{"id":1172329,"date":"2026-08-27T13:41:17","date_gmt":"2026-08-27T13:41:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1172329\/"},"modified":"2026-08-27T13:41:17","modified_gmt":"2026-08-27T13:41:17","slug":"married-at-first-sight-scandal-taken-very-seriously-says-channel-4-exec","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1172329\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Married at First Sight’ Scandal Taken ‘Very Seriously’ Says Channel 4 Exec"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tChannel 4<\/a> is taking the \u201cMarried at First Sight\u201d scandal \u201cvery seriously,\u201d says a senior exec, although she declined to comment on the prospect of the hit reality show being axed for good.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201c\u2018MAFS\u2019 is something that we\u2019re taking very seriously at the channel,\u201d said Kiran Nataraja director of content strategy, speaking at the Edinburgh TV Festival<\/a> during a panel about the network. \u201cWe\u2019ve got two reviews ongoing.\u201d Until those reviews are concluded she said she couldn\u2019t comment on the outcome.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cMarried at First Sight\u201d U.K. \u2014 also known as \u201cMAFS\u201d \u2014 was rocked earlier this year<\/a> after a \u201cPanorama\u201d investigation alleged two contestants were raped and another subjected to a non-consensual sex act on the show, which sees single people \u201cmarry\u201d strangers after being matched by experts.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhen pushed on the fact that losing the show \u2014 one of the Channel\u2019s most popular \u2014 would potentially impact the network\u2019s viewing figures for both linear and on demand, Nataraja replied: \u201cWe\u2019re always looking for big shows, and it\u2019s really important to have a range of shows across the channel slate.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tShaminder Nahal, head of specialist factual at the public service broadcaster, was also questioned about duty of care on shows such as \u201cVirgin Island,\u201d which follows 12 adult virgin as they anticipate having sex for the first time.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThose conversations never end,\u201d Nahal said of contributor welfare. \u201cWe review everything all the time. We\u2019ve got a whole team of experts there. Nobody\u2019s ever unsupervised, and there\u2019s endless conversation about it. But in the end, what you have to remember is that those people who go on the show really want to do something about their issues, and they are very much in control of what steps they take in terms of, you know, will they want to try and have sex, or will they just want to go so far as holding someone\u2019s hand?\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tInevitably, the conversation also turned to streaming competitors, with Alisa Pomeroy, head of documentaries and factual entertainment at Channel 4, suggesting it was a tortoise and hare situation.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe streamers are like the hare, racing ahead with their beautifully marketed, glossy documentaries, often celebby, not always, but really brilliant pieces,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd meanwhile, we have to do something strategically different. We can\u2019t compete over the same territory.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tChannel is still searching for a new director of programs, after Ian Katz said he planned to step down<\/a> from the role in October. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be someone that will be setting the creative editorial vision and direction of the channel, which is what we\u2019re all here for,\u201d said Nataraja. \u201cThe brilliant, brilliant shows. So that feels really exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Channel 4 is taking the \u201cMarried at First Sight\u201d scandal \u201cvery seriously,\u201d says a senior exec, although she…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1172330,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3937],"tags":[411,102997,77,382,16,15],"class_list":["post-1172329","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-channel-4","tag-edinburgh-tv-festival","tag-entertainment","tag-tv","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1172329","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1172329"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1172329\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1172330"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1172329"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1172329"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1172329"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}