Married at First Sight UK star speaks out after Channel 4 axes show following serious allegations

Warning: This article contains discussion of rape and sexual assualt which some readers may find distressing.

One of the previous stars of Married at First Sight UK (MAFS UK) has spoken out to share how ‘crazy’ it is that the show is now gone after it was ‘such a big part of her life’.

Sophie Brown appeared in the 2022 series of MAFS UK and was paired up with Johnathan Wileman before they split up prior to the reunion.

She said in a video on TikTok that she thinks the show was shut down for the ‘right reasons’, and said that it’s ‘great that action has been taken’ and that the investigation leading to action was the ‘most important thing’.

In May 2026, a BBC Panorama documentary saw three women come forward with serious allegations of sexual misconduct and rape.

Channel 4 commissioned an external review of contributor welfare on the show, with the results published yesterday (5 November). The broadcaster said the allegations raised in Panorama 'remain a matter for the relevant authorities'.

She's thinking about the participants whose season won't air. (Instagram/sophiehlbrown)

Brown, who is expecting a baby with her fiancé James Prest, said she is struggling to process her season of MAFS UK being taken down as she had hoped to one day watch it with her children.

Following the serious allegations earlier this year, Channel 4 wiped all seasons of the show from its streaming platform.

The former reality star explained: “I was on a series, and it got removed obviously from 4OD and I think that’s it now forever.

“I wanted to like, show my kids, maybe watch it back one day.

"It’s a very difficult thing for me to watch anyway, but it’s just gone now - it was such a big part of my life and it’s just not available anymore.

"So that’s kind of a weird prospect, like I don’t know if I can get any of that footage or anything.”

She described her own experiences as 'very difficult, very intense' and said she is also thinking about the participants who had filmed for this year's series, which will now not air.

"It's not going to come to the light of day," she said. "And I know what it takes to go through that process and how you realign your life. The waiting period after you film for it coming out is really difficult and I do really feel for them."

Brown acknowledges that 'everyone had different experiences', and for her 'the welfare team themselves were amazing'.

Channel 4 chief executive Priya Dogra said yesterday: “Whilst the review praised the welfare protocols in place and made no findings that Channel 4 breached the Ofcom Code or that the format is inherently unsafe, I have to consider when is the right time for Channel 4 to move on from a format.

"The recommendations are eminently sensible and feasible, but considering their wholesale implementation provoked fundamental questions about the editorial proposition of a show that, I believe, has now run its course over ten years.

"Channel 4 has always thrived on reinvention and this is a moment to kickstart a new era of creative renewal, using the considerable budget to find the next generation of distinctive and disruptive British television."

The LADbible Group has contacted Channel 4 for comment.