The Dark Side of Married at First Sight review – there are enough grim details here to make 1,000 exposés | TV & radio

Well. My goodness. Predictions of rape and rape have come from a reality show built around strangers “marrying” at first sight, then living together in the hope that “marriage” will happen – and if not, they will be asked by a group of “experts” why not. All this, and under the pressures of photography and the medium and the insatiable appetite for emotional drama and conflict, including organized events such as social dinner parties to encourage any grievances to burn on top of it? The only possible surprise here, of course, is that this has never happened.

Panorama’s latest exposé, The Dark Side of Married at First Sight, is presented by Noor Nanji, who has previously explored the diversity of sexism and sexuality behind BBC hits Strictly Come Dancing and MasterChef. This time, the focus is on the claims of three former “women” who appeared on the most popular show of Channel 4 (series 10 and – at least so far – counting), known by fans as MAFS, or MAFS UK to distinguish it from the international documentaries that have been running since the original Danish version in 2013.

Lizzie and Chloe – not their real names, and the actors are used to express the voices of women in half an hour broadcast – say that they were raped by their husbands on the screen, and Shona Manderson, who speaks in front of them, said that they were subjected to sex without consent. Both men deny the allegations.

Lizzie describes how soon after their “marriage”, her husband on the screen began to show anger. After they started sleeping together, she says, the sex turned violent, leaving her with bruises. It is said that he told her that if she told anyone about the matter “they will find someone to throw acid on me” and then – “You can’t say no, you are my wife” – he raped her.

It is said that despite informing the producers of the programme, CPL Productions, about the acid attack and his bruises, the filming went ahead and the show was aired. After it aired, “I was shocked … I started speaking out,” and told CPL that she had been sexually assaulted. Channel 4 has been informed but says: “It would not be wrong to assess the situation today and the decisions of Channel 4 and CPL based on what they did not have at the time.”

Chloe told a similar story. “I refused. He laughed at me, moved my leg, climbed on top of me and started having sex with me… I didn’t want him to be angry with me when the cameras came. I just lay down and looked out the window.” He says he was angry with her for not yelling at her and kicking her when she didn’t want to. “You make me feel like an adulterer!”

There is enough in a half-hour program to burn a hundred, a thousand articles. And before that, before you begin to respond to the answers that are increasing: that the women’s “failure” to report the crime to the police means that they are liars in order to get compensation, that going on a reality show means that you are an attention seeker who has found another way to want (or that you, in some way, deserve everything you have), that someone will take action, and they mean nothing. the social and political aspects of sexuality today.

The program is very sensitive to time – when did the CPL and Channel 4 know what was wrong, when the recording or broadcasting should be stopped – and what responsibility of care is given by the commissioners and the producers to the contributors. Surely, this is what will worry the people who are doing this external evaluation being medical treatment which was filed last month and lawyers are no doubt circling the companies and individuals involved.

For those watching, however, the takeaways may be a little different. Those who are not familiar with the show may be surprised by its concept. The most depressed can remain silent, thinking that pre-exposure screening, health care and psychological support (and the CPL says that its procedures are “important” and “leading in the industry”) can prevent injuries when strangers are gathered, separated from friends and family, they have to take part in a “game” that rides on other players’ instability, and they face great pressures to perform in different ways that they could resist. And all in a country where violence against women and girls by men is so widespread and so widely tolerated that it is invisible and illegal.

If this is the end of MAFS, I will be happy. If not, I won’t be surprised at all.

Panorama: The Dark Side of Married at First Sight aired on BBC One and is available on iPlayer