And just like that... MAFS is over

[mumofoneAloneandwell]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cp8pz1k4r2lo

It was coming. You dont get good reality TV without people suffering.

This news however is awful. Bloody awful.

Also thread Started here

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/telly_addicts/5531548-mafs-uk-allegations?utm_campaign=thread&utm_medium=share

I was thinking about this today. I think Big Brother set the scene for influencers etc.

People realised they could become rich and famous for showing their lives on screen, reality TV became popular, then the rise of social media meant you didn't need to win a "pick me" contest with Endemol or whoever, and viewers were already conditioned to watch "normal people"

Next thing you know we've got Mr Beast and Andrew Tate...

I’ve not seen the UK MAFS, but given MAFS AUS is absolutely rife for abusive relationships so this comes as no surprise.

Of course.

Which is what C4 should have said. That the allegations must be investigated by the police and C4 will cooperate with the investigation.

Not emphasise that their position was that “allegations were wholly uncorroborated and disputed”.

Essentially sounding like a defence statement.

Have you got them mixed up?

anyway back to original thread… just about to watch this. In some ways this is shocking and in others ways it was so obvious and I will admit to watching it and not realising that

I only watched the original UK format and a few Aus/US episodes.

I was always struck by how many women would say something along the lines of "well, we were intimate straight away, but we're married!".

There's no problem with being intimate straight away or waiting until marriage - but it struck me as odd that they were justifying it by saying that they were married so it was ok to do it.

Makes me wonder if that's a common line they were fed by producers.

No aha but i'm fine with noone agreeing on that one

I remember this, it was almost more presented as seeing if the ‘experts’ got their pairings right. It was not about seeking fame and was more of a look to see if psychology and personality analysis could help find a life partner. I never watched it beyond the first series and I’m glad now!

This show was always about shameful exploitation. I can’t believe anyone is surprised with the outcome.

It has really pissed me off, now I've watched the Panorama, that it has taken these ladies coming forward to start the wheels in motion.
My friend played me some catch up MAFS AUS once and I was genuinely horrified by

• the blatant gaslighting of contestants
• the aggression and violence
• the vile misogyny that seemed to go unremarked and unchecked
• the deliberate pairing of unsuitable couples
• deliberate casting of seriously fucked up, disgusting individuals and the resultant abuse
• the pandering to the 'experts' when they had a 'successful coupling' rate of <0.2% if my maths are correct (Seriously, those 'experts' are a bunch of self -serving souless you know whats).

And apparently this was all fine, just excellent TV,; it's just that now, 3 ladies are threatening C4 and CPL with lawyers and suddenly everyone sees the problem?!

I am pretty sure that if I was an expert psychologist / therapist I would refuse to work on anything like MAFS on ethical grounds.

But then vets supervise abattoirs.

Oh no, I'm so sorry those programmes aren't allowed to be manipulative and exploitative and unable to safeguard people on them from being raped and now you have nothing to watch because apparently your TV only shows shitty reality TV shows

Jesus Christ WTAF is wrong with you.

I’m sure the op will consider me a boring prude but I’m afraid imho these programmes are degenerate shite. They objectify women in a disgusting way and then they act surprised when something like this happens. Just grim.

Do calm down

Ive said throughout the thread that this is awful.

You say that you say this when posting a news article about abuse and rape and the end of reality tv.

then you say Charlie was the abuser when it was proved on camera how Eve was manipulating other contestants against Charlie. Even the contestant that hated Charlie the most due to Eve apologised when confronted with the truth. (Edited to add: was Polly)

im hoping you are on a wind up

We dont agree on eve vs Charlie, which is fine

But I think ive very clearly said that this news is bloody awful!

It does spell the end of mafsuk, likely, or at least the drama of it all, which was what kept ud all hooked - that is a shame. But not the disgusting allegations.

I always thought they deliberately paired misogynistic thuggy men with vulnerable women completely unsuited to having any kind of relationship just to get 'good tv'.

I will admit I have never seen MAFS but I have always been a bit surprised that it was always touted as a "groundbreaking" show.

I can vividly remember the radio station doing two strangers and a wedding back in the 90s complete with obligatory documentary (the bride actually split from the random she married and shacked up with Jeremy Kyle instead, so there's no accounting for taste!). So it wasn't new and had already been done.

That said, obviously I hope everyone who was been abused in the name of "entertainment" is being properly supported.

OMG, ‘Lizzie’ was threatened with acid and raped!

Who in their right mind would go on mafs and expect it to be all nice and romantic . Desperate idiots or wannabes

I think they should ban these shows. It’s unlikely that anyone who isn’t in some way vulnerable is going to participate in something where you marry and therefore have sex with someone you’ve only just met. There’s a clear and obvious risk here.

Yes. I've only watched 1 series fully but there is a weird pre-occupation with getting all the couples to start sleeping together almost immediately. It's so contradictory to sex positive messages about willing consent, respecting a partner's decision to not be intimate etc. And couples who waited or had issues regarding delayed intimacy were looked upon as immediate failures.

I don't see it as any travesty for a reality TV show which served as a vehicle to abuse and rape women to end.

That the women made the production company aware and they did nothing is absolutely deplorable and should be a criminal offence.

Sex positive should mean willing consent but it now means pushing boundaries BC experimenting which means you are achieving personal growth

OMG yes, I was just thinking the same. I've only seen the trailers as I refuse to watch it on principle, but it looks like the epitome of exploitative and just every kind of wrong, however they try to dress it up that they're helping people(!) It really feels like E4 are scraping the barrel with that one.