Now, after so many seasons and more radioactive men than a Marvel film, producers have taken steps to educate would-be contestants.Īde Rawcliffe, director of diversity and inclusion at ITV said in May: “As part of our duty of care process, it is also important we play our part in educating our participants to understand and empathise with different perspectives and lived experiences.” ‘Team’ T-shirts are printed, the ‘bad guy’ is vilified and think pieces with headlines like ‘Love Island proves how radioactive masculinity is right now’ are authored across the internet. Most of the time, battle lines are drawn on social media. In a statement last year, it said: “His behaviour…looked like gaslighting, possessiveness, and manipulation… These are all tactics used by perpetrators of abuse.” A few times - in 2018, 20 - the domestic abuse charity Women’s Aid called out particularly troubling behaviour. And yet each year, as the recoupling commences, #gaslighting starts to trend again on social media. Watching the slow degradation of a young woman’s sanity after her partner repeatedly tells her that his rude, mean or dismissive behaviour is either a) all in her head b) her own fault or c) both, would generally be considered unpleasant viewing outside of a ‘gritty drama’. “ / ITVīy this logic we can also chalk up the poor treatment of women in the villa in general to the fact that we live under a patriarchy. So perhaps it makes sense that I’m no longer entertained by the travails of a group of semi-sentient torsos.
“If I were applying for The X Factor, I’d be ticking the “over-25s” box which, in reality TV terms, means I’m basically dead. But I don’t think it is just age - and Richard and I are not the only ones who’ve begun to find the show about as edifying as a doner kebab pizza (which might be nice on a hangover but does leave a bad taste in your mouth for days afterwards). If I were applying for The X Factor, I’d be ticking the “over-25s” box which, in reality TV terms, means I’m basically dead. It’s possible that, like Madeley, I am now simply too old (sorry Richard) to enjoy the bloated spectacle that is Love Island. They played a snippet of the show’s opening credit music and I felt exhausted to my core.
Announcing the start of the new series of Love Island, one half of the nation’s favourite daytime TV couple put his head in his hands and said “sorry, I can’t summon up the enthusiasm”. So rarely have I allowed myself to succumb to the fear that I might turn into Richard Madeley that when a few weeks ago I found myself nodding along with him on ITV’s Good Morning Britain, it left me physically winded. New West End Company BRANDPOST | PAID CONTENT.Tej Kohli & Ruit Foundation BRANDPOST | PAID CONTENT.