Whether you love it or hate it, Married At First Sight has been the biggest show on Aussie screens this year, and we’re not even half way through.
A whopping 1.315 million people tuned in to watch Jessika and Dan’s first date following that commitment ceremony but after the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) was flooded with complaints about the show, it looks like Australia’s favourite social experiment could be banned in 2020.
An ACMA spokesperson revealed in a statement that, “The ACMA has recently received complaints about [Married at First Sight]. Complaints about broadcasts are referred in the first instance to the licensee for consideration.”
This move follows Dan and Jessika’s on-screen affair and the experts’ reaction to allow them to stay in the experiment which resulted in the trending hashtag #BoycottMAFS and an online petition calling on Channel Nine to take the program off the air with over 20,000 signatures.
In fact, in two Facebook polls conducted by Woman’s Day and The Australian Women’s Weekly on Tuesday evening, over 3,600 people have already agreed that the show should be banned next year while only 1,269 people said they’d be tuning in in 2020.
WATCH: Jessika reveals she’s falling in love with Dan. Post continues…
“It’s a joke!! It’s riddled with bullying, mental and emotional abuse and just general poor behaviour. But I guess the most important thing is beating your competitors for ratings in the time slot Channel 9,” one viewer commented.
“Regardless of the debacle over Jess and Dan…..the show is now so incredibly ridiculous, I think it would be an insult to the Australian population to run it ever again….unless you go back to the origins, and have genuine people, and not all these “wannabee” actors seeking their 5 minutes of fame!” another viewer remarked.
“If they put genuine people (no actors or anyone looking for fame) just real people looking for real love. Maybe the experts also try different tactics matching the couples and don’t put a person who has been sexually mature with a virgin try and match people with who they are looking for and more compatible with,” suggested another.
Has the MAFS drama been too much this year? (Image: Channel Nine)
According to Media Week, Tuesday night’s episode brought in 1.225 million viewers, a small drop from the 1.305 million that tuned in on the week before.
This series we’ve seen more explosive fights, bullying, body-shaming and even someone losing their virginity on TV so no wonder people are getting disenfranchised.
Back in 2017, psychologist Michael Carr-Gregg told The Daily Telegraph, “We are playing with people’s lives. I don’t think this is good entertainment, I know it rates its socks off but so did the Colosseum in Rome because people liked watching lions rip Christians apart.”
