Love Island did not breach broadcasting rules by showing Dani Dyer getting upset after seeing a video of her boyfriend Jack Fincham, Ofcom has said.
More than 2,500 viewers complained to the broadcasting watchdog after she burst into tears when she learned Jack was in another villa with an ex-partner, causing her to think that their relationship may be in jeopardy.
The complaints were in relation to Dani’s “distress”, and the regulator agreed it made for “upsetting viewing”.
But Ofcom said that viewers of the ITV2 dating reality show should come to expect scenes of that nature.
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A spokeswoman for the regulator said: “We carefully considered viewers’ concerns about the wellbeing of a female contestant on this established reality programme.
“While we understand her distress made for upsetting viewing, we consider that viewers are likely to expect emotionally charged scenes that have been engineered to test contestants’ relationships.”
Ofcom said it received a total of 2,644 complaints about the episode, which aired on July 1, involving EastEnders actor Danny Dyer’s daughter.
The watchdog will also not pursue complaints made involving former contestant Adam Collard’s treatment of Rosie Williams.
Across two episodes in June, 44 viewers complained about Adam and the way he acted towards Rosie, with whom he had been coupled up until Zara McDermott entered the villa.
One of the scenes that prompted the complaints saw him appearing to smirk while Rosie told him how much he had hurt her by embarking on a new romance with Zara.
An Ofcom spokeswoman said: “We carefully considered viewers’ concerns about the treatment of a female contestant by a male contestant on this established reality programme.
“While we appreciate this made for uncomfortable viewing for some people, we consider that viewers are likely to expect emotionally charged, confrontational scenes involving couples breaking up.
“Other contestants also expressed general disapproval in response to the male contestant’s behaviour.”
“We did not, therefore pursue these complaints.”
Adam later said that he was not smirking at Rosie, who was crying at the time of the heated chat, and that their conversation had been “massively cut down”.
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He said, during an appearance on Love Island spin-off show Aftersun: “I wasn’t laughing at her being upset… The conversation was going on so long, I couldn’t get a word in edgewise, she was speaking at me and I didn’t get a chance to defend myself or explain the situation.
“I was laughing at not being able to speak.”
He added: “I could understand why people were getting upset, but I really didn’t intentionally try to upset her, and it wasn’t nice to see her upset at all.”
Love Island airs 9pm on ITV2.
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