\n
Channel 4 chief executive Priya Dogra said implementing the recommendations would fundamentally change the show\u2019s format.<\/p>\n
She said the programme had \u201crun its course\u201d after a decade on television.<\/p>\n
Dogra also apologised to the women who came forward, saying she was \u201cvery sorry for the distress those women have clearly felt\u201d.<\/p>\n
The decision means a new season, which was already in production when the review began, will never air.<\/p>\n
A planned spin-off, Second Married At First Sight, has also been scrapped.<\/p>\n
The BBC investigation had already prompted Channel 4 to remove previous episodes from its streaming platform, while a major sponsor withdrew its support.<\/p>\n
The broadcaster stressed the independent reviews did not determine whether the sexual assault allegations were true, with those matters remaining for the relevant authorities.<\/p>\n
The show\u2019s budget will instead be redirected towards developing new television programmes.<\/p>\n
The Australian version of Married At First Sight, which airs on Channel Nine, is a separate production and is not part of Channel 4\u2019s decision.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Married At First Sight UK has been axed from Channel 4 following a series of sexual assault allegations…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":954331,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[521935,469946,382106,521912,521920,521891,25668,521342,378346,499648,521907,521925,377043,521917,521922,376435,429024,521921,521893,521902,521359,402854,18527,64,63,349703,521901,521933,37958,30112,521914,36783,521913,161014,56957,521903,68447,521919,521923,360949,1208,134,385269,521345,521898,521926,521352,438825,521934,22623,521908,491663,521889,521897,2022,37689,521918,178572,108353,386966,521900,9051,521895,408272,389853,500027,6622,8495,521932,20246,1655,521927,27481,521915,247543,13396,248,68816,521931,397033,521892,6671,136930,78742,521911,2349,521906,434,521354,471056,384457,521929,521924,327520,521910,376648,521904,378533,504180,521928,521888,521890,521896,385561,400371,508705,60939,380136,436630,521905,451584,521899,436150,521930,9357,24241,427,521916,521909,521894,22639],"class_list":["post-954330","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-s-agreement","tag-s-budget","tag-s-decision","tag-s-format","tag-s-welfare-procedures","tag-photocall","tag-25668","tag-a-bbc-panorama-investigation","tag-a-decade","tag-a-major-sponsor","tag-a-new-season","tag-a-planned-spin-off","tag-a-review","tag-a-separate-investigation","tag-a-separate-production","tag-a-series","tag-a-third-woman","tag-all-three-men","tag-an-acid-attack","tag-an-alleged-rape","tag-an-external-review","tag-an-independent-review","tag-apartments","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-bride","tag-british-broadcaster-channel-4","tag-broadcasting-regulations","tag-cctv","tag-channel-4","tag-channel-4-chief-executive-priya-dogra","tag-channel-nine","tag-charlene-douglas","tag-complaints","tag-concerns","tag-contestant-welfare","tag-contestants","tag-different-partners","tag-dogra","tag-elements","tag-england","tag-entertainment","tag-first-sight","tag-first-sight-uk","tag-former-bbc-one-controller-lorraine-heggessey","tag-former-contestants","tag-her-episodes","tag-her-on-screen-husband","tag-her-television-husband","tag-husband","tag-intimacy-week","tag-its-course","tag-its-streaming-platform","tag-its-support","tag-london","tag-mafs","tag-mafs-presenters-paul-c-brunson","tag-married","tag-married-at-first-sight","tag-married-at-first-sight-uk","tag-matt-pilmoor-and-shona-manderson","tag-months","tag-new-television-programmes","tag-occasions","tag-one-woman","tag-panic-buttons","tag-part","tag-participants","tag-partner-swap-week","tag-picture","tag-pressure","tag-previous-episodes","tag-production","tag-production-company-cpl-productions","tag-production-staff","tag-rape","tag-reality","tag-recommendations","tag-second-married","tag-september-10","tag-several-sexual-assault-allegations","tag-sexual-assault","tag-sexual-assault-allegations","tag-sexual-misconduct","tag-shona-manderson","tag-show","tag-simon-ackerman-getty-images","tag-television","tag-the-distress","tag-the-2023-series","tag-the-allegations","tag-the-already-filmed-sixth-season","tag-the-australian-version","tag-the-bbc","tag-the-bbc-investigation","tag-the-broadcaster","tag-the-broadcaster-and-production-company","tag-the-decision","tag-the-experiment","tag-the-independent-reviews","tag-the-popular-reality-dating","tag-the-programme","tag-the-recommendations","tag-the-relevant-authorities","tag-the-review","tag-the-sexual-assault-allegations","tag-the-show","tag-the-women","tag-their-decision-making","tag-their-on-screen-husbands","tag-their-partner","tag-those-matters","tag-those-women","tag-three-former-brides","tag-thursday","tag-touch","tag-tv","tag-two-allegations","tag-vue-leicester-square","tag-welfare-procedures","tag-wife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/954330","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=954330"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/954330\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/954331"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=954330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=954330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=954330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}