Love Island 2023 is in full swing, with Casa Amor week and the ever dramatic Movie Night out of the way as the islanders continue to do their best to find romance while under 24 hour surveillance and at the mercy of viewers back home.
As we have seen since the beginning of June, with love and lust comes plenty of drama – with Love Island becoming as well known for its explosive arguments and shocking twists as it is for uncovering true love.
The ITV dating show has been embroiled in a fair share of controversy since it first launched in 2015 from fiery contestants to X-rated moments and thousands of complaints to Ofcom along the way.
Here, we take a look back over some of the most outrageous and darkest moments in Love Island history as Ofcom has released it's complaints bulletin from last week, with 1000 people flocking to the watchdog to complain about the 'cruel' way in which Scott has been treated recently.
Scott V Catherine and Leah
Love Island fans have flocked to Ofcom in their droves to hit out at the islander's 'bullying behaviour' towards contestant Scott van der Sluis.
Following Movie Night and the drama that surrounded Casa Amor week, Scott, 22, found himself wrapped up in the scandal as Catherine Agbaje came back from Casa with a new man after failing to find a strong connection with Scott.
After accepting his fate while watching Catherine move on with her new hunk, Scott found himself caught up in even more drama when Movie Night got heated after a clip from Casa Amor week saw the footballer cheekily confess that he 'won't miss' Catherine once the new girls arrive.
Scott had told Catherine that he had stayed loyal throughout his time at Casa Amor, but things took a turn for the worst when the Dublin-born islander saw with her own eyes that he hadn't been as loyal as she hoped he would be.
As Catherine's fury rose, Leah Taylor suggested that Scott was only single at the recoupling because 'no one wanted him' - before Scott immediately hit back at her cruel comments.
Scott savagely told Leah that it was the first time he had heard her speak in four weeks as he called out the blonde beauty for attacking him in front of the villa.
Following the clash between the pair, 957 complaints were made to Ofcom after viewers found Leah's comments overly harsh and felt as though Scott was being ganged up on in the villa after Catherine turned her back on him in Casa Amor.
As the days continued, Scott appeared to become more insular and hurt by the actions of the other islanders - especially Leah and Catherine who viewers claimed 'had it in for Scott'.
Taking to Twitter at the time, one user wrote: "Not going to lie, I couldn't watch tonight's episode because I can't stand bullies and Catherine and her sidekicks are indeed bullying Scott right now."
"Not Scott who is the nicest boy in the villa being BULLIED right in front of our eyes," another fumed.
"Catherine and Leah both need to leave the villa!!! They are so cruel and mean to Scott. Everyone seems to forget that he was left on his own when she came back from Casa Amor," someone else insisted.
"I’m calling Ofcom over the Scott’s bullying it’s too much," another threatened.
Further complaints shedding light on bullying have been issued on social media, with Love Island viewers pleading with producers to step in and take action over some of the other islander's treatment of Scott.
Fake news
So far there has been only one winter edition of Love Island – with contestants flying off to South Africa in January 2020 to search for love in a villa.
But controversy was sparked during this season as the long-running ‘Mean Tweets’ challenge was replaced with a News Splash challenge.
Eventual winner Paige Turley was left enraged when a headline was shown to her that cast doubt on her romance with Finn Tapp as it read: “Casa Amor causes Callum, Finn and Nas' head to turn on tonight's Love Island.”
But Finn protested his innocence while Paige became upset – with viewers also being angered by the headline as it turned out to not be as clear cut as it suggested prompting some fans to brand the task ‘Fake News’.
Similarly, in the 2018 series Dani Dyer went into meltdown over a misleading snap of her then-beau Jack Fincham in Casa Amor.
Dani was left in floods of tears after a postcard arrived at the main villa that seemed to suggest Jack was up to no good with the bombshells down the road.
The episode landed the ITV show in hot water with 2,5000 viewers complaining to Ofcom.
Casa catastrophe
The Casa Amor challenge has proved to be both a highlight and a low point for viewers – as couples are put to the test as they are divided up and housed with a whole host of new singletons.
Ultimately, it is a test to see how strong a relationship is – but viewers and contestants alike cannot hold back the tears when once loved-up duos find themselves torn apart due to wandering eyes.
The 2019 season was particularly tough for viewers as dancer Curtis Pritchard admitted that his head turned towards Jourdan Riane – bringing an end to his romance with Amy Hart.
This combined with the fact that Michael Griffiths savagely dumped Amber Gill in favour of a new romance with Joanna Chimonides sparked over 300 Ofcom complaints from upset viewers.
Postcard meltdown
As seasoned Love Island fans will know, one of the most dramatic weeks on the series is when the original couples are torn apart to face a test of loyalty in Casa Amor.
