The Big Question: Is Married At First Sight UK Scripted?

After last night’s explosive episode of Married At First Sight UK, viewers have a lot of questions. What’s going on with Matt Jameson and Daniel McKee ? Is Nikita Jasmine really gone for good? And with all this scandal straight off the bat, is MAFS actually scripted?

That seems to be what everyone is Googling at least, with ‘Is MAFSUK scripted?’ a breakout search term on Google. Honestly, watching the show, you can see why. In last week’s commitment ceremony, the couples were forced to lay all their issues out in a group therapy session with the other couples, and it got… strange.

From Franky Spencer and Marilyse Corrigan’s strange power dynamic – which therapist Mell Schilling picked up on immediately – to Jordan Mundell deciding he would out his affair with Megan Wolfe after watching her berate Bob Voysey, it all felt a little too conveniently dramatic.

But the rumblings of whether MAFS is scripted don’t start and end with MAFS UK, they actually began based off the drama of MAFS Australia. The sister show on the other side of the pond is notorious for manipulation accusations, with a number of contestants claiming the reality show is heavily over-produced.

In fact, after MAFS Australia aired in the UK, contestant Sam Ball went on Instagram to say that not only is the show scripted, but the experts are fed lines through an earpiece in each commitment ceremony.

‘[The producers] tell you what to say, they stand there and ask you questions until you give them the answer they want,’ he said. ‘The Ines shit, I did what I was asked to do with all of that, I didn’t really care… I’ve acted before and it was a job for me. I was paid to be on the show just like everyone else.

‘The experts at the dinner parties and commitment ceremonies, they don’t talk to you they’re getting told things through an earpiece,’ Sam continued. ‘You can hear what’s getting said to them through an earpiece and they just regurgitate it out to you, so they’re just actors.’

Numerous other contestants on MAFS Australia have also alleged that the show is scripted, including Dean Wells and Davina Rankin, with Nasser Sultan also backing up Sam’s accusation. ‘[The experts] come in, get their hair and makeup done and then they’re fed everything through their ear pieces. They don’t actually interact with us at all, only a hello in the hallways,’ he told WHO magazine.

Mishel Karen, another contestant on MAFS Australia, even alleged that fellow contestants are given ear pieces, saying that Elizabeth Sobinoff – who notoriously returned to MAFS Australia in 2020 after a failed marriage in 2018 – was ‘wearing an earpiece for the first week’. ‘We were just so suss because of the way she wore her hair,’ Mishel said on News AU’s Not Here To Make Friends podcast. ‘She never wears her hair over that ear. Then when you see her on the commitment ceremony, again it’s like that.’

In fact, in a series of editing blunders on MAFS Australia, expert John Aiken can actually be seen wearing an earpiece during a commitment ceremony. Production company Endemol Australia have never commented on allegations of contestant manipulation or whether the show is scripted, despite numerous attempts by reporters to get a comment.

Of course, that’s the vital difference between MAFS Australia and MAFS UK: the shows are produced by two different companies. Airing on Channel 4, MAFS UK is produced by CPL productions – and both they and Channel 4 have been much more open to giving comments on what goes on behind the scenes.

Is MAFS UK scripted?

But what did they have to say when we reached out? Well, a spokesperson for Channel 4 declined to comment. However, it is understood that their position is that it is an unscripted reality series, with its three experienced experts meeting with the couples at the weekly commitment ceremonies for discussion and relationship analysis. So, there you have it. No script to be seen here.

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