Posted by 
The latest series of Channel 4’s reality dating show Married at First Sight UK has sparked widespread criticism for normalising harmful behaviour. The charities Women’s Aid and Refuge have publicly condemned the show’s inclusion of a male participant with a history of domestic abuse accusations.
Social media backlash, however, has revealed another harmful behaviour – longstanding class biases among viewers. This is particularly evident in the way some viewers have described female participants Holly Ditchfield and Polly Sellman as “chavs”.
I research the intersection between gender and class in popular culture, so for me, the show’s reception raises a pressing question. Why do stereotypes of working-class women persist so stubbornly in the British television landscape, even as viewers become increasingly alert to other forms of mistreatment and misconduct?
The term “chav” emerged as a prominent form of classist insult in British media in the 2000s. Sociologist Imogen Tyler has described it as “a ubiquitous term of abuse for the white poor”.
The distinctly British term “chav”, when applied to women and girls, targets perceived vulgarity, lack of sophistication and failures of proper femininity. The term carries decades of social stigma and moral judgement.
Looking for something good? Cut through the noise with a carefully curated selection of the latest releases, live events and exhibitions, straight to your inbox every fortnight, on Fridays. Sign up here.
On social media, Married at First Sight viewers frequently compare Ditchfield and Sellman to notorious “chavs” from British popular culture. They range from Little Britain’s Vicky Pollard, to comedian Catherine Tate’s character, Lauren Cooper, to the late media personality Jade Goody. Goody’s treatment on another Channel 4 reality show, Big Brother, sparked national debates about class and representation in 2002.
Most revealing of these persistent comparisons is viewers’ comparison of the two women to the “Fat Slags”. They were Viz comic’s notorious cartoon characters Tracey Tunstall and Sandra Burke, who debuted in 1989.
These grotesque caricatures of working-class women were defined primarily by their size, uninhibited sexual appetites and perceived vulgarity. That viewers still reach for these references demonstrates their enduring power as cultural touchstones. They continue to frame and limit representations of working-class femininity.
Class distinction in the digital age
Through the #MAFSUK hashtag on X (formerly known as Twitter), this class-based criticism has found new life and vigour.
Online interactions using the hashtag represent what media scholar Mark Stewart identifies as a “virtual nation”. The term refers to a digital space where viewers reinforce class hierarchies through shared cultural references and in-jokes.
“Live tweeting” reconstructs what has been gradually lost in the increasingly fragmented TV-viewing experience – a British community unified by a collective understanding of class signifiers.
When viewers mock Sellman’s fashion choices (for instance, claiming her hair resembles Vicky Pollard’s), they’re not just making individual observations. They’re participating in a specifically British ritual of class distinction.
Social media platforms such as X extend these class-based discussions beyond the original broadcast. They create an ongoing space for public commentary and judgement. In this way, reality TV continues to function as what sociologists and cultural theorists Beverley Skeggs and Helen Wood describe as a “barometer of current moral value, taste and authority”.
For Ditchfield and Sellman and others participating in this and other reality shows, traditional notions of working-class respectability and shame are reworked through their media visibility and exaggerated performances, from emotional outbursts to accusations of bullying.
Studies of other reality shows, such as Geordie Shore, have shown that such visibility comes at a significant cost. While this behaviour may secure people screen time, it simultaneously subjects them to class-based criticism. In reality TV, class identities are both performed and, ultimately, policed.
Social media intensifies these dynamics. Platforms like X promise democratisation of voice, but they often amplify, rather than challenge, existing social hierarchies.
As the reactions to Married At First Sight UK demonstrate, even when valid concerns about gender-based harm are raised, these important discussions can become entangled with, and sometimes overshadowed by, deep-rooted class biases.
Class snobbery and sexism remain reality TV’s most enduring and toxic marriage – a union that shows no sign of dissolution in the 2020s.
Laura Minor does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
