An investigation by BBC’s current affairs program Panorama has revealed that two women claim they were raped during the filming of Married at First Sight UK, while a third has alleged a non-consensual sex act.
MAFS is a hugely popular franchise in Australia, with equally successful versions all over the world. It’s promoted as a ‘social experiment’ where two strangers are ‘married’.
Shona Manderson was a ‘wife’ on the 2023 UK season and the only one of the three women who is identified. She told the BBC in their investigation, “I don’t think that because you’re going on reality TV, you deserve in any way for things like this to happen to you.”
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Shona Manderson MAFS UK rape allegations
Manderson was matched with Bradley Skelly and the couple began their ‘marriage’ smoothly.
She told the BBC that they had agreed to use the withdrawal method of contraception, but that on one occasion he ejaculated inside her without permission.
“I was shocked, I was confused, we said we weren’t doing that,” Manderson said.
Lawyers for the MAFS UK production company, CPL, said concerned welfare agents spoke to the couple a few days later.
The lawyers also said Skelly told CPL he had been wearing a condom.
CPL and Channel 4 chose to remove the couple from the show soon after. In a statement Skelly denies “any allegations of sexual misconduct.”
About a week after leaving the show, Manderson discovered she was pregnant. “I made the choice to go through with an abortion. It was really hard,” she said.
‘Lizzie’ rape allegations on MAFS UK
The BBC refers to another of the three women women as “Lizzie”. She told them about her ‘husband’ on the condition of anonymity, “He would just explode, he would go into this absolute focused anger,” and that their sex soon turned “violent.”
Claiming he would bruise her during intercourse, she asked him to stop, but he would continue, she said.
Lizzie added, “He said that if I told anybody what had happened, that he would get someone to throw acid at me.”
The threat made her too afraid to speak up at the time, and the situation soon escalated.
“We were in our apartment, on the sofa, and he tried to have sex with me. And I kept saying no, that I didn’t want to do it.
“But he kept saying, ‘You can’t say no, you’re my wife’. And he just did it anyway.
“I just completely froze with fear and I never, ever thought anything could scare me that much.”
Lizzie contacted the CPL welfare team and told them about the violence. They took photos of the bruises, which have been seen by Panorama.
Lawyers for CPL say Lizzie did not tell their client about her partner saying that she “can’t say no” to him, and asserted that “the acid-throwing remark had been reported as a passing comment, not a threat.”
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‘Chloe’ rape allegations on MAFS UK
‘Chloe’, the third women to make allegations, told the BBC that her ‘husband’ uncovered her whilst she slept, “and grabbed my breasts and grabbed my bum.”
“I was saying no, no, stop, stop that, because I’d been asleep.
“He smirked and climbed on top of me, moved my leg… By that time, I’d really given up and I just didn’t want him to be angry at me when the cameras came.
“I just lay there, and I stared out the window.”
When he noticed her stance, he questioned her consent.
“I said, ‘I told you I didn’t want this,'” she told the BBC, “and he got very angry, and was like, ‘You should’ve screamed and shouted. You should’ve pushed me off’.
“You’re making me feel like a rapist.”
Lawyers for CPL said Chloe told the welfare team of the incident, but did not want them to raise the matter with the man.
Response from makers of MAFS UK
In the UK, MAFS is screened on Channel 4, who on Monday said it had removed all episodes from streaming and social platforms, the BBC reports.
After the BBC published its story, Channel 4 told the them that it had commissioned an external review.
Lawyers for CPL said its welfare system is “gold standard”.
The BBC makes note that “None of the women we have spoken to have reported their allegations to the police.”
“It’s not likely that anything will happen,” Chloe told them during the investigation.
In a statement to the BBC on Monday, Channel 4’s chief executive Priya Dogra expressed sympathy to those “who have clearly been distressed after taking part in Married at First Sight“.
Dogra noted that all allegations were disputed, adding that CPL “acted quickly, appropriately, sensitively and with wellbeing front and centre.”
Top image: Shona Manderson has alleged she was raped while filming MAFS UK. Image: Instagram