Controversial Married at First Sight UK groom Alex Henry jailed after leaving RAF to be on reality dating show

28-year-old Alex Henry has aleady been called in to question after he was accused of domestic abuse.

Now, it’s emerged that the controversial reality star was placed in military prison for over three weeks after he took authorised time away from his RAF role to film scenes for the popular E4 dating show earlier this summer.

Henry, from Birmingham, asked his commander at RAF Spadeadam in Cumbria if he could take extra leave to take part in the show. He was refused the time off, but took it anyway.

When he returned to his base, he was arrested by military police and given 34 days in military prison, as reported by The Sun. He served 24 days of his sentence before being released for good behaviour. He was then allegedly discharged from the forces.

A spokesman for Henry said: “He returned after filming of his own volition and handed himself into the military authorities. He was sentenced to 34 days in a military prison and served 24 as a model inmate.”

The abuse allegations against Henry first came to at the beginning of September when E4 shared reels on their Instagram page for each of the contestants in the upcoming dating show, which sees single strangers, who have been matched by relationship experts Paul C Brunson, Mel Schilling and Charlene Douglas, meet and marry before undergoing various challenges and tasks to see if genuine connections can flourish.

Since then, viewers have been campaigning for him to be removed from the Channel 4 show. The show, however, was recorded months ago so Henry has already participated and cannot actually be fully removed. The brides and grooms are not revealed until shortly before the show airs. So, a petition has also been shared calling for Henry, who is also a personal trainer, to be edited out of the show.

One user called Shannon wrote: “ @alexander.henry_ should never have been allowed on this show. In situations where people are marrying each other at first sight, allowing a domestic abuser to join the show is not acceptable at all. I have seen first hand the damage that this man has done. Something needs to be done about this situation. @e4mafsuk @e4grams domestic abusers should NOT be provided platforms.” She is said to be campaigning on behalf of a friend who previously dated Henry.

When approached by The Sun, a Channel 4 spokesperson said: “MAFS UK contributors are subject to rigorous background vetting, including multiple independent psychological evaluations and a criminal record check before they can be cleared to take part.”

Women’s Aid have now condemned his involvement in a lengthy statement, saying the decision to feature him is both “disappointing and concerning”. The full statement read: “Women’s Aid wrote: “We are incredibly disappointed and concerned to hear that producers of Married at First Sight have taken the decision not to remove an alleged abuser from the latest series.

“Having seen the direct impact of abusive behaviours displayed on the show in previous years on survivors, we would have hoped that protection and tolerance levels for abuse would leave no room for perpetrators to be given a platform again, with their actions being televised as “entertainment”.

“Sadly, this decision demonstrates the lack of awareness that the production team still has when it comes to domestic abuse. At Women’s Aid we would urge the producers to reconsider how they approach this, for the sake of the contestants to whom they have a responsibility to protect; and to signal to survivors that the entertainment industry takes their experiences seriously.”

In response a spokesperson for Channel 4 said: “The welfare of our contributors is of paramount importance and, as such, we take all allegations of unacceptable behaviour seriously. We are aware of a single allegation against a Married at First Sight UK 2024 contributor and we have responded directly to those who came to us with that allegation.

"As part of our responsibility to safeguard our contributors, everyone taking part in MAFSUK undergoes a rigorous vetting process, involving a criminal record check and multiple psychological evaluations, before they can be cleared to take part. The DBS (criminal record) check carried out on the contributor raised in the allegation was returned clean. We cast contributors based on the information we are legally able to access and we continue to review this process to ensure checks are as thorough as legally possible."

Henry, who is from Birmingham, has not responded to the allegations against him but he has been posting promotional material for the show on his Instagram page.

Married at First Sight UK begins on E4 tonight (Monday September 16) at 9pm. Episodes will air in the time slot every Monday to Thursday.