Love Island boss just blamed lack of body diversity on attraction
ITV bosses are about to get some SERIOUS hate mail after the latest comments on body diversity. Brace yourselves for this one, people, it's an absolute corker.
Richard Cowles, creative director of ITV Studios Entertainment, are claiming that the reason Love Island is lacking body diversity is because they want the contestants "to be attracted to one another".
The reality show has been garnering huge criticism in previous years over failing to cast contestants with a range of body types.
The 2019 islanders for season five were unveiled last Monday, and fans of the show quickly took to Twitter to vent their frustrations.
The contestants are typically toned, slim and bronzed with gleaming white teeth; zero change from the last four seasons. Former stars of the show also expressed concerns at the lack of physical representation.
Cowles suggested the reason Love Island usually shows only one physique is because other body types might be deemed LESS attractive by other contestants, which is something only a massive d*ckhead would say.
“I think we try to be as representative and diverse as possible,” Cowles saisd “It has to come back first and foremost- it's an entertainment show and it's about people wanting to watch people we've got on screen and then reacting and falling in love with one another.
“Yes we want to be as representative as possible but we also we want them to be attracted to one another.” *Sharpens knife*
The Love Island boss continued to dig a bigger hole by saying the show isn’t encouraging people to aspire to a certain body image, it just chooses participants based on who they think the public want to watch for eight weeks.
So basically, only this one narrow body type can appear on television, because the public refuse to watch any other varieties of physiques. Wow.
love the body diversity pic.twitter.com/lnYdvl9QbE
— (@sophiahapril) May 27, 2019
“We're saying here's a group of people that we want to watch for eight weeks, and we want to watch them fall in love,” Cowles added. “That's not at the front of our mind, but we do want to be as diverse as possible.”
Former islanders Alexandra Cane and Malin Andersson both spoke out about their disappointment over the 2019 line-up.
Cane tweeted: “Where the curvy girls at?” while Love Island 2016 star Andersson, wrote: “And I thought they would have some diversity. Meh.”
Where the curvy girls at? https://t.co/pMjKwfPD6a
— (@alexandracane) May 27, 2019
A spokesperson from ITV2 later said:
“When casting for Love Island, we always strive to reflect the age, experiences and diversity of our audience and this year is no exception with a cross section of different personalities and backgrounds in the villa." Maybe strive a tad harder, eh?
The reality show has also received complaints about the lack of care for the mental health of contestants, following the suicides of Mike Thalassitis and Sophie Gradon.
While the series came under scrutiny for reasons of mental health and compassion on social media, it seems the public are still commenting on the bodies of those involved in the new season
I see the same people who were tweeting about mental health issues just a few short months ago when Mike died are now tweeting about how ugly and shit the new group going into Love Island are. The hypocrisy is absolutely astounding.
— Aiden (@aidenlufc) May 28, 2019
The show has since introduced aftercare processes in a string of changes.
Some fans are even calling for the show to be removed from the air entirely, especially after The Jeremy Kyle Show drama.
One thing is for sure, they need to do better. Full stop.
Feature image: Instagram/@loveisland
