We’re coming to the end of yet another series of Married at First Sight UK, and much like the ones that have come before, this series has had it’s fair share of drama. From husband swapping to a meltdown in a cat café, across the series we have seen some interesting moments, however viewers have lodged hundreds of complaints with Ofcom following a particularly contentious episode aired on E4.
The broadcasting watchdog’s weekly report revealed that 256 viewers had voiced their concerns over an episode broadcast on Wednesday, November 5. In the episode, the couples savoured their final dates before renewing their vows, while Welsh groom Ashley Dommett and Grace Law made an unexpected return after their marriage fell apart.
The pair had a tumultuous relationship on the series, which ultimately ended with them going their separate ways. For the latest TV and showbiz gossip sign up to our newsletter.
In a departure from the show’s usual format, the pair each took part in a private commitment ceremony away from the other couples, as they both tried to recount their side of the story, unable to be in the same room together.
The majority of the complaints received by Ofcom focused on the treatment of Ashley by experts Mel Schilling, Paul Brunson and Charlene Douglas. After hearing Grace’s version of events, they offered Ashley advice on how his behaviour might have been misinterpreted by his ex-partner.
Among the issues raised by Grace was that her husband Ashley was too familiar right from the start, despite them being total strangers when they tied the knot.
She described how he would open the bathroom door while she was inside, which Ashley defended as a playful gesture.
Grace herself was quick to slam the episode, claiming her account of events had been “sanitised” by the show’s production team. “This isn’t good enough,” she fumed in a statement posted on her Instagram page.
“You brought me out of my safe place, three weeks after leaving the experiment, so I could ‘tell my story’. Then you sanitised it. How could you?”.
She continued: “You have to raise your daughters in the same society that protects men at all costs. May they never come close to what you put me through.”
This particular episode has triggered the most complaints of the entire tenth series so far, beating the previous record set by the 26th episode broadcast on October 29, which attracted 166 complaints.