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Travel operator Tui has ended its sponsorship of Married at First Sight and its Australian spin-off after allegations of rape and sexual misconduct were made by contestants.
The move is in response to an edition of the BBC’s Panorama, which revealed allegations by two anonymous women that they had been raped by their on-screen husbands on the Channel 4 reality show.
A third woman, Shona Manderson, also accused her on screen husband of sexual misconduct. All three men deny the claims.
Married at First Sight is a reality show where single contestants are matched by experts, before “marrying”. The couples meet for the first time on their “wedding day”.
“Following the broadcast of the Panorama programme and discussion with Channel 4, we have taken the decision to end our sponsorship of Married at First Sight,” a spokesperson for Tui UK and Ireland said in a statement on Thursday.
The holiday company also paused its sponsorship of two versions of the reality show on Monday, after the Panorama episode.
A spokesperson from Channel 4 said: “We’d like to thank Tui for being a valued sponsor of the programme. We look forward to discussing future partnerships.”
Channel 4 also said on Thursday its Married at First Sight spin-off show remains in pre-production.
The broadcaster announced the launch of Second Marriage at First Sight in February, which hopes to bring together contestants from the UK and Australian version of the show for a second chance at love.
“Whilst we’re in pre-production, we’ve not yet begun filming on Second Marriage at First Sight,” a spokesperson for Channel 4 said in a statement to the Press Association.
“Any findings from our review will be incorporated into the production.”
Melanie Dawes, chief executive of Ofcom, said the allegations raised “really serious concerns” and that the regulator is willing to tighten guidance around reality shows, if needed.
Appearing on ITV’s Good Morning Britain on Thursday, Dawes faced questions about the responsibility on Ofcom after the allegations aired in the documentary.
“What we always try to avoid is being really specific about ‘you can do this and you can’t do that’, because fundamentally the responsibility is with Channel 4 and its production company, or with ITV or BBC or whoever is producing these shows, to get this right,” she said.
“If they have not got right, this is going to be a serious issue. It’s very live, but it does raise really serious concerns. If we need to tighten our guidance then we absolutely will.”
Channel 4’s chief executive has said she is “deeply sorry” for the distress of female contestants coming forward with allegations of rape and sexual misconduct.
Speaking at the channel’s annual report, Priya Dogra described the accounts as “troubling” and that their “distress is clear”.
“I have watched the programme and heard the women’s accounts, which are very troubling,” she said. “Their distress is clear, and for that I am, of course, deeply sorry.”
She added: “Welfare across all our programmes is hugely important to us, and is a primary concern. However, I’m sure you, you’ll appreciate that Channel 4 cannot investigate the specific allegations against the men – which they have denied – nor can I comment on them in any way.
“We are a broadcaster, not an adjudicator, and allegations of this type are investigated by other bodies, including when complaints are raised by the police.
“I do believe that a handling of concerns raised at the time was appropriate, but as I took up the role only recently, I wanted this looked at again.”
