ITV2 series “Love Island” has drawn over 781 complaints in the space of four weeks.
Complaints about the show, which is in its eigth season, were made to U.K. media regulator Ofcom. The show launched on June 6 and runs in a stripped format from Sunday to Friday on ITV2.
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“So far we have received a total of 781 complaints about the current season of ‘Love Island,’” an Ofcom spokesperson confirmed to Variety.
According to Ofcom, viewers were concerned 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.
Contestant Gemma Owen, whose father is former England soccer star Michael Owen, got plenty of screen time earlier on in the season, leading viewers to nickname the series “The Gemma Show” on Twitter. At 19, Owen is also the youngest contestant, and was at one point paired with 27-year-old Davide Sanclimenti before they both “re-coupled” with other contestants.
Owen is currently coupled with 23-year-old Luca Bish.
Couples are expected to sleep in the same bed and partake in raunchy challenges together.
This year’s complaints pale in comparison to last year’s, however, when one episode drew a record 25,000 complaints after couple Teddy Soares and Faye Winter had an intense argument, with most of the complaints about Winter’s behavior.
“Love Island” has come under intense scrutiny in recent years following the deaths by suicide of two of its former contestants as well its host Caroline Flack.
Still, the show, which runs for approximately two months, remains a hit for broadcaster ITV, debuting with 2.4 million viewers for the first episode of the season. Yesterday (Monday) evening, it recorded its biggest audience of the season with 3 million viewers across all devices.
“Love Island” as a series has also been been streamed 130 million times on ITV’s digital platforms, according to the broadcaster.
When approached for comment regarding this year’s complaints, a spokesperson for ITV referred Variety to its duty of care protocols, which state that all contestants have access to mental health services among other support.
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