Jameela Jamil has doubled down on her criticism of Love Island, after presenter Caroline Flack defended the show’s lack of body diversity.
The British star, who regularly uses her social media platforms to speak out about issues relating to body image, was unimpressed when this year’s Love Island line-up was announced last week, calling out the limited range of body types among the contestants.
Caroline later responded to this, telling The Sun: “She’s always criticised the show. I wonder if she’s actually watched it, because it isn’t about what you see on face value.”
The presenter added: “I’m a massive fan of Jameela and what she stands for. I’m not in any way putting her down, I really like her.
“Of course, people will look at things on face value and judge them, but the show is so much more than that, it really is.
“And you can only cast a show on who’s right for it, in a relationship sense. It’s a dating show. You can only choose out of the people that apply.
“They’ve just got to be right in that moment, they don’t cast it because of what they look like, it’s who’s in the right moment.”
Jameela has since elaborated more about her thoughts on the show, tweeting: “Sorry Caroline, the show could stand to have some more diversity.
“It’s hard for slim, white, straight people to relate to this sometimes. I understand that. You can’t begin to understand erasure because you’re constantly represented. The show would be even better with diversity.”
Meanwhile, Love Island bosses’ response to the lack of body diversity among this year’s contestants also raised some eyebrows earlier this week.
Some critics on social media were not impressed when the show’s creative director Richard Cowles said at a press conference: “First and foremost, it’s an entertainment show and it’s about people wanting to watch who you’ve got on screen falling in love with one another.
“Yes, we want to be as representative as possible but we also want them to be attracted to one another.”
He added: “We’re not saying that everyone that’s in there is how you’re supposed to look. We’re saying here’s a group of people that we want to watch for eight weeks, and we want to watch them fall in love. That’s not at the front of our mind, but we do want to be as diverse as possible.”
A rep for the show previously said: “When casting for Love Island, we always strive to reflect the age, experiences and diversity of our audience and this year is no exception with a cross section of different personalities and backgrounds in the villa.”
