Love Island UK Has Received 781 Complaints — Here’s Why

Uhhhhhh, quite a handful. Love Island has got some explaining to do to a whopping 781 fans, although I understand that they’re actually past that number.

According to Variety, on June 6, The British reality show received over 781 complaints since its premiere. “So far we have received a total of 781 complaints about the current season of ‘Love Island,’” a spokesperson for Ofcom, a UK media regulator, told the outlet on Tuesday.

Viewers have specifically expressed concerns about “bullying on the show, contestants’ wellbeing and mental health, certain contestants getting more screen time than others and the age gap between contestants on the dating show,” the outlet reports.

Love Island — The Reason For The Complaints

It’s been a thing of constant complaint about how a certain Gemma Owen who is said to be the daughter of a former England Soccer Star, gets more screen time than other contestants in the show. I kind of get their point here, I mean, viewers didn’t turn on their TV just to see one person every time, it’ll be boring. Someone even tweeted: “Michael Owen must co-produced this show, Gemma is getting bare unnecessary screen time.” Some viewers even dubbed it “The Gemma Show.”

To add to their anger, the 19-year-old Gemma Owen was coupled with a man Davide Sanclimenti who is 8 years older than her. The age gap got fans riled up, and comments like “ewwww I’m sorry but why does davide as a 27 year old want to be coupled up with a 19 year old,” and, “Keep gemma away from davide. she’s a teenager and he is nearly 30 i am not here for it.” filled everywhere on Twitter.

Love Island — This Isn’t The First Time Fans Dish Out Complaints About The Show

If you think this year’s show has several angry fans, you obviously don’t know about last year’s season 7 show. That show alone garnered about 25,000 complaints from fans, with many of them about a contentious argument between contestants Faye Winter and Teddy Soares.

In the episode, a contestant Faye Winter was coupling with another contestant Teddy Soares, when one day, Winter caught Teddy kissing another contestant Clarisse Juliette and confronted Teddy. Most of the complaints received by Ofcom were related to the way Winter confronted Teddy.

“We’ve received a high volume of complaints about last week’s Love Island, which is consistent with a trend of growing complaints about high-profile TV shows,” Ofcom said at the time. “We are carefully assessing the complaints we’ve received, before deciding whether or not to investigate.”

No action was ever taken and Winter and Soares eventually reconciled, finishing in third place.

The show – which features a six-night-a-week broadcast schedule – has faced prior scrutiny following the deaths of former contestants Sophie Gradon and Mike Thalassitis by suicide, as well as host Caroline Flack.

The deaths have launched conversations about the impact “Love Island” has on its participants’ mental health. In response, ITV – the network on which the series airs – now provides contestants with mental health services, among other support.

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