For Caroline’s sake, don’t cancel Love Island
magdalene dalziel
SCOTLAND saw its first Love Island winner crowned on Sunday night as filming wrapped on the winter series.
Paige Turley was more than deserving of her victory in the villa and I can’t wait to see what she does next.
The challenges that await her and boyfriend Finn Tapp in the lucrative world they’re about to step into have been highlighted in the most hauntingly surreal way recently, following the tragic death of Caroline Flack.
But it’s the right decision to bring back the show for its summer run in Majorca, despite calls for its cancellation.
Like many people, I was more affected by the death of former host Caroline than I should have been. She was part of the fabric of the pop culture I grew up immersed in, so she felt like someone I knew rather than a stranger, and her passing made me uneasy, like something wasn’t right.
It’s not, of course – there’s a lot not right, that’s never been more at the forefront of our minds than it is at the moment. And hopefully the one good thing that comes from the loss of someone so young and talented is a resolve to end the spiralling issue of social media trolling, and more awareness of mental health.
But no good will come from picking up pitchforks and pointing fingers of blame and there’s certainly no need for any more of this so-called cancellation culture – not for a while at least. To pull the plug on Love Island would have been a cruel legacy to leave for a woman who, according to her friends and family, adored its existence, regardless of her relationship with it in recent months.
After fronting the show for five years, she was a fan as well as an employee, and the loss of such a bubbly one of their own will have taken its toll on the team she left behind as they battled on to ensure this season was completed.
After emotional tributes by voiceover star Iain Stirling this week, it was plain to see the impact her death was having on her close pals who had to carry on regardless. So to have rewarded them with their P45 would have been a most unfitting way to pay respect to the popular presenter and I’m sure would have been the last thing she’d have wanted.
Caroline’s death was the third to be associated with Love Island, prompting calls for it to be taken off the air. But as stand-in host Laura Whitmore testified, it’s the world outside that poses more danger than the bubble of the ITV villa, so it’s up to us to make a change, not TV chiefs, who are simply serving up what the public want.
Whitmore said her friend “loved to love” – so what better way to honour that than continue her good work for one more time at least?