Aussie MAFS star tells of ‘heartbreaking’ reality as rape claims rock franchise

An Australian star of the hit Married at First Sight franchise has told of a “heartbreaking” reality, as two contestants on the UK version of the show allege they were raped during filming.

Channel 4 – which airs MAFS in the UK – launched an external review and removed all episodes from its streaming service after 2023 bride Shona Manderson was one of three women to make serious allegations in a new Panorama documentary, The Dark Side.

During the programme, Shona alleged she had an abortion and claimed that her on-screen husband Bradley Skelly ejaculated inside her without permission. Bradley categorically denied “any allegations of sexual misconduct” in a statement to the BBC and said he understood Shona had consented to the act in question that night.

Another bride on the UK show – whose identity is not known – claimed she was also raped by her on-screen husband and that she “froze with fear” during the alleged attack . A third, anonymous, woman also made allegations of sexual misconduct against her on-screen husband.

All three women claimed MAFS UK did not do enough to protect them.

Now former MAFS Australia star Katie Johnston – who herself endured a harrowing rape ordeal when she was 20 years old, many years before she appeared on the show, – told Woman’s Day of the “dangerous parts” of reality TV as she gave a brutal assessment of the issues facing contestants during filming.

“The MAFS UK exposé matters because multiple former participants are independently describing the same patterns of manipulation, coercion and emotional harm. That deserves to be taken seriously,” Katie tells Woman’s Day. 

“Just because someone wanted an opportunity or platform doesn’t mean they deserved psychological harm. Those two things are not mutually exclusive. The same things happen in MAFSAU.

“The most heartbreaking part is that many participants don’t fully understand what happened to them until long after filming ends — because survival mode, public backlash and production control make it incredibly difficult to process in real time.”

Katie pointed to how viewers often see emotional reactions on TV without having knowledge of the context in which they were caused.

“What gets edited out can completely change who the audience believes the victim and perpetrator are,” Katie explains.

“One of the most dangerous parts of reality TV is that participants are often psychologically conditioned in real time to distrust their own instincts while trusting the very system orchestrating the environment around them.”  

While Katie explained that those coming forward with allegations faced possible dismissal by audiences who believed contestants “knew what they signed up for”, she disagreed with such a mindset.

“Consenting to reality TV is not consenting to psychological manipulation, emotional coercion or being intentionally placed into harmful dynamics for entertainment,” Katie said.

“People say contestants only go on MAFS for fame, but that completely ignores the way the franchise sells hope. They market love, compatibility and expert matchmaking so convincingly that many participants genuinely believe they could be one of the success stories.

“When viewers say ‘they knew what they were getting into,’ they’re underestimating how powerful manipulation becomes inside controlled environments where production already knows your vulnerabilities, triggers and emotional patterns before filming even starts,” the former reality star says.

“The issue isn’t just toxic participants existing — it’s production knowingly placing certain personalities together because they know conflict, emotional breakdowns and psychological volatility create ratings.

“At some point, it stops being a social experiment and starts becoming an arena where emotional harm is normalised as entertainment.” 

In a statement on May 18, Priya Dogra, Chief Executive of Channel 4 expressed her “sympathy to contributors who have clearly been distressed after taking part in Married at First Sight UK”

“The wellbeing of our contributors is always of paramount importance,” she said. “It would be wholly inappropriate for me to comment on what are very serious allegations made against some MAFS UK contributors. Those allegations – which I understand are disputed by the contributors accused – are not something that Channel 4 is in a position to adjudicate on. We are also mindful of our ongoing duty of care to all contributors, and the need to preserve the anonymity and privacy of all involved. 

“On the claims that Channel 4 may have failed in its duty of care, I believe that when concerns about contributor welfare were raised, and based on the information available at the time, Channel 4 acted quickly, appropriately, sensitively and with wellbeing front and centre,” she added.

“Nevertheless, because we aspire to the highest standards of contributor welfare, I felt strongly as Channel 4’s new CEO that it was right that we look again at how we handled issues raised at the time and ask whether changes should be made to further strengthen contributor welfare.

“That’s why last month I commissioned an external review of contributor welfare on MAFS UK. That review will report to me in the coming months. 

“We take these issues very seriously and are committed to ensuring that we continue to lead the industry in our duty of care for contributors.”