Channel 4 will not remove alleged abuser from show

Channel 4 reality show Married at First Sight has rejected calls to remove one of its participants after accusations of domestic abuse were made against him.

Criticism has been aimed at Alexander Henry, who is in the ninth series which starts on Monday, in the comments on E4's Instagram promotion reel.

Channel 4 confirmed it would not be cutting Mr Henry's scenes as "the DBS (criminal record) check carried out on the contributor raised in the allegation was returned clear".

The Sun has reported that Mr Henry was sentenced to 34 days in a military prison for taking unauthorised leave.

The paper says Mr Henry was arrested by military police for abandoning his role in the RAF to participate on the show, despite his leave request being denied by his commander.

A spokesperson for Mr Henry told The Sun: "He returned after filming of his own volition and handed himself into the military authorities. He was sentenced to 34 days in a military prison and served 24 as a model inmate."

The BBC has contacted the RAF and Mr Henry for comment.

Married at First Sight is a bold social experiment where single people marry total strangers whom they meet for the very first time at the altar.

Mr Henry, a personal trainer from Birmingham, is one of the groomsmen on the show.

Channel 4 has confirmed it has received "a single allegation against a Married at First Sight UK 2024 contributor and we have responded directly to those who came to us with that allegation".

In a statement it added that the "welfare of our contributors is of paramount importance and, as such, we take all allegations of unacceptable behaviour seriously".

It went on to say: "Everyone taking part in MAFS UK undergoes a rigorous vetting process, involving a criminal record check and multiple psychological evaluations, before they can be cleared to take part.

"We cast contributors based on the information we are legally able to access, and we continue to review this process to ensure checks are as thorough as legally possible."

The BBC has seen evidence of the emails and pictures which the alleged victim sent to Channel 4 alongside her request for him to be removed from the show.

In a response to that email, Channel 4 said the programme was "filmed several months ago and is not live, so Alexander will feature in the programmes that have been edited and are due for broadcast".

It added that "there will also be promotional activity on the channel's social media platforms in which Alexander my appear".

The BBC understands that Mr Henry attempted to contact his former partner ahead of filming the show and in one message said: "I get flashbacks about what happened between us, the good... but mostly the bad, and it makes me feel sick."

Last year he participated in another Channel 4 dating reality show, Let's Make a Love Scene, but the episode he appeared in was never aired after his former partner reported his behaviour to the show's producer.

The alleged victim was told by Channel 4 that MAFS UK is "produced by a different production company to the one who made the previous show, so they would have been unaware of Alexander's participation in a programme that was never broadcast".

Based on Channel 4's decision to keep Mr Henry on the show, charity Women's Aid said in a statement that it was "incredibly disappointed and concerned to hear that the producers have taken the decision not to remove an alleged abuser".

It added: "Having seen the direct impact of abusive behaviours displayed on the show in previous years on survivors, we would have hoped that protection and tolerance levels for abuse would leave no room for perpetrators to be given a platform again, with their actions being televised as 'entertainment'."