Vanessa Feltz spokes about her harrowing experience with disgraced former entertainer Rolf Harris after picking up on the Married At First Sight UK rape allegations. Two brides were allegedly raped by their onscreen husbands, while a third described an allegation of a non-consensual sex act, according to a BBC Panorama documentary.

The presenter then drew on her own experience when she was on Channel 4's The Big Breakfast in 1996 and recalled the 'on the bed' interview segment to highlight the challenges women are facing when it comes to calling out unacceptable behaviour. Mentioning on her own show, Vanessa, she said: "It's well documented that Rolf Harris was on the bed with me on The Big Breakfast. And I felt something and I heard a noise and it was my dress going up and up and up and up and up on live television, as Rolf Harris, you know, moved his hand further and further and further and further up my thighs."

"And one of the issues is you don't want to ruin the atmosphere of the programme, you know, the Big Breakfast was watched by children. It was very positive. It was very good fun. It was lively... Rolf Harris, his wife, was standing right next to him about three feet away. And... I didn't want to ruin the atmosphere of the show by saying, you know, Rolf Harris, get your hand off my thigh," she added.

At that moment, Vanessa came up with an idea to stop him. She explained: "So I did something as a presenter you're not allowed to do, which was I threw to an unplanned commercial break."

She said there was not even a "tiny glimmer" of recognition on Harris's face afterwards that he had done anything wrong.

In 2014, Harris was jailed on 12 counts of sexual assault against four women but victims argued his sentence of five years and nine months was too short. He was released from prison in 2017 - but never apologised to his victims.

Rolf died at the age of 93 in 2023 and according to his death certificate, he died of neck cancer and "frailty of old age" at his home in Bray, Berkshire, on May 10.

In response to the MAFS UK rape allegations, Channel 4 has removed all episodes of the series from its online streaming platform. They said in a statement on Monday: "In April, Channel 4 was presented with serious allegations of wrongdoing against a small number of past contributors, allegations that we understand those contributors have denied."

Priya Dogra, chief executive of Channel 4, said: "I want to express my sympathy to contributors who have clearly been distressed after taking part in Married At First Sight UK. The wellbeing of our contributors is always of paramount importance."