To not be surprised sbout alleged rape claims on MAFS

[Tuxedomaddness]

It was always going to happen wasn't it?
Young fame seekers putting themselves in very vulnerable positions.

I've never watched it apart from the odd clip here and there. Programmes like this feel uncomfortable to me. It doesn't matter how many checks a production team do, unless someone has been caught and convicted for something, you don't know who you're being paired with. And this situation proves that point.
(I don't feel comfortable with Virgin Island either. These sort of programmes need to stop being produced).

Jesus, I'd never heard about that!

I wish we could go back to a time when the vast majority of TV shows were scripted dramas of a decent quality, and no one would have dreamed of putting this crass, trashy, and downright dangerous stuff out, but that ship seems to have well and truly sailed. I honestly despair of what we've become sometimes.

It was Danish, sorry.
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/4282164-Anyone-remember-that-Danish-TV-show-pairing-children-with-naked-adults

I don’t understand how people obviously ‘loved’ the show and watched it regularly but felt ‘deeply uncomfortable’ at significant sections of it? The whole premise is fucking ripe for exploitation isn’t it? Isn’t that the point?

What we choose to call entertainment, increasingly relies on watching people squirm, be humiliated, fail at ‘tasks’, be pushed beyond their comfort zones, get their comeuppance if they’re particularly irritating. TV is turning itself inside out trying to come up with more formulaic nonsense that they can funnel a gullible, fame-hungry bunch of (usually) young wannabes into, for our entertainment.

Ditto all the shows that attempt to be ‘therapeutic’ such as the one about Virgins. People are watching out of ghoulishness and are squirming at other people’s discomfort and awkwardness. And shows like the ones trying out ‘swinging’ for the first time - on camera??! Hire a big Airbnb, fill it with ‘professional OF content producers (iow sex workers) and then get couples - one half of which will look like a rabbit caught in headlights - to ‘explore’ their boundaries. While we watch.

I hope this makes TV Executives have a massive rethink about this type of programming.

It’s unsurprising but I don’t think producers have failed the participants. They went on knowingly and continued filming a TV show, lying to the welfare team.

These women wanted to be on TV more than they wanted to feel safe.

And in another unsurprising turn, MAFS originated in Denmark. Who are these Danish producers determined to monetise voyeurism and discomfort?

The series is based on a Danish series titled Gift ved første blik[1] that first aired on September 4, 2013, on DR3. The original Danish series format has been sold to broadcasters throughout the world.

MAFS never used to be like this though.
The original season or 2 were very much documentary experiment style. Genuine people looking for love. Not reality tv. Then all of a sudden the turned it into reality tv drama with desperate wannabe influences and instigated all the drama with the dinner parties. They cottoned on to the trend that gets the most viewers.
the original was okay and an experiment about compatibility and match making. Seemed genuine. Turned into a right mess.

I haven’t seen the panorama one yet but I think that Shona was really well looked after by the experts when things went bad with Brad, they called him out and named exactly what he was doing and how unhealthy it was. I’m not sure what else she expected from them- calling the police? She also met her nice current boyfriend on the show afterwards, she had way more duty of care than if she’d met Brad naturally

Absolutely this. Marriage should be taken seriously.

I'm not surprised. I question what would actually be done about it though. Everyone knows these shows are full of clout chasers chasing clout and there's been a few times accusations of abuse have been made and been proven false and when the allegations have been proven true nothing seems to be done about it either.

I think these kinds of shows just should ot exist in the first place. The potential for abuse and exploitation is just too inherently high in these formats, and is it really worth the risk for some cheap entertainment?

I have never watched the show or found it remotely of interest. Cringe-worthy at best, hugely exploitative at worst. But, the fact that so many people, including on this thread, watched it suggests that there is a market for it - which is what the producers/actors/contestants (vulnerable/abusive/red flagged-men) are responding to and making money from. Perhaps if all of us just had standards for what we would watch the world of reality TV of this sort would die a natural death??

I agree, they're fake AF and not even entertaining.

Revolting show, and although I know they don't actually get married, calling it married at first sight makes a laughing stock of the sanctity of marriage. Intimacy between two people should be a private matter, not one for public consumption. We are being forced into voyeurism - although only if one watches these execrable shows.

What has being young and being a fame seeker as you put it op got to do with them being sexually assaulted/raped

The perpetrator is fully responsible for his actions

in 2026 we still have these attitudes and this is why so many women will not report being raped or sexually assaulted

I've felt sorry for Steven throughout. He clearly wasn't the least bit attracted to his partner from the start, but was almost psychologically tortured and coerced into staying week after week.

I do wonder if that's why the older couples (of which there's always one) seem to leave very early on. They are mature and have enough life experience to look at each other and go 'nah, not for me... bye'. They are harder for the 'experts' to manipulate into staying.

Being young and a fame seeker has EVERYTHING to do with it. All the contestants use it as a launch pad for an 'influencer' career.
They agree to tge risks of living alone with a total stranger because they want the 'media attentiion'.
They put fame before risk. Nothing is risk free.
An element of balanced risk assessment for their.own safety goes out of the window because the 'celeb culture' sways common sense.

While there are many issues with the celeb culture these woman were on a tv programme that has a professional production team

the reason they were raped/sexually assaulted was becusae a man choose to do this

many times a woman will be in a vulnerable position, either through choice of not but the only blame solely is on the perptrator

why are we once again questioning what the women were doing, its another line of well she was wearing a short skirt she obviously wanted attention

I do agree, but we do have to try to minimise our risk. I tell my adult and nearly adult children to stay with friends on nights out, don’t walk home alone, use well lit routes, meet new people in public places, call us for an lift etc. This doesn’t mean I think it’s their fault if someone attacks them at all, but we know there are bad people out there and so it’s sensible to minimise the risks.

The perpetrators are always the ones responsible though. No question.

I liked the original series, but completely switched off when they changed the format. We watched a couple of the Aus series, and at first the more extreme elements of the series we're much more toned down, but we still didn't like it.

And the annoying thing is that I have ended up a bit socially excluded at times because of it. Can't join in chats at work or with existing friends. Just like when I wouldn't watch Big Brother in high school because I didn't like how people were manipulated.

Definitely this! I remember watching the first couple of series as a local girl took part. Haven’t watched it since it became a shit show.

Eugh

Speak for yourself

The whole set up leads towards psychologically co-erced sex. It’s grooming.

I like dating naked.