Channel 4's new CEO Priya Dogra apologized Tuesday to the women who made rape allegations on Married at First Sight UK, reversing a position she had held just one day earlier. The apology came at the network's Annual Report briefing and followed intense scrutiny after a BBC Panorama documentary aired detailing the allegations against cast members of the long-running reality series, according to a report by Deadline.
Dogra is only two months into the job and has now issued two public statements on the matter in consecutive days. On Monday, she declined to apologize following the Panorama broadcast. By Tuesday morning, that position had changed.
"I have heard the women's accounts, which are very troubling," Dogra said at the briefing. "Their distress is clear and for that I am of course deeply sorry."
The allegations include two of rape and one of a non-consensual sex act. The three men accused deny the wrongdoing. Channel 4 and producer CPL Productions have both said that welfare protocols were followed during production. The network said it was made aware of the allegations several weeks before the Panorama aired on Monday night.
Channel 4 has commissioned two separate external reviews. The first, conducted by a law firm, will examine the welfare protocols in place on the programme at the time the claims were raised. The second is being led by Lorraine Heggessey, a former BBC One Controller, who will assess whether any changes should be made to current protocols for the show going forward.
Despite the controversy, Dogra pushed back against reports that the series has been canceled. She called those reports "wholly inaccurate" and said the network will make no decision about the sixth season until the review concludes. Chief content officer Ian Katz noted that the season is "substantially filmed and currently in the edit."
Channel 4 also took down its entire Married at First Sight UK back catalog ahead of the Panorama broadcast. Dogra described that decision as being made in part through an "abundance of caution."
As Dogra was speaking Tuesday, members of Parliament on the Culture, Media and Sport Committee sent Channel 4 a list of questions about the scandal. The Metropolitan Police separately urged anyone from the show who had experienced abuse to come forward.
Dogra's predecessor, Alex Mahon, commented on the situation Monday, calling the allegations "very serious and concerning" and saying they were "worth another look." The external reviews commissioned by Dogra are expected to report later this summer.