The previous record for the show was 4,500 complaints against an episode.
The Office of Communications in the UK, known as Ofcom, have revealed that there were almost 25,000 official complaints received about the episode of Love Island that aired on ITV2 (or Virgin Media One in Ireland) on Friday, 6 August.
The complains were in relation to actions within the episode, involving a verbal argument between Faye and Teddy, following some revelations made during the show’s “Movie Night” challenge.
Footage was shown to the contestants on the show of Teddy revealing he was attracted to Clarisse, and fellow contestant Faye reacted to that revelation:
Clip via Love Island
Previously, the most complaints the show had received were 4,500 for the Casa Amor postcard episode, but Friday’s episode had 24,763 official complains sent in to Ofcom on the air date in reaction to the show.
Ofcom took to social media to react to the massively increased number of complaints made against the show:
“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.”
As per the official Ofcom website, if they do decide to investigate the complains, then the following may occur:
“We might judge that an issue is in breach, resolved or not in breach of our rules. We hold these decisions on broadcasters’ compliance records. If a broadcaster breaks the rules repeatedly, or in a way we consider to be serious, Ofcom has the legal powers to impose sanctions on them. Possible sanctions include a substantial fine, shortening or even taking away the channel or station’s licence to broadcast.”
Following the announcement of the complaints, many fans of the show took to social media to ensure that ITV2 will assist in supporting Faye and Teddy when they leave Love Island, in anticipation of a potential public backlash.
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