MKR contestants were unknowingly filmed having sex on set
A crew member from the hit family-friendly cooking show has been accused of filming contestants while they were having sex on a couch early in the morning.
According to a report published by Buzzfeed Australia, the male and female contestants, who were living in a house as part of the filming for an upcoming season of MKR: The Rivals, were engaged in a consensual sex act when they realised they were being filmed. The incident happened sometime in mid-2019, about 5am.
A source in the reality TV industry told news.com.au the person who shot the footage was a staff member tasked with spending the night at the house to capture footage and take notes on what happened outside of regular filming time.
The report alleged the staff member promised to delete the footage, but months later it was viewed by an unknown number of post-production staff at Channel 7’s studios in Eveleigh, in inner-city Sydney.
Channel 7 responded to the claims, with a spokesperson telling news.com.au: “My Kitchen Rules: The Rivals is a family-friendly cooking show broadcast in prime time.
“All filming was done in accordance with contestant contracts.”
The source told news.com.au it was not uncommon for indecent pieces of footage to be gathered during the production of reality TV and viewed by crew members after shooting had wrapped.
She said the alleged incident was “common knowledge at Channel 7”.
It is unusual in reality TV for production crews to film contestants during unguarded moments, knowing the footage won’t make it to air. Producers use hours of raw footage in place of written notes to form narratives about the contestants.
The source said it was “super normal” for footage of that kind to be viewed by post-production staff but added others seeing it was “unfortunate”.
She said such footage was used at the discretion of post-production staff, and the idea that any footage would be deleted was unlikely.
“(Producers) would need to address (sex between castmates), even though the actual sexual act would not be used,” the source said.
She said the producer or staff member on duty would be told to “shoot everything”, and it would be up to an executive producer to later decide if the footage was used. She said the contestants would have been aware the couch was a zone where they could be filmed.
The report said the contestants had caught the staff member filming and confronted him and asked he delete the footage. Buzzfeed alleges the footage was later recovered and viewed by Channel 7 staff at the post-production studios in Eveleigh.
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