With this year’s new season of Love Island right around the corner, it begs the question, how many Ofcom complaints need to be received before enough is enough?
Love Island is infamous for its good looking contestants, dramatic confrontations and flirty lingo, but another thing it has become synonymous with over the years is Ofcom complaints. The show received a record level of complaints back in 2021 for season seven, with 36,324 complaints being made, according to the organisation. It was one scene in particular that outraged viewers the most, with the bulk of those complaints coming from an argument between Faye Winters and the counterpart in her couple, Teddy Soares. 24,763 people found it offensive enough to launch a complaint to the communications regulator. The outburst came after videos were shown on a fan favourite challenge, movie night. Faye was unhappy with the videos she saw of her partner, admitting he was attracted to a girl during the Casa Amor split. The record for complaints before Faye’s altercation was 4,330, from the same season, for the postcard that was sent to Casa Amor.
The challenges on Love Island have always been slightly contentious, with viewers simultaneously loving the drama they bring but worrying for contestants’ mental health. In recent years, Love Island has attempted to become more focused on supporting the mental wellbeing of contestants, partly because of the complaints but also due to the contestants who have taken their own lives since appearing on the nationally loved show. Sophie Gradon of season two passed away in 2018 and Mike Thalassitis of season three died the following year. Both contestants were reportedly battling with their mental health after the show and since, measures have been put in place by managers and producers to protect contestants. Social media comments are disabled and contestants are no longer allowed to have posts on their own accounts during their time in the villa, as well as changes have been made to the way the show itself runs.
To a lot of viewers dismay, well loved challenges have been removed from the show, including the mean tweets challenge, the lie detector and the headline challenge, and Faye’s infamous movie night challenge was not featured in last years show. Viewers have gone to social media to talk about how they’re missing these challenges with one saying “GIVE US THE TWEET CHALLENGE!!!Some of these islanders are looking a little too comfortable in that villa.”
Whilst these moments were entertaining, producers seem to have recognised the impact these moments have had on mental health of participants with the movie challenge being the newest in a long line of challenges to be axed. There have never been as many complaints since season 7 but the show does still tend to receive a lot of complaints. So when will enough be enough? The implications of reality TV and ethics have always been debated and potentially none more so than Love Island, if people are still so unhappy with the treatment of contestants then what more can be done by producers? Maybe the beloved show has run its course. Whatever your opinion, it’ll certainly be interesting to see if the new season continues to receive lots of complaints.
Here’s our expert, Lydia Guttridge, assistant psychologist, thoughts on the ways Love Island contestants are protected. If you’re interested in hearing more like this, give our podcast as listen!
