"We came in happy, we came out crushed with a desire to die": the harsh testimonies of participants in "Wedding at First Sight"
An investigation published in "Israel Today" reveals disturbing testimonies from participants from all seasons who complain about distorted editing, threats and manipulations and the transmission of photographs without their knowledge.
Participant: "I left feeling like I was run over by a truck."
Participant: "The psychologists misled me. The process reminded me of cult victims."
Walla!
culture
02/06/2022
Thursday, 02 June 2022, 21:50 Updated: 21:59
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Signed with Mano and Danny Ziskind (system)
An investigation by journalist Eran Suissa, published in "Israel Today", reveals harsh and disturbing testimonies from participants from all seasons who complain against the program's production about trending and distorted editing, threats and manipulations, reversing the order of events in favor of storytelling, and even broadcasting unknowingly.
The participants in "Hatonami", which is considered the hit program of Keshet 12, also complain about the poor psychological support they received from Yael Doron and Danny Friedlander.
Some said that they had to deal with the consequences of participating in reality and even needed treatment as a result.
Most of the respondents to the investigation remained anonymous.
However, several of them were revealed by their names, including Shachar Moshe, Dikla Daiti, Haim Myers, Dovi Amira and Ortal Yahalomi.
Daiti is quoted in the interrogation as saying: "I felt I had been mentally abused there in prime time."
A participant in the first season recounted: "This process reminded me of cult victims that it takes them a while to understand the manipulation, what they went through, and it impairs functioning. They were unable to return to life, unable to return to work routine and functioning. I was in therapy for a year to process the experience. The confusion I went through there. "
Another participant said: "I sat at home for half a year. I did not know myself anymore and did not know how to proceed from here. I left feeling like a truck ran over me. Throughout the season there were manipulations of the production and we constantly create a lot of guilt that we do not give a chance. I feel I entered this program naive, happy and healthy and came out of it sick, sad and shattered. It took me a long time to pick up the pieces. They made a lot of promises that had no cover. Last season there was a participant who lost 10kg while not eating or drinking.
There were participants who wanted to stop living.
If I had the power I would file a lawsuit against this plan,
More on Walla!
"The heart tells me no": Rinat and Daniel from "Wedding at First Sight" broke up in the middle of the season
To the full article
Manipulations?
Yael and Danny (Photo: Dror "Jimmy" Binyamini)
Another participant in the investigation said: "I came to the program with a real intention to find a relationship. Yes, a relationship. No campaigns and no followers. The period was the peak of the corona, all places were closed, days of closure after closure and it was hard to recognize through an app. That 'wedding' seemed like a realistic and good option for finding love.
"
I was told that only a successful relationship is the one that will give them a rating, so they and we have a common interest - we find a relationship and they get a rating for a love story.
It sounds very credible and logical, so I agreed. "
Asked what the relationship was like with the psychologists, she replied: "During the screenings and during the filming I felt that it was a therapist-patient relationship for everything, even though we signed that it was a companion and not a treatment. I trusted them and trusted that they wanted our best.Therefore, and as part of the process, I allowed them to guide me on how to behave and what to say, even if at that moment I did not understand why certain things should be said.Then, during the broadcasts, I "Things said… when the production instructed us to say them. The board of psychologists should be ashamed that they both still hold their license and treat people who need treatment. As soon as the cameras went off they severed all contact with us, without professional separation as usual."
Another participant said that she also did not trust the psychologist Yael: "How can you connect and dedicate yourself to a psychologist who sits in front of you with a headset, and you know that in a room next door there is a production that talks and directs it? Have you ever sat or seen someone sitting in treatment "Photographed, or not photographed, are you sitting with a headset? In what world is this acceptable? It did not feel like authentic treatment to me."
"abuse".
Dikla Daiti (Photo: screenshot, from a wedding at first sight, Channel 12)
Another participant said she still felt the consequences of her participation in a "wedding at first sight."
"I'm in treatment to this day, walking with my head on the floor so as not to make eye contact with anyone. During the broadcasts I did not leave the house for many weeks, for fear of what they would tell me. When I was looking for work quite a few places said to me ' And they did not return. "
She added: "I feel the production, the channel and everyone involved do not want the good of the participants in any way. They only see commercials. They do not care if we felt they shed our blood and caused us to be stoned in the town square. They have no problem with it. I do not know how they sleep. The night after they caused so much suffering to so many people. "
Comments
The show's producer said: "Producing a wedding at first sight is based on a successful television format broadcast in a number of countries around the world. The television involved, after undergoing a rigorous screening and screening process by a team of external and independent psychologists who examine, among other things, their ability to cope with exposure.
For reasons of individual privacy we will not be able to address the allegations in detail.
"We will make it clear that program participants can retire at any time before the age of 42 if they wish, and to witness the last couple, who chose to complete the process this week after only 16 days.
As for the program's experts - Dr. Yael Doron, Danny Friedlander and Dr. Maayan Boiman of Method, it will be emphasized that the loyalty and commitment of the three, throughout the entire season, is first and foremost to the participants, from the beginning to the end. The plan reads: "The experts will work to pair the participants according to the best personal and professional judgment.
In coming to do so, the experts undertake that they will act in good faith, in a proper, moral and ethical manner, and will not include external considerations in their decision.
"The right to exist of the program is based on the creation of a real connection between the couple. Any attempt to claim that unsuccessful marital adjustments are made intentionally and for rating purposes is a sin against reality. In its capacity in order for suitable couples to come out each season, together with the participants themselves.As in reality,
Keshet said: "Wedding at First Sight deals with the world's highly sensitive content of finding love and intimacy. Accordingly, the production is accompanied by a professional ethics committee from the screening stages, through accompanying participants during filming and during and after broadcasts. "Social and external psychologists as needed. We are attentive to the past and present program participants, who have bravely chosen to reveal their lives on screen, and will continue to do so in the coming seasons."
culture
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Israeli television
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A wedding at first sight