Ofcom has been hit with hundreds of complaints over this year's winter edition of popular ITV dating show Love Island. The TV watchdog has said it has received 300 complaints from disgruntled viewers over some of the islanders' behaviour.
It comes as fans have recently taken aim at contestants Tanya Manhenga and Olivia Hawkins for how they have been treated their partners Kai Fagan and Shaq Muhammad in wake of a very chaotic Casa Amor and Movie Night. Ofcom says a large proportion of the complaints came during the first instalment of Movie Night, which took place shortly after an explosive Casa Amor recoupling.
The watchdog says many complaints revolved around "Olivia's behaviour and treatment of Kai." During a recent episode, Olivia blasted Kai in a heated exchange and demanded he issue her with an apology, as reported by the Daily Star.
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She also claimed he called her "fake" and "ingenuine." A number of other complaints were to do with viewers' concerns for the mental health of Will Young, as he seemed to struggle with cope with he consequences of his betrayal towards partner Jessie Wynter.
In the second episode of Movie Night, which is when Islanders are made to sit through clips of antics their partners got up to while at Casa Amor, Ofcom said it was flooded with 266 complaints - with 216 of them directed towards both Tanya and Olivia's behaviour.
During the chaotic scenes, Tanya and Shaq engaged in a seriously heated argument after seeing footage of Tanya kissing Casa Amor hunk Martin Akinola in bed. Men's domestic abuse charity Mankind Initiative has spoken of worries over "gaslighting" and "manipulation" following the Islanders' behaviour, as some of the women on the show have reduced male contestants to tears.
In a statement on MailOnline, the charity said: "Love Island has once again showed that when it comes to abusive behaviours against partners such as manipulation and gaslighting, it affects men as well as women as victims."
"The producers need to make sure they apply the same standards to the male contestants as they have had been forced to in recent years for female contestants. We and our supporters are monitoring the show closely."
Many fans have taken to Twitter to comment on Olivia and Kai's relationship. @leighanneeunwoo tweeted: "Olivia cannot get kai’s name out of her mouth #loveisland." @OffRealityTv said: "Kai 2.0 prioritizing what's best for Sanam instead of Olivia's superiority complex really shows his self awareness - it must take a lot patience to critic Olivia in such an environment."
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