‘Love Island’ Contestants To Have Social Media Accounts Taken Away During Ninth Season As Duty Of Care Regs Tightened

deadline.com:

Love Island contestants will have their social media accounts taken away for the duration of the upcoming winter season and receive “guidance and training around mutually respective behavior in relationships” following thousands of complaints earlier this year.

For the first time in the show’s history, the ninth winter season will oblige the contestants to pause all activity on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and nothing will be published on their behalf.

Ordinarily, Islanders’ accounts are overseen by friends, relatives or PR professionals during their time in the villa, in order to drum up support and build up their brand. “The bold decision to pause Islanders’ social media activity during the new series is testament to ITV’s serious intent, especially as this input provides both a benefit to the appeal of the programme and a potential source of mental health problems,” said Dr Matthew Gould, a Psychologist who consults on the Lifted Entertainment show.

The “enhanced safeguards,” as described by Gould, also include the contestants “receiving guidance and training around mutually respective behaviour in relationships” prior to the start of the show.