A recent episode of ITV’s Love Island sparked almost 25,000 complaints to regulator Ofcom, a record for the show.
Friday’s instalment saw Faye Winter confront her partner Teddy Soares over footage, shown without full context, from Casa Amor week.
The week places male and female contestants in separate villas with the chance to be unfaithful. Most of the 24,763 complaints related to Faye’s behaviour. Ofcom is deciding whether to launch an investigation, reports BBC.
“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,” a spokesperson for the broadcasting regulator said.
“We are carefully assessing the complaints we’ve received, before deciding whether or not to investigate.”
Ofcom said the “vast majority” of the complaints related to the fallout from the Movie Night challenge, which involved islanders viewing footage of each other’s behaviour while living apart in separate villas during Casa Amor week.
A clip of Teddy showed him telling Clarisse Juliette, who has since been eliminated, that he was attracted to her.
He also told her he was “technically single” during a flirty exchange and the pair were then shown kissing during a challenge.
However, he did not act on his remarks outside the game, otherwise remaining faithful to Faye. After the clip was played to the islanders, Faye, who has admitted to trust issues, launched into an outburst.
The heated exchange sparked a debate over Faye’s behaviour and Love Island’s production values. The pair reconciled on Tuesday, with Faye saying: “I am really sorry for the way I spoke to you.
“There’s no excuse for the way I spoke to you or how I raised my voice and no-one should have someone speak to them like that.”
The 6 August episode attracted six times the previous highest number of complaints made about a single episode so far this series, which started in late June.
ITV has not commented.
Previously, more than 4,000 viewers complained that July’s Casa Amor postcard episode was manipulative toward the female islanders.
The mental health of Love Island contestants and the aftercare offered to them has come under increased scrutiny in recent years.
ITV introduced revised duty of care protocols this year, including training islanders on how to handle the “potential negativity” of social media.
