Married at First Sight UK ‘brides’ say they were raped by onscreen husbands

    Posted by The_Iceman2288

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    1. It’s so bad apparently. The show had welfare controls in place because this was something that all reality TV had to have after Love Island but if this is happening while those controls are in place then it’s abhorrent that this show has continued to be on the air.

    2. Icy-Cockroach4515 on

      > Billed as a “bold social experiment”, Married at First Sight UK – known to many as “MAFS” – sees single people agree to “marry” total strangers, after meeting for the first time at their mock weddings.

      >The marriages are not legally binding, but viewers see the couples go on “honeymoon”, before moving in together and navigating their relationships – all while being filmed, almost every day.

      Could just be me and my non reality show-watching ass but this concept seems so dated it was strange to see a photo from it dated 2023. I genuinely thought the allegations would be about episodes that aired in 2008 or something like that at first.

    3. GremmyGoblin on

      Wouldnt be surprised if this starts a trickle of similar reports from the US version

    4. From an article:

      One bride, named as Lizzie, claimed her ‘husband’ told her off camera that he and his ex had been ‘violent’ towards each other. As she was worried, she told the production company’s (CPL) welfare team.

      Their lawyers told the BBC they spoke with him and he said he had been the victim of violence and when they discussed it with Lizzie, she said she didn’t feel at risk.

      She claims sex soon turned violent and he would bruise her despite that she ‘kept saying stop’.
      “He said that if I told anybody what had happened, that he would get someone to throw acid at me,” Lizzie claimed. The participant says she tried to speak to him off camera but he ‘threw a temper tantrum’ and then later that night attacked her.
      “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,” the MAFS UK bride claimed.

      “But he kept saying, ‘You can’t say no, you’re my wife’. And he just did it anyway.”

      Lizzie described it as ‘penetrative sex’ and was left with ‘fingerprints from where he’d grabbed and forced me’. She added that the next morning, as soon as he had left their apartment she messaged the welfare team.

      Lizzie said she showed her bruises and told them all but the alleged attack itself. CPL’s lawyers told the BBC that she described the bruises as the result of rough, but consensual sex and that the acid-throwing remark was reported as a passing comment, not a threat.

      They added that CPL acted immediately once Lizzie said she felt unsafe.

    5. marvel_yellow on

      I watched this series and it was pretty clear something horrible was going on, consistently, season to season.

      Also, the main judge of the show passed away of cancer this year. I wonder if that was somehow a catalyst to get this all going.

      Edit: meant to say “expert” not “judge”.

    6. contourkitt on

      revolting program and not surprising in the slightest considering when you’re a few episodes deeper into the show they question any participants who choose to opt out of sleeping with the partner they’ve been matched to. the fact that the episodes were still aired despite allegations is horrifying and i feel awful for all the women involved

    7. We really haven’t moved past the misogynistic idea that marriage entitles you to use your partner as a sexual object at all.

    8. organic_sunrise on

      Honestly the casting for MAFS UK and Australia have repeatedly put women in danger for the sake of TV. They cast misogynistic, abusive, manipulative men and let it play out for “drama” for no regard for the women who are partnered with them physical and psychological safety, nor care for the long term effects of being with a said partner can have. I am saddened that these women experienced this but not surprised by it as previous seasons showed the showrunners cared more about drama than anything else

    9. Playful_Secret_2148 on

      This married at first sight show need to be cancelled asap!! If I remember correctly married at first sight USA also had issues. Just a disgusting show.

    10. Having watched some US MAFS, I’m not at all surprised. The conversations about how the women reported that the sex was consentual/they didn’t want to leave… Obviously I’ve never seen the welfare team at work, but there are aired episodes where contestants say they want to leave or they’re uncomfortable with their partner and the “experts” engage in some fucked up manipulation about how much they care about both parties but this is the experiment!!! There will be bumps in the road but you have to work through those in a relationship!!!!!!!! Doesn’t she want to try 🥺 if she really doesn’t want to try then that’s her choice, but didn’t she sign up to try 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺. So if that’s how they treat the contestants in public, I FULLY believe these women came in scared and unsure, and the team talked them into not reporting and saying they didn’t want help and calling it consentual.

    11. HerRoyalRedness on

      *Processing img ybiyfu7snx1h1…*

      The show initially claimed that women lied but now that the allegations are public they are pretending to care about the victims.

    12. This was the most toxic show on television even before knowing about the sexual assault problems. Absolutely disgusting and complete lack of care towards the women on the show.

    13. Puzzleheaded-Ad-1754 on

      Ughhh, this is why dating is important for WOMEN! Of course getting married at first sight is dangerous.

    14. FictionalTrope on

      I don’t see how any decent men would even agree to be on this show. It seems like it’s custom built to facilitate predatory and coercive situations.

    15. _bibliofille on

      NoTaLLmEn, he bellows. No, not all men but so many men that you never know which man, and rather than men calling out men for their shitty rape culture y’all want to admonish women for doing it.

    16. No-Manager2584 on

      I find these social experiment reality shows extremely disturbing. The success rate is incredibly low. People go on for their 5 minutes of fame and then shill laxatives on Instagram until they fade away.

      So dystopian.

    17. I remember one series where a woman had the ick for the man, and really was not into him. But the amount of pressure the “experts” and all the other men put her under to stay with him made me so uncomfortable. It was all “he’s such a good guy”, you should give him a chance. So she did and even when she told the experts she needed to drink wine before sleeping with him they still didn’t just call it a day, they still made her feel like he deserved to be with her because he was a “nice guy”. I still think about how horribly they treated her.

    18. Original_Bite6555 on

      So they don’t have these people (men) screened and psychologically evaluated before allowing them on this show and pairing them up with strangers. Between this, the Bachelor and AMNT, reality show contestants are really risking their safety being on these shows.