Anger at TV show with big age difference couples
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The reading
A TV channel in the UK is under fire from members of the public for one of its programmes that follows the lives of couples with a big age difference. Viewers have accused the Channel 5 series Age Gap Love of "normalising grooming". The complaints came after a show that documented the relationship of a couple who got together when the man was 44 and his partner was 16. The man was originally a friend of the 16-year-old's mother. He became friendly with the daughter when she was a child and started dating her when she turned 16. After this episode was aired, the channel received a flood of complaints from viewers who slammed the show for "making this concept seem normal".
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The couple in the show are married and have two children. He is now 47 and she is 19. The man said: "I was concerned what people would think. It's a big gap. It's a generation gap. So it's like, what are people going to think?" His wife also spoke about the relationship. She said: "The age doesn't really bother me. It never has done. I don't see him as an old man, or my dad, or anything like that. He's just sensitive - like a big teddy bear." She added: "I've always wanted to have a family, so I just thought he would be the perfect man." Life has not been easy for the couple. When they first started dating, they received a lot of abuse from neighbours and the local community and had to move to another city.
Sources:
- https://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/age-gap-love-accused-normalising-16213965
- https://www.thesun.co.uk/fabulous/9166705/viewers-blast-channel-5-normalising-grooming-age-gap-love/
- https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/tv/viewers-criticise-channel-5s-age-16341922
