The women featured in Panorama said the show did not do enough to protect them.
Lawyers for CPL, the independent production company that makes the UK version of the show, said its welfare system was “gold standard” and industry-leading, and that it acted appropriately in all these cases.
Bryan said it was “a big deal” for Tui to pull out of the Australian edition – sometimes called MAFS Oz – as well as the UK one, because “it’s a hugely popular and lucrative show for Channel 4, especially with younger viewers”.
Channel 4 was aware of some allegations before broadcast, and all the episodes featuring the women had been available on its streaming service.
Speaking on Good Morning Britain on Thursday, Ofcom’s chief executive Dame Melanie Dawes said the media regulator will tighten its guidance around reality shows if necessary.
“What we always try to avoid is being really specific about, ‘You can do this and you can’t do that’, because fundamentally the responsibility is with Channel 4 and its production company, or with ITV or BBC or whoever is producing these shows, to get this right,” she explained.
“If they have not got right, this is going to be a serious issue.
“It’s very live, but it does raise really serious concerns. If we need to tighten our guidance then we absolutely will.”
She continued: “Sometimes we do have these wake-up calls where, as a country, we just go, ‘This has gone too far.'”
On Monday afternoon, Channel 4 said it had removed all episodes from streaming and linear services, alongside MAFS UK social channels.
Channel 4’s CEO said on Wednesday she was “deeply sorry” over women’s distress, saying it was “clear”.
Priya Dogra previously declined to apologise when asked by a reporter following the broadcast of Panorama on Monday, although she did express her “sympathy” for those who had spoken up.
But speaking at a press briefing on Wednesday to mark the release of the network’s annual report, she apologised and said she had found the women’s accounts “very troubling” to watch.