Married at First Sight UK star Gemma Rose says she was left feeling suicidal after E4 ‘slut shamed’ her and ignored her concerns about being matched with ‘aggressive’ husband Matt Murray.
The salon owner, 31, told MailOnline she suffered ‘multiple panic attacks’, exhaustion, and believes she was ‘coerced’ by producers to stay on the show despite expressing on several occasions that she wanted to go home.
In her first interview since starring on the series, Gemma revealed that she felt ‘scared’ and ‘vulnerable’ being married to tattooed barber Matt, 32, who she said ‘lied’ about her ‘masturbating in a restaurant’ to cover up for his own ‘toxic behaviour.’
Gemma accuses E4 producers of portraying her as promiscuous after they aired a series of sexual innuendoes and claims from her husband that he felt ‘uncomfortable’ by her remarks, which she says is untrue.
‘I was disgusted’: Married at First Sight UK star Gemma Rose says she was left feeling suicidal after E4 ‘slut shamed’ her and ignored her concerns about being matched with ‘aggressive’ husband Matt Murray
The mum-of-two says the show airing the false storyline that she pleasured herself in a restaurant made her want to ‘die’ and she will be taking her complaint with the broadcaster further.
She explained: ‘I feel that Matt slut shamed me, I feel like the experts did also.
‘He has the same sense of humour as me and made very similar comments on the wedding day, which didn’t make the edit.
‘He asked me ‘do you like it rough?’ I’m going to choke you in the bedroom.’ It’s been made to look like he was the victim when he just didn’t find me attractive.
‘I didn’t feel safe’: Gemma told MailOnline she suffered ‘multiple panic attacks’, exhaustion, and believes she was ‘coerced’ by producers to stay on the show despite expressing on several occasions that she wanted to go home
‘Matt made that up to deflect what he did in that restaurant, which was getting aggressive, flipping a chair back, and storming away. It obviously did not happen.
‘I defended myself on more than one occasion and said that’s not f***ing true, but it didn’t make the cut because the storyline was too good.
‘I was told it wouldn’t be put into the final edit and I was disgusted when it did. E4 is not allowed to manipulate a storyline like that so I will be taking it further.’
Gemma, who’s from Devon, married Matt at first sight during filming of the series back in May, and says she pleaded with welfare on several occasions to be ‘removed’ from the process after feeling ‘scared’ by her husband’s actions.
‘It obviously did not happen’: Gemma revealed that she felt ‘scared’ and ‘vulnerable’ being married to tattooed barber Matt who she said ‘lied’ about her ‘masturbating in a restaurant’ to cover up for his own ‘toxic behaviour’
She explained that after being called early for filming and having to wait a longer duration of 45 minutes Matt became ‘aggressive’ and left her feeling ‘intimidated’ after he shadowboxed and told a member of a security ‘if I was looking for a fight, I’d take you with me.’
The incident happened before the couple filmed a dinner party scene with co-stars Chanita and Jordan.
She said: ‘There were a few occasions where I expressed that I didn’t feel safe in the experiment, and I don’t feel like that was heard.
‘There was one incident in particular where I explained to Matt that I found his body language aggressive.
‘Before we went to Chanita and Jordan’s dinner party, he was shadowboxing in the reception and his body language was coming off as really heavy and I was getting freaked out.
‘I felt very vulnerable’: Gemma married Matt at first sight during filming of the series back in May, and says she pleaded with welfare on several occasions to be ‘removed’ from the process
‘We were asked to film early but they ended up being late, so we were stood around for probably 45 minutes and he was banging the door down and shouting at the production team saying ‘when the f*** are we starting? You got us here early’ and I was saying to him to be professional.
‘He said to the security man ‘you’re a big guy, if I was looking for a fight, I’d take you with me’ it was intimidating. I did find him at times quite scary.
‘I told them I didn’t feel safe, and I should have been removed a few times in that instance. I felt very vulnerable as it was. Welfare was fantastic in the sense that they came to see you multiple times a day, which was great.
‘However, it wasn’t enough considering the toxic environment that we were in and I don’t cope well with that.’
Gemma’s time on the show was made worse after her marriage to Matt came crashing down once he struck up a romance with co-star Whitney – and the pair started an intimate relationship during filming.
Despite finding herself in a dark place and raising concerns over her wellbeing, E4 encouraged Gemma to remain on the show.
The hairdresser, who owns Gem Rose Hair and is a mum to Ozzy, 11, and Cash, 4, from a previous relationship, described filming the series as ‘the worst experience of my life’ and has since struggled with how producers have unfairly portrayed her in the final edit.
Devastated: Gemma’s time on the show was made worse after her marriage to Matt came crashing down once he struck up a romance with co-star Whitney – and the pair started an intimate relationship during filming
‘It was the worst experience of my life’: Despite finding herself in a dark place and raising concerns over her wellbeing, E4 encouraged Gemma to remain on the show
Breaking down in tears, Gemma said: ‘I had multiple panic attacks. I feel like I didn’t sleep because I would wake up just as exhausted as I did when I went to bed.
‘It was the worst experience of my life. I felt trapped. We weren’t being held hostage but if you said ‘I have to go now’ – I wouldn’t call it manipulation but there was coercion on their side to convince you to stay.
‘At what stage will someone’s mental health come before making a TV show? I told my mum that I wanted to die. It was horrible. They cut out words and made it look like I was masturbating in a restaurant.
‘My mum told me to carry on being my strong self but I said you would want to die if this was happening to you.’
E4 has come under fire this week after it was claimed that the broadcaster allowed contestant George Roberts on the show despite three exes making police complaints of his alleged emotional abuse.
The Sun newspaper reported that show makers ignored alerts over George, who married former Miss Great Britain April Banbury.
Viewers have also slammed George over his ‘controlling behaviour’ towards April after the couple rowed over the divorced father-of-four insisting to know every detail about her relationship history.
However, Gemma says her experience with George was positive and he’s been supportive of her since the series ended.
She said: ‘I wouldn’t like to comment because that’s their story but I never saw anything bad with George.
‘I never felt in any way that he was negative towards me but you spend such a short time with people in the experiment let alone their lives before. But I never saw anything like that from him.
‘We have spoken since the experiment and he’s been nothing but supportive. I can’t comment on a relationship that I wasn’t in.’
A Channel 4 Spokesperson said: ‘Married at First Sight UK episodes are carefully put together and we ensure that what we broadcast is a fair and accurate reflection of the events that unfolded.
‘Contributor care and safety is of paramount importance and we work closely with our production partners to ensure robust contributor care protocols are in place and that appropriate support is available to contributors before, during and after broadcast, including access to our experts and an independent psychologist.’
E4 has come under fire this week after it was claimed that the broadcaster allowed contestant George Roberts (pictured) on the show despite three exes making police complaints of his alleged emotional abuse
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