Channel 4 Cancels ‘Married At First Sight UK’ After Rape Allegations

Channel 4 has canceled Married at First Sight UK (MAFS UK) following two external reviews into welfare on the show that was hit by rape allegations earlier this year.

Despite one review saying “it would be reasonable to continue producing future series,” Channel 4 CEO Priya Dogra said MAFS UK has now “run its course.” Neither the current sixth season, which had been filmed, or spin-off Second Marriage at First Sight, which was due to roll cameras over the summer, will air. The previous five seasons will remain absent from Channel 4’s VoD player, although other versions from around the world are available to watch including Married at First Sight U.S.

“The recommendations are eminently sensible and feasible, but considering their wholesale implementation provoked fundamental questions about the editorial proposition of a show that, I believe, has now run its course over ten years,” said Dogra, who was mere weeks into the job when the MAFS UK scandal erupted. “Channel 4 has always thrived on reinvention and this is a moment to kickstart a new era of creative renewal, using the considerable budget to find the next generation of distinctive and disruptive British television.”

The reviews were commissioned after BBC News published allegations from two women who alleged they were raped by partners they met on the show, while another claimed she was victim of a non-consensual sex act. The three men accused of wrongdoing all deny the accusations. One cast member was arrested on suspicion of rape over the summer.

While Channel 4 said the specific allegations “remain a matter for the relevant authorities,” the first review from legal firm Clyde & Co examined welfare protocols on MAFS UK and whether regulator Ofcom’s code was breached. The second, conducted by ex-BBC One boss Lorraine Heggessey, looked into whether changes should be made to protocols for MAFS UK to strengthen contributor welfare in the future. Separately, Ofcom opened its own investigation in July.

Rules broken around “prohibited substances”

Clyde & Co’s review found Channel 4 and producer CPL Productions had not breached the Ofcom code.

It did, however, “identify a small number of instances in which the show’s established protocols had not been fully applied.”

These, it said, related to contributors breaking the rules around “prohibited substances.” These contributors were given a “first and final warning” rather than “being removed from the progamme,” according to the review.

Clyde & Co, which examined more than 30,000 documents, 20 hours of broadcast and unbroadcast footage and conducted 15 interviews, said CPL and Channel 4 could have “undertaken a more structured longer-term review over multiple series so that any further tightening of processes and procedures could be made in response to a more holistic and long-term assessment.”

Heggessey’s forward-facing review, meanwhile, suggested Channel 4 could make more MAFS UK with various welfare tweaks, although Dogra, who once again said today she is “very sorry for the distress those women have clearly felt,” came to a different view.

Notably, Heggessey said that while “the complexity of the production” requires “significant oversight from Channel 4,” the network’s involvement has “at times led to a lack of objective scrutiny over some production decisions.”

Heggessey’s recommendations included separate bedrooms on couples’ wedding nights and honeymoons before giving them the option to “opt in” to sharing a room, reviewing the frequency with which they are asked about the physical side of their relationship by the production team and reducing the number of couples per series.

Within the couples’ apartments, Heggessey suggested Channel 4 could install CCTV, use individual safe words and panic buttons, and provide lockable ensuite bathrooms.

She also suggested various tweaks to casting including “undertaking psychological testing and profiling of final contributors in person rather than via video call,” alongside considering whether psychological assessments should “take into account current societal trends” like misogyny and attitudes to consent.

As it stands, these recommendations will not be taken up as the show has been axed. Instead, new Channel 4 programs chief David Brindley, who begins in January, will be looking after MAFS UK’s reallocated budget.

“MAFS UK has been enjoyed by millions of viewers, made possible by the willingness of its contributors to embrace the social experiment at the heart of the show and the many talented people involved in its production,” said Dogra. “I am grateful to everyone at Channel 4 and CPL Productions who has worked on the show and want to thank them for their significant efforts to protect the welfare of contributors, something which was recognised in both reviews. I hope our actions – in swiftly commissioning the review and taking clear, decisive steps – demonstrate our commitment to the wellbeing of all contributors and our desire to relentlessly strengthen industry standards.”

A CPL statement said the indie “understands Channel 4’s decision to bring MAFS to an end.” “The independent reviews gave CPL the opportunity to discuss in depth the welfare processes already in place and that the Heggessey review found that ‘the welfare protocols for MAFS UK were extensive, extremely thorough and of a high standard from which other productions in the industry have learnt’,” read the statement. “CPL has always put contributor welfare at the heart of its programme making and will continue to do so. CPL have worked closely with Channel 4 for many years and throughout the review process, and we look forward to working with them again in the future.”

MAFS, which originated in Denmark 13 years ago, remains huge in several territories, with the American, Australian and New Zealand versions all still available on Channel 4’s VoD player. The U.S. version airs on Peacock.

Across a decade, MAFS UK has been a huge hit for Channel 4, moreso when the format was tweaked in 2021 to bring it more in line with other versions like the popular Australian one.

The MAFS UK reviews were at least the third set of external reviews launched by Channel 4 over the past decade, following one into the suicide of true crime producer John Balson and another into the behavior of Escape to the Chateau hosts Dick and Angel Strawbridge. The Balson review found that Channel 4 had acted “reasonably and appropriately” with its duty of care before the producer took his own life. Channel 4 cut ties with the Strawbridges after that review.