In one evening, reality show Love Island features 3 couples having sex but gets more complaints for on-screen smoking than sleaze!
IT follows a group of barely dressed twenty-somethings pole-dancing, playing risque games and even having sex in front of the cameras in a so-called pursuit of romance.
But if you think reality TV show Love Island sounds sleazy and too downmarket, it seems you’re in the minority.
Far from being put off by the explicit content, millions are tuning in to watch the show – and, surprisingly, a majority are middle class, well-educated and regard it as a guilty pleasure.
Even when viewers are shocked, they complain more often about the programme showing smoking than about the rampant sex scenes.
And rather than being a bit embarrassed about watching it, many openly talk about how ‘addicted’ they are to the show, including a string of celebrities.
The show involves young singletons being left in a villa on the Spanish island of Majorca under constant surveillance – with night-vision cameras filming their bedroom antics.
To stay in the competition, they have to complete often explicit challenges and form relationships – but the couples frequently change, with a continuous process of dating, break-ups and recoupling. The winning pair, as voted by the public, will win £50,000.
On Monday evening, three couples were shown engaging in sexual acts – with one pair having intercourse on a sofa while two others romped under the covers in a communal bedroom. Another duo in Tuesday’s episode were shown having sex in the middle of the day after searching the villa for a suitable spot, eventually settling down on another contestant’s bed. But just 15 out of 46 complaints lodged with regulator Ofcom against the ITV2 show were about its X-rated nature. Viewers were more upset about seeing contestants smoking, which received 24 complaints. Others were upset about bad language, sexism, an alleged racial slur and a homophobic term. Perhaps the most surprising part of the show’s success has been its popularity among those in the ABC1 social category – the upper and middle classes – who make up 50.6 per cent of viewers. This has risen from 40 per cent since 2015, when the first series was aired. Hordes of celebrities have also admitted to being ‘addicted’ to and ‘obsessed’ with the show, which has even been discussed on Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour. Fans include Susanna Reid, Rebecca Adlington, journalist Rachel Johnson and
Poldark actress Elise Chappell. Even former England cricket captain Michael Vaughan has admitted he is hooked, and former Oasis singer Liam Gallagher said he stopped watching coverage of Glastonbury music festival to watch Love Island.
Members of the British and Irish Lions rugby squad were photographed catching up on the action in a break from training in New Zealand, while Wimbledon tennis stars Heather Watson and Laura Robson have both been following the series during their preparations.
Viewing figures for the show, which airs six nights a week, have soared since the first series and now exceed two million.
An average of 1.52million tune in at 9pm while hundreds of thousands more watch it on catch-up services.
The programme commands almost 8 per cent of the overall TV audience, compared to the typical share of just 2 per cent. Tues- day’s episode was watched by 1.5million – more than double the 693,000 who tuned in to the equivalent episode in the second series last year.
Challenges the contestants have engaged in during this year’s show have included a kissing competition and passing a cocktail from mouth to mouth. The live final is set to take place at the end of this month.
Commenting on the sexual antics, commissioning editor Amanda Stavri told The Guardian: ‘We don’t want Love Island to be a grubby show.
‘Yes, we include some sex scenes, but the truth is, sex is part of relationships and part of every couple’s journey. We’re not interested in the act itself, more why the couple have decided to take their relationship to the next stage and how it might impact the rest of the group.’
An ITV spokesman also defended showing smoking, saying scenes where contestants are seen puffing on cigarettes are only included if they are ‘having conversations which we believe to be editorially important to the narrative of the show’.
Campaigners warn that reality shows are becoming increasingly explicit. Sex scenes have featured in Channel 5’ s Big Brother and full nudity has been shown on the Channel 4 dating show Naked Attraction.
Last year’s Love Island series triggered outrage when close-up footage of a couple having sex was shown just nine minutes after the 9pm watershed.
Ofcom ruled the scene did not breach its rules, which campaigners branded ‘irresponsible’. Sam Burnett, of MediawatchUK, said: ‘Apparently it’s now OK to show two people having sex nine minutes after the watershed as long as you play some jaunty music over the top of it.
‘Ofcom’s lip-service regulation is leading to a freefall in television standards, and it’s the viewers who are losing out.’