
Trigger warning: This article discusses homophobic and misogynistic abuse, as well as self harm. For crisis support, you can contact Lifeline via their website, or call Lifeline on 13 11 14.
It's a Wednesday night in February, 2020, and we're approaching the pointy end of Married at First Sight, season 7.
Just before 9pm, more than one million Australians watch as truck driver David Cannon takes his experimental wife's toothbrush and sticks it down the toilet, contaminating it with faeces.
His partner - Hayley Vernon - has cheated on him, so David decides not only to execute an entirely disproportionate act of revenge, but also to film it and circulate the video.
As it airs, the other contestants, as well as the show's experts, recoil in horror. Relationship specialist John Aiken remarks, "that's really crossing a boundary," while dating and relationship expert Mel Schilling says very little, shaking her head in shock.
Hayley Vernon, David Cannon and Mel Schilling. Image: Channel Nine.
The moment acts as a lightning rod for conversation around Australia. Does David's behaviour constitute a form of abuse? Is it just a terrible practical joke? Is this how people actually behave?
But it also pushes the boundaries for a show that, a few seasons earlier, had famously featured a groom who described his bride as "not what I ordered".
In terms of ratings, Married at First Sight is the gold standard of reality television in Australia. Other franchises - even those that pre-date the outlandish 'social experiment' - can't compete. Why watch someone date 20 strangers to try to find love, when you could watch 10 people marry 10 strangers and fall apart in the process?
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