Channel Nine boss reveals the one Married At First Sight storyline they desperately didn’t want to air – but did anyway
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A Channel Nine executive has revealed there was one Married At First Sight moment the network desperately didn’t want to show on TV, but had no choice but to include.
Adrian Swift, Nine’s head of content production, told Variety Australia the network and producers were disgusted by ‘toothbrush-gate’ from season seven in 2020, but couldn’t edit it out because everyone in the cast was talking about it.
When asked if producers encourage controversial plot twists, Mr Swift said: ‘We don’t make things happen and we don’t excise anything that has happened.’
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Controversy: A Channel Nine executive has revealed there was one Married At First Sight moment the network desperately didn’t want to show on TV, but had no choice but to include. (Pictured: MAFS 2022 brides Olivia Frazer and Tamara Djordjevic)
He continued: ‘I’ll give you an example about that. About three seasons ago, season seven, a groom used a bride’s toothbrush to clean a toilet.
‘More than anything in the world, we didn’t want to put that to air. We thought it was just stupid and mean and awful and undergraduate, just everything. But it was so material to all the relationships in that group, that we couldn’t excise it.
‘So we’re kind of hoist on our own petard a bit here. We put things to air that we don’t want to go to air, but we certainly don’t believe all publicity is good publicity and we believe that it is absolutely possible to go too far on these shows.’
Vile: Adrian Swift, Nine’s head of content production, said the network and producers were disgusted by ‘toothbrush-gate’ from season seven in 2020, but couldn’t edit it out because everyone in the cast was talking about it. (Pictured: David Cannon and Hayley Vernon)
The incident Mr Swift was referring to involved groom David Cannon, who scrubbed a dirty toilet with his wife Hayley Vernon’s toothbrush out of spite.
He put the contaminated toothbrush back next to the sink and Hayley continued to use it for several days after the incident.
David also recorded himself performing the vile act and sent the video to co-stars.
Hard choices: ‘More than anything in the world, we didn’t want to put that to air. We thought it was just stupid and mean and awful… But it was so material to all the relationships in that group, that we couldn’t excise it,’ Mr Swift said. (Pictured: Hayley Vernon)
‘It’s abusive. That’s what I said straight off the bat. That’s what my dad said. That’s what everyone said,’ Hayley later said of the ordeal.
‘And the fact that he filmed it… I don’t understand it. It’s vile.’
David had decided to take revenge on Hayley after she made a ‘derogatory comment’ about his $25-an-hour wage.
The interview with Mr Swift was published by Variety Australia, which launched on Monday in partnership with The Brag Media group.
Married At First Sight continues Monday at 7:30pm on Channel Nine and 9Now
Nasty: The incident Mr Swift was referring to involved 2020 groom David Cannon (pictured), who scrubbed a dirty toilet with his wife’s toothbrush out of spite
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