- Women’s Aid, a domestic abuse charity, has said it has been forced to act due to being tagged in multiple social media posts by viewers of Love Island.
- The charity suggested that producers in the show have missed “an understanding of controlling behaviour in relationships” in its inclusion training for contestants.
- The show’s contestants are given training around appropriate behaviours and sensitive topics, including disability and race, before entering the show.
Viewers have had some concerns over the past few days about how some of the islanders have treated other contestants, mainly aimed at the male participants. Former contestant Jacques was criticised for the way he treated his partner Paige before leaving the villa on mental health grounds. Luca, another participant on the show, was also condemned for accusing Gemma, his partner, of flirting with another contestant called Billy. Luca’s family released a statement about the incident suggesting that Luca would be “embarrassed and deeply apologetic” if he watched back the show. Women’s Aid communications chief Teresa Parker said that the charity has offered help with these concerns going forward with ITV and the producers of the show.
Acknowledging these concerns, an ITV spokesperson has said: “We cannot stress highly enough how seriously we treat the emotional well-being of all of our islanders. Welfare is always our greatest concern, and we have dedicated welfare producers and psychological support on hand at all times, who monitor and regularly speak to all of the islanders in private and off-camera.”
Love Island: big on entertainment yet lacking in morals.
Love Island has been a show trending for many weeks now, bringing a lot of laughs, joy and downtime for its viewers. The more the show has gone on, these laughs and joy have turned into concerns and disturbances. The scenes projected on our screens are worth discussing, especially how the producers have allowed them to happen. Even before Luca accused Gemma of flirting with another contestant, he showed signs of questionable controlling tendencies. You could see the toxic way Jacques treated Paige from a mile off, yet the producers did nothing for the sake of “entertainment.”
What isn’t entertaining is seeing men or women put locks over someone else because they have deep insecurities that they haven’t addressed. Love Island has again moved past the entertainment line to something disturbing and traumatic for viewers who have experienced controlling relationships. The show has a duty not only to its viewers but to society to call out when this line is crossed and condemn incidents over the past few days. The way Love Island has done nothing enables such manifestations of toxic relationships in society. A show can do as much training as possible, hire as many therapists and claim to value the safeguarding of contestants, but at the end of the day, it has done nothing to prevent such scenes that have become a toxic cycle year by year.
The show has zero ability to provide entertainment whilst respecting the sensitivities that come with relationships.
Love Island is big on entertainment but lacks morals, and the past few days have shown why this holds true.
Will this change is something I have no hope for.
