Three female participants from one of Channel 4’s most popular shows, Married at First Sight UK (MAFS), have alleged that they were raped or assaulted by their on-screen husbands. And while the incidents they describe are appalling, the sad truth is that – given the prevalence of sexual violence in society, coupled with the powder keg set-up of the show itself – they aren’t especially surprising. 

After all, one in four UK women have been either raped or sexually assaulted; of those who were raped, more than half were assaulted by a current or ex partner. As such, MAFS’s conceit of accelerated intimacy – in which participants are “married” on first meeting, quickly expected to share a bed, before “honeymooning” and eventually living together – could hardly be riskier. The thing is, those sky-high stakes are no accident: on the contrary, they’re precisely what makes the show compelling.

At its core, most........

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