𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

“I’m delighted and so relieved no-one else will have to go through the same again.”

That’s what one woman – who alleged she was raped on Married at First Sight UK – texted to me, as the news broke that the show was being cancelled.

Another woman, who also says her on-screen husband raped her, was in tears at the news. She told us she felt “great, consuming relief”, but added she was “astounded” it had taken an external review for Channel 4 to finally pull the plug on the show.

Commenting on the review, she said: “Suggesting the programme could reasonably continue with the implementation of a ‘safe word’, ‘panic button’ or ‘lockable bathroom with an extra bolt inside’ is absolute insanity to me.”

The Channel 4 show was plunged into crisis in May this year, after the BBC’s Panorama revealed rape allegations from two female cast members on the show, while a third woman – Shona Manderson, the only woman who was identified – alleged a non-consensual sex act.

The men involved have denied all the allegations against them.

As the news emerged on Thursday morning that Married at First Sight UK – better known as MAFS UK – was being axed, my colleagues and I reached out to the three women who had contributed to our investigation.

None of them had been informed in advance of the decision to cancel the show, they said, although two had contributed to the review.