Channel 4 CEO Priya Dogra denied “wholly inaccurate” media reports that “Married at First Sight UK” has been canceled following allegations of rape, explaining that “no decision” has been made as the network awaits results of an external review.
“We are a broadcaster, not an adjudicator,” she said at Wednesday’s Channel 4 Annual Report briefing. “It is for other people to look into allegations that the women have made, our job is to look at allegations of a duty of care failure. That’s the distinction between the two.”
All seasons of the dating experiment docuseries were pulled from Channel 4’s streamer, social media accounts and linear lineup on Monday after a “BBC Panorama” investigation included allegations from two female castmembers that they were raped by their trial husbands, while a third woman alleged a non-consensual sex act. The men have denied any wrongdoing.
“I have watched the program and heard the women’s accounts, which are very troubling,” Dogra further stated. “Their distress is clear and for that I am, of course, deeply sorry.”
Dogra, who only took over the role CEO in March, also noted that the episodes were pulled because they “didn’t want to run the risk of stoking speculation that might lead to jigsaw identification of the women.”
“I do believe that our handling of concerns at the time was appropriate but as I only took this role up recently, I wanted this looked at again,” she added. “No decision has been made on the broadcast of ‘MAFS UK’ Series 6. Any decision we do take will be made only after the review has concluded.”
The external review commissioned in April is expected to be completed sometime this summer. The series premiered on Channel 4 in 2015 and ran for five seasons before moving to E4 for five more seasons in 2021.
“At this time, we have not received any criminal reports in relation to this matter. We will be making approaches to the relevant production teams to ensure that anyone they have spoken to is aware of how to report any criminal allegations to police,” a Metropolitan Police spokesperson said on Tuesday. “We continue to encourage anyone who believes they have been a victim of sexual assault, no matter how long ago it happened, to get in touch with us.”
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