Ofcom has received over 300 complaints from viewers of Love Island who claimed contestant Ron Hall was being ‘bullied’ by others in the villa.
On Sunday, fans watched as Hall’s comments about how previous show winners made it to the final without “drama” were misinterpreted by several Islanders, who took his remarks as an admission of his game plan.
Ofcom initially received 245 complaints on Monday, March 5, followed by another 57 on Tuesday, March 6, for a total of 302 related to alleged bullying of Ron by other contestants.
It came after Sunday’s episode as the majority of the Villa gossiped about him behind his back.An Ofcom spokesperson told The Standard: “We are assessing the complaints against our broadcasting rules, but are yet to decide whether or not to investigate.”
The Standard has contacted a spokesperson for Love Island for comment.
Sunday’s tension-filled episode came days after Islanders played A Couple of Sorts challenge on Friday, which saw the couples rank each other and led to explosive scenes.
The challenge prompted Hall to share his opinion about what he thought of previous islanders when he watched the show at home.
The financial advisor shared: “I thought the ones who have their drama nice and early and then get comfy and treat it like a holiday, they’re the ones who are probably like, they just cruise.
“I can see why people probably thought, ‘Oh Lana and Ron are just cruising through.’ I’m not bothered by any of that. As I know I’m not, otherwise I never would have made her my girlfriend, it means too much to me.”
However, fellow Islander Samie Elishi took Hall’s remarks to be an admission of a game plan which resulted in non-stop gossip around the villa.
During Monday’s show, fans watched as Hall took Elishi aside to explain what he meant as he felt she’d misunderstood his sentiment before passing his comments to the others.
In light of the furore in the villa, viewers claimed the Islanders had “twisted” his words and took to Twitter to share their support for the star, who they felt was being “ganged up on”.
One person wrote: “Ngl this is starting to feel like bullying towards Ron” while another tweeted, “Quite ridiculous how they’re all ganging up on Ron.”
A third wrote: “Need to get Ron & Lana into the final to crush everyone ganging up on them, they can have 2nd place. Kai and Sanam 1st place.”
“Low-key feel very bad for Ron,” another shared.
