Thousands of MAFS viewers start petition calling for Nine to apologise for sharing ‘triggering and stressful’ content and ‘failure of duty of care’ for Bryce Ruthven and Melissa Rawson
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Bryce Ruthven and Melissa Rawson have easily become one of Married At First Sight’s most controversial newlyweds this season.
Now a Change.org petition is demanding Nine issue a public apology for ‘triggering’ content shared between the ‘gaslighting’ groom and his TV wife.
Having already received almost 2,500 signatures in under 24 hours, the petition also calls for acknowledgment of an alleged ‘failure of duty of care’ toward Melissa.
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Thousands of MAFS viewers start petition calling for Nine to apologise for sharing ‘triggering and stressful’ content and ‘failure of duty of care’ for Bryce Ruthven and Melissa Rawson
‘This season of Married at First Sight Australia features a couple, Melissa and Bryce, who portray an excessive amount of DV signs which are not being handled by the network appropriately,’ the petition began.
‘There is a clear failure of duty of care to Melissa during filming of the show, allowing her to remain in a toxic and dangerous environment with her partner for the “benefit” of the network. She is being subject to gaslighting, emotional manipulation, isolation, and countless other TEXTBOOK signs of a controlling and or abusive relationship,’ they claimed, adding it was ‘incredibly triggering and stressful to watch’.
‘This petition is for The Nine Network to acknowledge and apologise for letting Melissa go through this and also airing such a horrible relationship on television without doing anything to showcase that the relationship is clearly not healthy.’
‘This petition is for The Nine Network to acknowledge and apologise for letting Melissa go through this’: The Change.org petition is demanding Nine issue a public apology for ‘triggering’ content shared between the ‘gaslighting’ groom and his TV wife, and to acknowledge a lack of ‘duty of care’
Daily Mail Australia has contacted Channel Nine for comment.
Similar outrage has exploded both on Twitter and other petitions in the past surrounding explosive relationships and drama on the show.
Many have called for the show to be cancelled or boycotted over the previous few seasons, with one petition calling for expert Mel Schilling to be axed in 2019.
Shock moment: While Melissa voted to ‘stay’ in the experiment on Sunday night, Bryce left everyone shocked as he dramatically chose to ‘leave’ his wife during the commitment ceremony – before crossing it out and changing it to ‘stay’
Blame game: He tried to further explain his initial ‘leave’ decision on Monday, claiming he wanted to remove Melissa from the ‘toxic environment’ other cast members were creating
While Melissa voted to ‘stay’ in the experiment on Sunday night, Bryce left everyone shocked as he dramatically chose to ‘leave’ his wife during the commitment ceremony – before crossing it out and changing it to ‘stay’.
He tried to further explain his initial ‘leave’ decision on Monday, claiming he wanted to remove Melissa from the ‘toxic environment’ other cast members were creating.
Married At First Sight may be investigated by the Australian Communications and Media Authority after outraged viewers filed multiple complaints about the show.
According to a report by The Wash on Monday, many viewers took offence at scenes involving controversial couple Melissa and Bryce.
Speaking to The Wash, ACMA revealed they had received 14 complaints about this year’s season of MAFS, and four of those were about Bryce and Melissa, both 31.
Married At First Sight continues on Tuesday from 7:30pm on Nine
Complaints: Married At First Sight may be investigated by the Australian Communications and Media Authority after outraged viewers filed multiple complaints about the show