A rep for Love Island host Laura Whitmore has defended the presenter after she received hundreds of complaints after comments about Ekin-Su on Aftersun last weekend.
The Irish woman has come under fire by viewers who have accused her on sl*t-shaming Ekin-Su on her spin-off show, Aftersun - as Ofcom confirms thousands of complaints have been made against Love Island.
Ofcom revealed it received 427 complaints by viewers watching Aftersun, with the majority of complaints related to comments made about the Turkish beauty, and the treatment of Jacques during his interview.
The complaints relate to the 37-year-old discussing Ekin-Su’s reported antics in bed with dumped Islander George – despite the Turkish actress - who is coupled with Davide Sancliment - repeatedly denying anything happened.
During the episode, Laura kicked off by saying: "Once again Ekin-Su swore that nothing happened with George and it seems Davide doesn’t believe her."
As Laura burst into laughter, Tom Grennan exclaimed: "It deffo happened though didn’t it"
Darren Harriott continued: "She said her head never turned but I think her hand might have turned, and possibly wrist."
Instead of shutting down the conversation, Laura then turned to Sian Welby to ask her opinion.
The comments left her family and friends feeling very uncomfortable and the person looking after her account last night tweeted: “The fact that the s*** shaming is being passed off as banter and good television is very concerning at this rate #LoveIsland.”
One said: "Laura is so misogynistic & adding more fuel to the Ekin-Su and George thing when I feel he was bitter he got rejected. It’s unfair when Ekin isn’t there to defend herself. Be kind though?"
Another agreed: "The Love island situation makes me want to scream Laura whatever was very quick to shut down Rachel’s comments about her experience playing the feminist card but was encouraging misogyny towards Ekin-Su."
Jacques also appeared in his first TV interview after he dramatically quit the show to protect his mental health.
Viewers felt he seemed very uncomfortable discussing what had happened as Laura pushed him for answers.
In particular, there was outrage as he was forced to watch Paige kiss Adam and then talk about it.
One concerned person wrote: “Jacques looks broken and on the verge of tears, surely it would have been in his best interest to not make him do aftersun so soon #loveisland”
Another added: “you can tell jacques is genuinely not okay right now itv let him go home #LoveIsland #aftersun”.
But a spokesperson for Laura Whitmore said: "Laura’s job as the presenter of Aftersun is to ask questions relating to what is happening in the main show. This is all that Laura has done on this occasion and suggesting otherwise is simply unfair and false."
Meanwhile, Ofcom also revealed they’ve received nearly 3,000 complaints about Love Island’s Movie Night and Pie challenge.
According to the media watchdog, 2,481 people complained about Sunday night’s episode of the show – which aired scenes from Movie Night.
They listed the reasoning as being “related to alleged misogynistic behaviour by some of the male contestants”.
The following day, viewers saw the contestants take part in the Snog Marry Pie challenge.
A further 413 complaints were made to Ofcom about this episode due to the “alleged bullying and misogynistic behaviour from some of the male contestants”.
A spokesman for ITV said: "Laura is the presenter of the show, and part of that role is to pose questions to the panel and discuss events in the Villa. We do not condone trolling against either our host or our Islanders and any subsequent elevation of these comments.
"We had various measures in place to ensure Jacques' welfare was prioritised at all times ahead of and during his appearance on Aftersun. This included a full briefing with show producers to outline the show's content and likely questioning, a conversation with Laura before and after the show was recorded, and chaperoning from both a welfare producer and a member of his family while he was in studio. Should an Islander not wish to participate in the Aftersun recording, we would always respect that decision."
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