THE UK’S BROADCASTING regulator Ofcom has received 24,763 complaints about an episode of the reality series Love Island that aired last Friday.
The Office of Communications said on its Twitter that it is still assessing the complaints, and following that will make a decision whether to investigate or not.
There were 681 complaints about Love Island sent to Ofcom on the previous day, Thursday 5 August, and 294 complaints sent on the following day, Saturday 7 August.
93 complaints were sent to Ofcom about Love Island on Sunday 8 August.
Ofcom said in a statement on Twitter: “We’ve received over 25,000 complaints about last week’s Love Island, which is consistent with a trend of growing complaints about high-profile TV shows.”
“We are carefully assessing these complaints, but have not yet taken a decision on whether or not to investigate.”
It's all over for Faye and Teddy 💔 #LoveIsland pic.twitter.com/x0YtdqIgq8
— Love Island (@LoveIsland) August 6, 2021
Friday’s episode of Love Island featured a dramatic fallout from the ‘Mad Movies’ challenge, where selective clips of each person in the villa were shown to the contestants.
One contestant reacted to a clip by shouting and swearing at the man she was coupled up with, which provoked huge outrage online where it was asked why the producers didn’t step in – though it isn’t confirmed that these were the basis of the complaints.
ITV’s reality show involves men and women living on a villa in Majorca with the aim of finding a partner to couple up with. A one-hour episode of the show airs every day of the week except Saturday, and can involve challenges that the couples partake in.
After eight weeks, the public votes for their favourite couple. The wining couple will have a chance to either split £50,000 between them, or one of the two will have an option to take the £50,000 for themselves.
Irishman Greg O’Shea and Amber Davies were the winning couple in the 2019 season, which also featured the hugely popular Longford woman Maura Higgins.
The show has proven a huge ratings hit for ITV in recent years, but has also attracted controversy amid concerns for the well-being of some previous contestants.
The show didn’t air last year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
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