Allegations of rape on ‘Married at First Sight UK’ rattle the reality-TV industry

Allegations of rape and sexual abuse on the British version of the reality show “Married at First Sight” have rattled the industry and led to threats of tighter regulation.

Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.

British broadcaster Channel 4 pulled down every episode of the show, issued an apology and announced an external welfare review this week after two women told the BBC that they were raped by their on-screen husbands, and another woman accused her on-screen husband of sexual misconduct.

The three women, two of whom were not identified in the BBC’s report, all said they had not reported the incidents to the police, though London’s Metropolitan Police force has since urged anyone who may have been a victim of sexual assault to come forward.

The TV format, which originated in the Netherlands and has seen spinoffs across the world including a separately produced U.S. edition, bills itself as a “social experiment” in which strangers matched by the show’s “experts” are immediately married and move in together, documenting the progression of their relationships. The marriages in the British version of the show, which has run for 10 seasons, are not legally binding.

The allegations have provoked a reckoning in Britain, with the show dropped by its lead sponsor. Melanie Dawes, the head of Britain’s broadcast regulator Ofcom, threatened Thursday to tighten rules for reality shows, saying that production companies must “safeguard and protect” participants. She told ITV: “Sometimes we do have these wake-up calls, where as a country we just go, ‘This has gone too far.’ We have to be careful you don’t switch everything off ... but is it being done in a way that protects people?”

This comes after a number of other unscripted reality shows in Britain, from “MasterChef” to “Love Island,” have faced questions over their approach to welfare.

Shows centered on relationships and intimacy in particular “too often do not take their duty of care seriously enough, prioritizing entertainment over the wellbeing of the contestants,” advocacy group Women’s Aid said. Industry insiders have long voiced concerns about the duty-of-care systems in place.

Jo Hemmings, a psychologist who worked on TV shows including “Married at First Sight UK” and “Big Brother,” said there is a conflict in the way welfare teams are often employed by the production companies that make the shows, adding that welfare should be handled independently.

“I’ve always thought it’s a bit of a conflict of interest that they are the ones who are employing me”, she told NBC News, adding that if issues arise that could delay filming, there is no guarantee that production companies will act. Hemmings said at times she has provided much-needed psychological aftercare sessions “for nothing” because production companies wouldn’t agree to fund them.

All three of the women the BBC spoke to said they had raised concerns about some of their on-screen partners’ conduct with the show’s welfare team, alleging the show didn’t do enough to protect them. Lawyers for production company CPL told the broadcaster its “gold standard” welfare teams acted appropriately in all cases.

Farah Nazeer, the chief executive of Women’s Aid, said that independent welfare systems can help “to ease pressure on contestants who may feel like their honesty could put them at a disadvantage” and make a big difference to what reality-TV participants reveal to psychologists. Former “Love Island UK” star and women’s safety advocate Sharon Gaffka also backed calls for a separation between production and welfare, saying the absence of an independent and impartial voice to speak to can have a huge impact on contributors. “I think that disclosure is a little bit harder,” she said, “because you know that they are potentially feeding back what you say to the production team.”

Multiple industry insiders say experience and training play a key role in maintaining thorough safeguarding. Professional psychologists who can recognize harmful situations may not be present on set at all times, Hemmings added, and welfare producers “need to be pretty highly experienced to recognize things when we’re not there.” Gaffka believes independent domestic violence advisers who can spot harmful or coercive behaviors before they manifest should be a “nonnegotiable” part of welfare policies on set.

Some former reality participants say that in a drive to stay relevant, shows like “Married at First Sight” are facing pressure to become more sensationalized with each season and are making changes that encourage conflict.

Nick Thompson, a former “Love Is Blind” participant and a member of the UCAN Foundation, an advocacy group for unscripted cast members, said the personal impact of these shows’ drive for conflict cannot be understated. “It is a pressure cooker environment,” he said. “You’re in a manufactured environment where your entire support structure and system of life is gone,” he added, saying participants are often isolated from their friends and families.

Gaffka describes a similar feeling on “Love Island.” “Your sense of reality doesn’t exist,” she said. “There are things that I did in ‘Love Island’ that I would never have done in real life, because in real life you have your coping mechanisms.”

An ethical model for reality TV free from “manufactured conflict and escalatory drama” might be possible in the future, Thompson said. Asked if any shows were currently getting it right, he added: “I haven’t heard of one.”

CPL did not respond to a request for comment. In a public statement, Channel 4’s chief executive Priya Dogra expressed “sympathy to contributors who have clearly been distressed.” She said that “when concerns about contributor welfare were raised, and based on the information available at the time, Channel 4 acted quickly, appropriately, sensitively and with wellbeing front and centre.”

If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-4673 . The hotline, run by the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN), can put you in contact with your local rape crisis center. You can also access RAINN’s online chat service at https://www.rainn.org/get-help .