Love Island bosses say new duty of care guidelines won't affect how they make the show
Love Island series five will still test the couples’ relationships with its trademark shock twists
The fifth season of Love Island will feature just as many shocks, twists and surprises as previous series, ITV bosses have said, despite suggestions that new guidelines could make producers more cautious about allowing upsets in the villa.
The show recently changed its duty of care processes following the suicides of series two Islander Sophie Gradon and series three contestant Mike Thalassitis, adding therapy sessions for Islanders on their return home as well as "proactive contact" from the team for a period of 14 months afterwards and offers of social media and financial training for those who may struggle outside the villa.
The recent events led many to wonder whether particular formats may be toned down or missing from the new series.
However, ITV executive Angela Jain was keen to state that the show will feature as many dramatic twists and turns as it has done in previous years.
“[The new aftercare procedures] are in no way going to impact the editorial of the show, or see us make the show differently,” she told RadioTimes.com and other journalists in Majorca.
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“Obviously we’ve published our duty of care statement, and where we are compared from the first series is completely different.
“The level of scrutiny from everyone has changed and the profile of the show has changed. It would be entirely normal to keep evolving those aftercare procedures.
“But we always say this, to the Islanders and to you and to the public – we’re trying to mirror real life here, and relationships in real life get tested and that is entirely normal. So we are going to, and the Islanders are fully aware their relationships will be tested.
“That’s what the expectation is for the audience and definitely for the Islanders.”
It has previously been reported that popular yet controversial format points, such as Casa Amor and the lie detector test, could be scrapped from the new series.
And Jain confirmed that the new series will see "tweaks" in the format.
“We are going to do some tweaks,” she said. “The lie detector is one episode and one element of 57 episodes. It’s not even a big deal in the format of the show. We are often reacting to the narrative in the villa, so we try and be entirely flexible about that."
Love Island launches Monday 3rd June on ITV2
