Let’s be honest, as much as we love it, Love Island isn’t without its controversy. Whether it’s the shameful trolling of the Islanders on social media or the problematic actions of the Islanders themselves, every season generates plenty of debate. But nothing seems to generate more conversation than the challenges on Love Island.
And with the return of the Heart Rate Challenge last night for Love Island series 11, we thought we’d have a look back over the years at the different controversial challenges that our Islanders have been subject to. Brace yourself, there’s been a lot – and that’s without delving into the whole problematic and sexist costumes that the girls are forced to wear.
Heart Rate Challenge
There can be no denying that Love Island is a sexy show, but the Heart Rate Challenge amps that up another level.
The premise? The Islanders are forced to parade around in skimpy outfits in an attempt to get the Islanders of the opposite sex’s heart rates going. When we say ‘skimpy’ however, we’re only really talking about the girls’ outfits. The boys’ are usually more hilarious than sexy.
This year’s Heart Rate Challenge had some mixed reactions on social media. Some viewers loved it, others weren’t so keen.
Snog, Marry, Pie
Ah the challenge that ensures that everyone’s beefs and secret crushes are all out in the open, what could go wrong? Well it turns out a lot, because in 2022 the level of animosity directed at Tasha Ghouri in that challenge generated 1,509 Ofcom complaints.
A spokesperson for Ofcom said, 'On July 19 the majority of complaints were about alleged misogynistic behaviour from the male islanders towards the female islanders, including in the aftermath of the Snog, Marry, Pie challenge.'
The following year however when it was used to call out Messy Mitch’s bad behaviour however? Phenomenal TV.
Movie Night
Potentially the greatest challenge on Love Island, we love it when the Islanders suddenly become privy to their fellow contestants' snide comments and naughtiness. Actions need to have consequences.
Again this challenge isn’t without its controversy however (well, what did you expect? This is an article on the most controversial Love island challenges after all) because in 2021 Faye Winter received 24,763 Ofcom complaints for her reaction to a clip of her partner Teddy Soares telling a fellow contestant that he was attracted to her.
Lie Detector Test
There’s a reason why this challenge hasn’t made an appearance on Love Island since 2018 – it just caused too much drama. In fact on series two, it nearly broke up golden couple Alex Bowen and Olivia Buckland. Imagine if it had worked!
Twitter Challenge
Look, as exciting as it was to learn that Stormzy was a fan of Love Island, it was crazy that his tweet was used to out Olivia Attwood like that.
The main problem with the Twitter Challenge was that often the tweets were out of date by the time that the challenge came around, and so arguments were started for no good reason.
Perhaps that’s why producers also made the decision to cut this challenge from the show in 2019.
Rating The Contestants
Now, the decision to rank their fellow contestants from best girlfriend/ boyfriend material to least is pretty problematic. Especially because the Islanders hadn’t even been in the villa an hour before Maya Jama was asking them make some pretty dramatic decisions.
After a little bit of offence caused, the Islanders soon moved on got stuck into villa life. Considering this was the first time that Islanders had ever been paired up in such a way, we wonder if they’ll bring it back next year?
Daisy Hall is a News and Entertainment writer on Grazia, specialising in TV and film meaning that you can count on Daisy for the latest (and best) recommendations.