Love Island boss says gay contestants would present ‘logistical difficulties’
But Islanders "don’t have to be 100% straight," says commissioner Amanda Stavri.
Words: Jamie Tabberer; picture: Past contestants on Love Island (ITV)
Love Island commissioner Amanda Stavri has said including gay contestants on the show presents “logistical difficulties”.
Reports of a ‘gay Love Island‘, or of gay contestants on the regular version of the show, have circulated for years but never come to fruition.
Now, with Stavri’s comments about the show’s rigid format, it looks unlikely things are about to change.
“Islanders don’t have to be 100 percent straight”
Speaking to the Radio Times, Stavri said there have been “quite a few rumours circulating about featuring gay Islanders, so it’s worth touching on that really.
“The line-up will be announced within time and it goes without saying that we want to encourage greater inclusivity and diversity.”
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Stavri then added: “In terms of gay Islanders, I think the main challenge is regarding the format of Love Island. There’s a sort of logistical difficulty because although Islanders don’t have to be 100 percent straight, the format must sort of give [the] Islanders an equal choice when coupling up.
“With our dating shows, such as The Cabins, there is much more sexual diversity. The formats don’t have as much restrictions as Love Island. So we’re very sort of mindful of that across our programming on ITV and dating series. But that’s the difficulty with Love Island.”
Back in 2016, Kaite Salmon became the first bisexual star on the show and was briefly coupled up with the late Sophie Gradon.
Love Island launched in 2015 and was presented by Caroline Flack until her suicide in 2020. It has since been presented by Laura Whitmore. The upcoming 2021 series will once again be filmed in Mallorca and launch on 28 June.
Last year Noah Purvis, a contestant on the US version of the show, was axed after it emerged he’d performed in gay porn.
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