TV
A couple from an episode of Wife Swap which will never make it to the air have accused the programme's makers of "exploiting" them in the hunt for ratings.
Erinma Bell and husband Raymond, a black couple, were swapped with fellow Mancunians Liz and Peter Hughes for two weeks earlier this year. The Hughes had admitted to producers that they had racist views when applying to be on the show.
"If they mix people like that together they're just going to have arguments on TV which won't solve anything," Erinma Bell told The Voice newspaper. "It's a fix, not reality TV."
Over the course of the fortnight the swapped couples found that they had differences but they managed to overcome them and become friends, a fact which the Bells believe led to C4 axing the episode.
A Channel 4 spokeswoman today denied that the episode had been dropped because the couples had got along, instead blaming the loss of video tapes featuring footage from the two houses.
"We were all disappointed to learn the tapes had been lost because it would have made a fantastic show, we loved the bits of the film we had seen," the spokeswoman said. "We have hired a private investigator to track down the footage but with no success. We simply did not have enough material for a one-hour show."
Erinma Bell and husband Raymond, a black couple, were swapped with fellow Mancunians Liz and Peter Hughes for two weeks earlier this year. The Hughes had admitted to producers that they had racist views when applying to be on the show.
"If they mix people like that together they're just going to have arguments on TV which won't solve anything," Erinma Bell told The Voice newspaper. "It's a fix, not reality TV."
Over the course of the fortnight the swapped couples found that they had differences but they managed to overcome them and become friends, a fact which the Bells believe led to C4 axing the episode.
A Channel 4 spokeswoman today denied that the episode had been dropped because the couples had got along, instead blaming the loss of video tapes featuring footage from the two houses.
"We were all disappointed to learn the tapes had been lost because it would have made a fantastic show, we loved the bits of the film we had seen," the spokeswoman said. "We have hired a private investigator to track down the footage but with no success. We simply did not have enough material for a one-hour show."
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