MKR Australia contestants were filmed having sex by a member of staff. Photo / Twitter
MKR Australia contestants were filmed having sex by a member of staff. Photo / Twitter
A crew member from hit family-friendly cooking show has been accused of filming unaware contestants while they had sex on a couch early in the morning.
According to an report published by Buzzfeed Australia, the male and female contestants, who were living in a house as part of the filmingfor an upcoming season 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 by a staff member tasked with spending the night at the home to capture footage and take notes on what happened outside of regular filming time.
The report alleged the member of staff 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."
Footage of the sex act was reportedly viewed by post production staff at Channel 7. Photo / News Corp Australia
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 a number of 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, calling a leak to the public "unfortunate".
She said such footage was used at the discretion of post production, 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 member of staff 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 member of staff filming had been caught by the contestants, and they'd confronted him and asked he delete the footage. Buzzfeed alleges the footage was later recovered and viewed by Channel 7 at its post production studios in Eveleigh.
