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Irish Mirror
Irish Mirror
Entertainment
Sandra Mallon

Love Island slammed for its public voting after huge matchmaking twist

Love Island became embroiled in a race row after fans slammed public voting on the show.

The 10th series returned on Monday night, with host Maya Jama at the helm.

In a new twist to the show, the public had their say before it aired about which contestant should be paired up with each other.

The first couples for this series are Ella Thomas and Tyrqiue Hyde; Ruchee Gurun and Medhi Edno; Andre Furtado and Catherine Agbaje; Mitchel Taylor and Molly Marsh and Jess Harding and George Fensom.

READ MORE: Love Island bombshell as League of Ireland footballer tipped to enter villa

But viewers hit out at the results of the public vote, which saw Catherine and Andre paired up.

One Twitter user wrote: “Every single year it’s the two token Black islanders that get coupled up,” while another chimed in: “THEY PUT THE BLACK GIRL WITH THE BLACK GUY?! SHOCK!!!!’

“Who in the public keeps putting the only 2 black ppl [sic] together own up,” complained another.

“Did voters think it was a game of “match the skin colours”?” asked one fan while another chastised the British voting public for “literally just play match the skin colour every time.”

Another wrote: “The general public cannot be trusted. EVERY year they couple people up together by race.”

Another tweeted: “Soooo the public decided lets put the 4 white people together, two black together, two mixed race together and the Asian and French together..... sure, love island producers asked US to vote... we didn't vote sh*t. I don't know why I'm surprised.”

During last year's summer series the show came under fire when four black contestants were the first to be dumped from the dating show.

Ikenna Ekwonna and Amber Beckford were kicked out of the villa after being voted the public's least favourite boy and girl, while Afia Tonkmor and Remi Lambert were axed the previous week after failing to successfully couple up with any of the other islanders.

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