And just like that... MAFS is over

There have been MAFS Australia contestants speak about the effect of the show on their mental health. Some of them
have had their careers ruined and been stalked, their homes vandalised and publicly abused due to their appearance on the show.

The mainstream media cover all of this up because reality TV is the only way they make money. Each season becomes more and more extreme.

I also seem to remember that one of the relationship experts resigns after a few seasons due to ethical concerns.

It is a horrific show that exploits the weaknesses and vulnerabilities of the contestants. I remember saying after one of the recent seasons (the only one I’ve watched) that it’ll take something truly awful to stop the show, such as a rape or suicide.

I hate this show and others like it so much.

On a programme where participants are coerced into intimacy?

ben Elton wrote a brilliant book called dead famous about reality TV manipulation- ahead of its time

Hmm not really throughout. If it was throughout you wouldn’t be getting the comments. That second post for example was shit. Referencing rape allegations and then in the same breath bemoaning the end of ‘good’ reality tv. Terrible tone, so you’re going to get pulled up on it. Again and again, that’s how it works.

Vets supervise abbatoirs because it is their bloody job you idiot.

The role of a vet includes safeguarding the health and safety of the food chain … being a vet isn’t about holding fluffy animals 🙄

MAFs along with Love Island are money making and for entertainment purposes only. Vile programmes.

I think all the contestants have some sort of vulnerability about them. As in they are genuinely desperate for love and affection, or they want to be famous and to be able to have a large social media following so they can quit their day jobs.

A “social media” career isn’t sustainable in the long run.

I really do feel for the contestants that have been violated and sexually abused. They were probably promised all sorts of perks for doing the show but they’re left with trauma and regret. Horrifying.

Completely agree. It's been there in plain sight for a long time.

This!! I don’t watch it but my first thought in any case would be about the women not myself

I know one of the past contestant for MAFS Australia in real life. It is a mock marriage.

That’s the only series I watched and I was so shocked at the general abuse, gaslighting and forced intimacy. It made me feel ill. I couldn’t believe that C4 were getting away with airing it.

No, fake marriages.

I've never watched it, but i did always wonder, were they proper, legal marriages? So any assets became joint assets that then get split in a divorce like owned houses, pensions etc?

Look at us. Would we talking about the show without the drama?

I think the 'experts' (and the production team) will have fully recognised the coercive control for what it was but left it til the last possible moment to intervene, because it made for good telly ('good' in the sense that the MAFSUK audience loves conflict and upset).

There was on here, we were all saying how badly Paul treated her

The women came for fame not for finding love. Fame was linked to remaining on the show even at the cost of their own safety so they would endure sexual abuse. Sex was expected as part of the show. As I said, trash tv.

Everyone involved in the production is implicated, including the three bogus 'experts' – Paul C Brunson, Charlene Douglas and the late Mel Schilling – who frequently encouraged participants to ignore their own instincts and boundaries, putting pressure on them to have sexual contact with the person they'd been paired with even if they made it plain that they definitely didn't want it.

The show itself encouraged an atmosphere of coercion and duress. It's unsurprising that some participants with both hateful attitudes to women and poor impulse control took that cue and committed acts of sexual violence.

I hope the women who have had these awful experiences sue the production company, CPL, and Channel 4.

Totally agree. Absolutely laughable to see the channel 4 execs trotting out how much they care about welfare and all the checks and support they had in place. Maybe you wouldn’t need to ‘worry’ about welfare if you chose to make a programme that didn’t depend on strangers sleeping with each other for entertainment. Just a thought.

Although im really upset by this and feel incredibly sorry for the women... should the police not be investigating this? The panorama said that none of the women claiming to bs raped have gone to the police.

Surely panorama should not publish their claims as though they're fact - this will lead to a massive witch hunt/trial by social media.

Drama is added and suggested to participants to increase views. Nobody wants boring, give me an affair, a fight, flirt with this husband, be confrontational with this wife, … everything is fake, the aim is to increase followers on Insta and a commercial value.

I really don't know how it would be possible to make a show where two people get 'married' and live together as a 'married couple' and it be 100% safe, unless you filmed them 24/7. That seems like the only way that everyone can be protected, and that includes the TV company and 'both' participants.

I remember last series of the Australian one - there was a bride called Jacqui complaining her husband wouldnt have sex with her before he went to the gym. Everyone on the show made fun of this groom for having this reason and it was edited as a punchline. The expert Alessandra told him - "If you don't want to have sex - what about her needs - you could/should have still pleasured her, even if you dont want sex!"

The guy was totally shamed for not wanting to shag her, it was awful and at the time I remember being completely dumb founded over the double standards.

Let's be real, it's probably fair to say that one in every three or four men is coercive, or abusive in some other way, so I'm not in the least bit surprised.

It's awful but I'm pretty sure you could ask five friends and find at least one has been assaulted in a marriage. And there's probably a second that has been but downplays it and excuses it because she's still stuck with him.

The uk has a massive abuse problem.
I guess everywhere does, unfortunately.

The early series seemed really serious, like they genuinely wanted to match compatible people and watch them make a go of it. The people on it were normal people. Subsequent series have just been about attention seekers being matched with other attention seekers, largely to make “good” television. It’s been a car crash for a while and I stopped watching.

Yes I do remember the first couple of series as posters have mentioned. Very normal people, not getting glammed up for dinner parties. No dramatic music, no arguing with other couples or even meeting other strangers, very little drama.

But I guess at the end of the day it could still happen. Moving in together all the same and back then it was a legal marriage, not a pretend one.