Love Island UK boss: Including gay contestants presents "a logistical difficulty"

Jezebel

Responding to rumors that the British reality show would feature gay and bisexual contestants, ITV commissioner Amanda Stavri told Radio Times: “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 per cent straight, the format must sort of give (the) Islanders an equal choice when coupling up." As Justice Namaste argues, the "logistical difficulty" is a pretty bad excuse. "I wonder how much each of these people gets paid to not be able to figure out something as simple as how to include people who aren’t straight on a dating series. Like all existing dating shows, Love Island was clearly designed with heterosexual couples in mind, but 'logistical issues' are pretty pitiful reasoning to hide behind when you’re literally responsible for designing and executing the show. Isn’t it part of their job to handle 'logistical issues,' even during the straight seasons? These tired excuses for heterosexism fall especially flat after the success that MTV dating show Are You The One? saw with its recent season that featured a 'sexually fluid' cast. For Season 8 of the series, all cast members identified as bisexual or pansexual, and their 'perfect match' could be any other person on the show, regardless of gender. It’s not difficult to imagine how a similar approach could be applied to the format of Love Island."