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Cape Town - Disappointed and angry viewers "divorced" the first new episode of the second season of Married at First Sight South Africa on Friday night, when unexplained technical issues marred the broadcast on Lifetime (DStv 131) and saw the episode stuck in an endless loop of repeating the same insert without any intervention.
On Thursday the Lifetime Africa channel run by A+E Networks Africa, a subsidiary of A+E Networks UK, told viewers to "brace yourself for the unexpected season two of Married at First Sight SA".
The unexpected thing that however ended up happening on Friday the 13th, turned into an embarrassment for sponsors Telkom and 1Life, MultiChoice, A+E Networks Africa and production company Oxyg3n Media headed up by Rebecca Fuller-Campbell, when the same 15 minutes of the episode kept repeating four times over without any fix or on-screen advisory, apology or notification.
During the show Lifetime Africa on social media said it's a technical glitch and that it will be "sorted out soon," however the hour ended with no fix and yet another repeat after the last in-show ad break.
It's not the first time that the stuck-on-repeat happened with Married at First Sight SA on Lifetime and viewers slamming the "internal deficiencies" were not happy.
After the Groundhog Day-like endless repeating started, furious viewers who wanted to watch the second season of Married at First Sight SA said they're tuning out of the show, while some started mocking the show, saying they know what's going to happen next and after the next commercial break.
"MAFSSA just got a 100% divorce rate," said Michelle on Twitter, while another viewer weighed in with "why is the same thing showing every 15 min followed by an ad break? Married at First Sight SA - what a waste of an everything. Poor show."
The show will screen the same episode of last night - hopefully corrected in its full hourlong length - tonight at 19:10 on Lifetime.
Lifetime Africa sorry, disappointed
A+E Networks Africa quickly responded to a media enquiry made Friday night about the show's broadcasting blunder on Lifetime caused by the playout centre, apologising for the "Friday the 13th" mistake but not explaining why the technical mistake happened.
Lifetime Africa said sorry to viewers who tuned in and who didn't know what was going on and that A+E Networks Africa is themselves disappointed that fans couldn't watch the episode.
"Due to technical difficulties during episode 2, segment one was repeated throughout the show," said Nazarene Khan, head of marketing and sponsorship at A+E Networks Africa in response to a media enquiry from Channel24.
"Lifetime Africa apologises to our loyal viewers for this technical hiccup. We are disappointed that fans of the show were unable to watch it in its entirety. The good news is that viewers will have chance to catch up during the following slots."
The episode will repeat on Saturday (14 Oct) 10:55 and 19:10, Sunday (15 Oct) 21:40, Monday (16 Oct) 07:35 and 14:20, Wednesday (18 Oct) 07:35 and 14:20 and Friday 20 Oct at 20:00.
This will be followed by the third episode of Married at First Sight SA in its correct timeslot at 20:50.
"Please note that this will affect the broadcast of Bride and Prejudice (episode 2) on Friday 20 October. This will be moved out by a week to accommodate the double bill of Married at First Sight South Africa season 2," said Nazarene Khan.
