ITV in new crisis over treatment of vulnerable celebs
ITV was last night plunged into a fresh crisis by the death of Caroline Flack over the way it protects vulnerable stars and contestants who appear on its programmes.
The Love Island presenter’s death will reignite concerns over the support that the broadcaster shows to those suffering mental health problems and its ‘duty of care’ towards its stars.
It also comes after a number of former contestants on ITV shows have taken their lives.
New questions are likely to be asked about ITV2’s Love Island, which is hugely popular because of its emotional twists and turns, but which has now been linked to a third tragic death. In June 2018, Sophie Gradon, a former beauty queen and Love Island contestant, hanged herself at her family home in Medburn, Northumberland.
An inquest last year heard that the 32-year-old, who appeared on the show in 2016, died after taking cocaine and alcohol.
Last March, Mike Thalassitis, another contestant, took his own life. The 26-year-old former footballer was found hanged in a park in North London. An inquest into his death heard how toxicology results showed there was alcohol and drugs in his system.
Former Love Island contestant Montana Brown said Mr Thalassitis had been in a ‘dark place’ in the months before his death.
Amid growing criticism, ITV released an updated set of ‘duty of care’ guidelines last May ahead of the show’s fifth season.
Provisions included a minimum eight therapy sessions for each Islander on their return home, plus ‘proactive contact’ from the team for 14 months afterwards.
The production team also worked with Dr Paul Litchfield, a former government Chief Medical
Officer, in a bid to ‘evolve and enhance’ their care arrangements.
Despite the increased focus on the wellbeing of contestants, the show’s bosses will now face questions about the support they showed Ms Flack during her own mental health troubles.
They have already faced claims from within the industry that the presenter was cut adrift after she was charged with assaulting her boyfriend, Lewis Burton.
Friends of Ms Flack – who had fronted the programme since 2015 – complained the broadcaster had failed to back her in the same way it had Ant McPartlin after his drink-drive conviction.
However, criticism has not been confined to Love Island. Last May, ITV axed The Jeremy Kyle Show, which had screened more than 3,300 episodes, after a guest died in a suspected suicide.
An inquest heard Steve
Dymond, 63, feared ‘repercussions’ after failing a lie-detector test on the show. He took the test to convince his fiancée Jane Callaghan that he hadn’t been unfaithful.
Show bosses face claims they failed to back her