But in 2018 show bosses were accused of trying to ramp up the drama to cruel new heights.
Poor Dani Dyer was left in floods of tears when her partner Jack Fincham was seen appearing to kiss another girl in a postcard sent to the girls' villa, when actually he had been nothing but loyal.
After the episode aired, Ofcom received 2,644 complaints about the show.
Bad romance
Complaints from viewers and a women’s right charity brought shame on Love Island in 2019 – due to the ‘controlling’ behaviour of contestant Joe Garratt.
Viewers grew concerned when they saw Joe becoming ‘possessive’ of Lucie Donlan – prompting over 300 complaints to Ofcom.
Co-chief executive of Women's Aid, Adina Claire, hit out at the show at the time, saying: "Controlling behaviour is never acceptable, and with Love Island viewers complaining to Ofcom in record numbers about Joe's possessive behaviour towards Lucie, more people are becoming aware of this and want to challenge it.
“Abusive relationships often start off with subtle signs of control, so it's important that it is recognised at an early stage. Love Island viewers are now very vocal in calling out unhealthy behaviour between couples on the show, and this is a positive development."
Sex-shamed
With the contestants of Love Island all forced to sleep in one room – and to share a bed – there has been a fair amount of intimate action taking place under the covers on the show.
In the years since Love Island was rebooted in 2015, steps have been taken to protect the reputations of the contestants, with duty of care rules dictating that they shouldn’t be shown on camera getting intimate.
But this rule came in too late for 2016 contestant Zara Holland who got intimate with Alex Bowen on the second season of the show.
Despite both being consenting adults, Zara was, many feel, unfairly punished for having sex on national television – and was stripped of her Miss Britain beauty contest title after scenes aired on ITV2.
Race row
Contestant Lucie Donlan said she had been sent death threats after a race row broke out with her co-stars.
Lucie said she had trouble pronouncing contestant Yewande Biala's name and asked if she could use a shortened version.
Yewande said: “I corrected her multiple times, I didn’t mind, because you are going to get it right.
“There was a moment just before a challenge. This was after three weeks in. She mispronounced my name, I correct her again and her reply was ‘yeah whatever you know what I mean’. I remember one of the producers putting her arms around me.”
Yewande “being black on TV means not rising [sic] your voice, not being too defensive, because you don’t want to [enforce] the narrative of being an angry black woman or being a bully”.
After she spoke out, Yewande was supported by several of her Love Island co-stars, including the series winner Amber Gill.
Lucie said: "These are really old comments dug up purely to incite a row between two females.
“In this day and age and with everything going on in the world, we should all be sticking together – not attacking each other.
“I’ve been sent death threats which are incredibly scary as you can imagine. I said on the show I had trouble pronouncing Yewande’s name, it’s just what I’m like.
“And I asked if I could use a shortened abbreviated version of her name instead as a term of endearment – there’s nothing sinister to it.
Nuclear Winter
The 2021 series of Love Island sparked the highest number of Ofcom complaints ever launched against the show due to an explosive argument between Faye Winter and Teddy Soaer.
Faye erupted at her boyfriend after being shown a photo of him locking lips with another woman – although this was as part of a challenge.
When he returned form Cast Amor, she launched into a rage-filled, expletive-ridden diatribe of abuse that sparked 25,000 complaints.
Fans on social media complained that the scenes were difficult to watch and some petitioned to have Faye removed from the show – while a men’s domestic abuse charity branded her behaviour “unacceptable”.
Tragedy
Love Island has also endured tragedy over the years.
The show’s former host, Caroline Flack, took her own life at the age of 40 in February 2020.
The presenter’s death came after two other Love lsand contestants took their own lives.
Mike Thalassitis, 26, died in Enfield, north London, in March 2019, while Sophie Gradon, 32, died in June 2018.
Miss Gradon’s boyfriend Aaron Armstrong, 25, died three weeks after he found his girlfriend.
The tragedies led to increased scrutiny on ITV over the reality show’s aftercare.
The show went on to make a series of changes as ITV’s “extended duty of care protocols”.
Dr Paul Litchfield, who was appointed by ITV in 2018 when it launched a review of Love Island’s participant welfare processes, said: “The importance of promoting good mental health and avoiding psychological harm is now well understood and the measures ITV has put in place to safeguard the welfare of participants continue to evolve.
“Being thrust into the glare of intense public scrutiny can be daunting and providing effective support to people living through that experience is critical.”
In May 2019 ITV released a comprehensive new set of duty of care processes ahead of the fifth series starting, which was later won by Amber Gill and Greg O’Shea.
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Love Island continues tonight at 9PM on ITV1 and ITVX
