Love Island was the TV show with the most complaints made to Ofcom in 2022. Over 2,000 people contacted the regulator to express their opposition after the infamous Movie Night episode, which aired on July 17.
Many viewers were horrified by what they saw as misogynistic behaviour by some of the men on the show towards the women, with particular concern over the treatment of Ekin Su and Tasha Ghouri. Ofcom said of the issue: "Complaints related to alleged misogynistic and bullying behaviour by some contestants in the villa, and we carefully assessed each and every one of these complaints.
"We ultimately concluded that the programme did not warrant formal investigation because of how this behaviour was put into context on the programme."
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Second on the list of most complained about shows was I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!, with many fans objecting to ex-Health Secretary Matt Hancock's appearance. However, hundreds of people also complained about how he was treated on the programme, The Sun reports.
Ofcom said: "Under our rules, and taking into account freedom of expression, there is no ban on any particular person taking part in programmes.
"However, if the inclusion of someone in a programme is likely to cause offence, we expect broadcasters to take steps to mitigate or justify that offence. How they do that editorially, is up to them."
Other TV programmes to prompt complaints included Friday Night Live, Jeremy Vine's Channel 5 show and the FIFA World Cup Final. Good Morning Britain and Sky News also made the top 10.
A one-off reboot of Friday Night Live caused controversy in October when comedian Jordan Gray stripped completely naked and played the keyboard with her penis. She later wrote in the Independent that she did it so "trans people around the country [could] see their body represented on screen".
Hundreds of people also complained after presenter Richard Madeley appeared to defend death threats to MPs on an episode of Good Morning Britain. The 65-year-old host was heavily criticised after questioning whether abuse received by Labour leader Keir Starmer was a "big deal".
Mr Starmer had been sent death threats after former Prime Minister Boris Johnson falsely accused him of failing to prosecute Jimmy Saville. During a discussion on the issue, Richard asked: "Well I was going to say, actually, is that that big a deal?"
The top ten most complained about TV shows in 2022 were as follows:
- Love Island, ITV2, 17 July - complaints related to alleged misogynistic and bullying behaviour by some contestants in the villa.
- I’m a Celebrity.... Get me out of here!, ITV, 6-27 November - viewers objected to the inclusion of Matt Hancock in the series.
- Friday Night Live, Channel 4, 21 October - complaints related to a performance by Jordan Gray.
- Love Island, ITV2, 19 July - complaints related to alleged misogynistic and bullying behaviour by some contestants in the villa.
- Good Morning Britain, ITV, 15 February - complaints related to comments made by Richard Madeley about death threats made to Keir Starmer.
- Jeremy Vine, Channel 5, 24 January - viewers complained about a health consultant’s inaccurate statement about numbers of unvaccinated people in hospital with Covid-19.
- Love Island, ITV2, 18 July - complaints related to alleged misogynistic and bullying behaviour by some contestants in the villa.
- I’m a Celebrity.... Get me out of here!, ITV, 13 November - viewers objected to bullying behaviour against Matt Hancock.
- FIFA World Cup Final 2022: Argentina v France, ITV, 18 December - complaints related to politicised comments from Gary Neville.
- Sky News, Sky News, 10 September - a Justice for Chris Kaba walk was reported as people on their way to pay tribute to the late Queen. Ofcom is investigating whether this breached our rules on due accuracy.
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