‘Love Island’ bosses have spoken out to defend the show from claims of “fakery” on the most recent series.
On multiple occasions during its eight-week run, viewers accused producers of staging or reshooting various bits of action in the villa.
Most notably, they were caught out when fans noticed they had filmed a controversial kiss between Georgia Steel and Jack Fowler from two different angles.
However, ITV’s head of digital channels and acquisitions, Paul Mortimer, insisted there was no “fakery” on the show, but did admit producers often guide contestants.
Speaking at the Edinburgh TV Festival, he said: “We’re not making that show [‘Big Brother’], we don’t need to create that show – [we’re creating] a bigger, better more flexible show, we have producers, who happen to be sometimes in the villa…
“We have to feed them [the contestants], that’s where some of the criticism started to emerge because the show is now so successful, people were looking to create stories about ‘Love Island’, it’s not fakery at all.
“It’s just the hand of a producer to create a show people are enjoying,” he insisted.
Angela Jain, who is the managing director of ITV Studios Entertainment, also revealed viewers’ reactions on social media impacts how each episode is formed.
She said: “If you’ve got 24 hours of footage to turn into 47 minutes of television, you’re editing a show by its very nature.
“Our job as producers is to tell what we believe are the stories that are going to go somewhere that will have an impact. Like with Casa Amor, the fallout from that is then played out in terms of the TV show.
“We’re starting with a blank sheet of paper every day, looking at audience feedback from [the digital team], and feeding it into what we think might do well, but being completely flexible as producers to what is happening in the villa and what people are talking about in the real world.
“That flexibility is part of its success,” she added.
More than 550 contacted Ofcom after Georgia and Jack’s kiss due to the subsequent treatment of Laura Anderson.
The media regulator later declared that they wouldn’t be taking the matter any further, as they didn’t feel ‘Love Island’ breached any of their guidelines.
