Britain’s government on Tuesday called for an investigation into claims by two women who said they were raped during production of the popular reality television show “Married at First Sight UK.”
The call for an investigation — directed at the commercial broadcaster Channel 4 — came a day after BBC News reported that two women claimed that they had been raped by their onscreen husbands during the filming of the show, and after a third woman accused her onscreen husband of sexual misconduct.
“These are serious allegations,” the country’s Department for Culture, Media and Sport said in a statement. The department said that the allegations should be referred to the appropriate authorities and urged those involved to cooperate. It said there should be consequences for any criminal behavior.
In a statement, Channel 4 defended protocols meant to protect participants in the show and said the channel took appropriate action in the cases of the three women. The channel also said that after it was made aware of the allegations in April, it started an external review into “contributor welfare.”
CPL, which produces the show for Channel 4, did not respond on Tuesday to a request for comment.
The allegations have reignited an intense debate in Britain about the ethics of reality television, with some arguing that the genre exploits the emotions of participants, damages their mental health and does not do enough to protect them from harm.
“Married at First Sight UK” is a series in which relationship specialists match single strangers, who enter into legally nonbinding mock marriages the same day they meet. The couples spend several weeks together — and having their lives filmed — before deciding whether to continue their relationships.
The show, which has been running for 10 seasons in Britain, is part of a global franchise, with versions in United States, Australia, Denmark and elsewhere. It is one of Channel 4’s most popular series.
One woman who appeared on the show, whose identity BBC News did not reveal, said her onscreen husband raped her and threatened to attack her with acid if she told anyone what happened. Another woman, whom BBC News also did not name, said she informed CPL and Channel 4 after her onscreen partner raped her, but the episodes in which the couple appeared were aired anyway.
BBC News did not reveal the names of the men, but said that lawyers representing them denied the allegations against them.
A third woman, Shona Manderson, who appeared on the show in 2023, accused the man she was paired with, Bradley Skelly, of sexual misconduct. She told BBC News that during consensual sex, he ejaculated inside her, when they had agreed he would not. Mr. Skelly did not respond to a request for comment on Tuesday sent via a social media account, but in a statement to BBC News, he denied Ms. Manderson’s specific claims and any allegations of sexual misconduct. His relationship with Ms. Manderson, he said, “was based on mutual consent, care and affection.”
The women told BBC News that they did not report their allegations to the police. All three women said that the show did not do enough to protect them.
On Monday, Channel 4 said in a statement that it had initiated an external review after the channel was presented with “serious allegations of wrongdoing” against “a small number of past contributors” to the show.
The channel said the show was produced “under some of the most comprehensive and robust welfare protocols in the industry,” including employing background checks and daily welfare check-ins with participants.
In the statement, Priya Dogra, the chief executive of Channel 4, expressed sympathy for those involved, but defended the station.
“I believe 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 well-being front and center,” she said.
Lawyers for CPL, the production company, told BBC News that the systems the company has in place to support the well-being of participants were the “gold standard” for the industry, and said it had acted appropriately in the cases involving the three women.
Channel 4 said on Monday it had removed all episodes of “Married at First Sight UK” from its broadcasts and streaming services “out of an abundance of caution.”
The recent allegations were made years after Ofcom, the government communications regulator in Britain, mandated more protections for participants in television programs after a steady increase in complaints from people taking part in the shows.
The regulations, which were enacted in 2021, also came after two contestants and the original host of the reality show “Love Island” killed themselves between 2018 and 2020, and after a man died after failing a lie-detector test on a British tabloid-style talk show in 2019. Those episodes led to debate in Britain about the human cost of reality television.
Caroline Dinenage, a member of Parliament who leads the Culture, Media and Sport Committee, told BBC Radio 4 on Tuesday that she found the allegations “deeply shocking.” She called for better protections for participants, including after filming ended, and criticized the format of “Married at First Sight,” which she said likely made contestants feel “obliged” to be intimate.
“When you think about it in the cold light of day, it really is quite horrifying, isn’t it?” she said, adding, “There’s lessons to be learned for everybody about how we devise entertainment programs at the expense of people’s lives and ongoing mental health.”
