Channel 4 Ends Married at First Sight UK After Review

Channel 4 will end its UK version of Married at First Sight, chief executive Priya Dogra said on November 5, following an external review of welfare arrangements after women alleged sexual assaults during filming. The review did not investigate or decide whether the allegations were true; those matters remain for the relevant authorities. The men accused have denied the claims, and a third woman also accused her on-screen husband of sexual misconduct, which he denied.

A review by law firm Clyde & Co found the broadcaster and production company CPL complied with broadcasting rules and found no overall breach of the code. It identified areas for improvement, including cases in which contestants who broke rules on prohibited substances received warnings rather than being removed. Channel 4 said the review examined more than 30,000 documents and hours of footage.

A separate review by former BBC One controller Lorraine Heggessey said parts of the format could pressure contestants to be physically intimate. It also warned that limited contact with the outside world could leave participants dependent on production and affect their decisions.

Recommendations included separate bedrooms at the start of filming, panic buttons, round-the-clock monitoring of apartments and reconsidering Intimacy Week and Partner Swap Week. Heggessey said future series could be made with changes, but Dogra said implementing the recommendations would substantially alter the programme. She said the format had run its course after ten years, and that the series’ budget would be redirected to new British television. CPL said it understood the decision and maintained that contributor welfare had always been central to its work.