Who here remembers the fallout from Love Island’s most explosive Movie Night in 2022?
Following the boys pretty much unanimous head turn in Casa Amor (all except Luca Bish got hot and heavy with the bombshells – but we’ll get to him later), that Movie Night saw some carefully edited clips of some of the girls in the other villa and from elsewhere in the series played to the Islanders.
The boys’ response to the footage, in particular Luca’s massive overreaction to Gemma’s fairly innocuous chat with Casa bombshell Billy Brown, racked up over two and half thousand complaints to Ofcom over their ‘bullying and misogynistic’ behaviour. A further 500 have been made about Aftersun comments dissecting what could have gone on with Ekin-Su and bombshell George under the covers at Casa Amor, and of treatment of departed Islander Jaques O’Neill. But in the vast landscape of Love Island complaints over the years, this years’ series so far is barely a puddle.
Love Island's most complained about moments ever
1 of 6314 Complaints 2019 Islander Amy Hart's full scale meltdown when she returned from Casa Amor to find 'half boyfriend' Curtis Pritchard still single, only to be told later that he'd tried to pursue another connection and didn't want to be with her, prompted complaints from 314 concerned viewers worried about her welfare - and 'I was coming here to tell you I loved you!' was cemented in the Love Island hall of fame forever more.
2 of 6709 complaints Maura Higgins in series five was one of the most memorable bombshells EVER, and she wasted no time in setting her sights on Tommy Fury, coupled up with Molly-Mae Hague, the minute she arrived. But viewers weren't quite so enamoured with her when she straddled him on the daybed and tried to force him to kiss her, with 709 complaints about 'sexual harassment'.
3 of 62664 complaints When one half of 2018's golden couple Dani Dyer was shown footage of boyfriend Jack Fincham looking like he was about to cheat on her in Casa Amor, her devastation was hard to watch and Ofcom received 2,644 complaints over concerns they'd manipulated the situation to make good telly, at the expense of fan favourite Dani's emotions.
4 of 6luca-bish-gemma-owen
3,617 complaints The massive overreaction to the Movie Night footage in 2022 saw nearly 4,000 Ofcom complaints over the boys' 'misogynistic and controlling' behavior, and promoted Women's Aid to release a statement. The worst of the shocking behaviour came from Luca Bish, who was utterly horrible to Gemma Owen for the crime of talking to bombshell Billy Brown (his precise accusation was that she was 'entertaining his flirting').
5 of 64,330 complaints 2021's series was one of the most explosive yet, and Faye Winter and Teddy Soares were at the centre of more than their fair share of the dramz. 4,330 complaints were made to Ofcom after Faye was sent a postcard from Casa Amor which appeared to show Teddy telling bombshell he found her attractive and kissing her, calling the move from producers 'unfair' and misleading.
6 of 624,763 complaints But no one could have predicted the fallout from the deception, with Faye losing her absolute shit at a very confused Teddy after his return to the main villa. The ensuing fight - which saw Faye scream and swear at Teddy - received a whopping 24,763 complaints and prompted a statement from a male domestic abuse charity calling her behaviour 'unacceptable'. Many questioned whether a man behaving in the same way would have been allowed to continue in the villa, which in turn sparked a conversation online about wider abusive relationships.