WebsiteITV has condemned death threats aimed at Love Island contestant Chloe Burrows as “wholly unacceptable”.
In scenes that aired on Wednesday night, Chloe chose to recouple with Aaron Francis, leaving Shannon Singh single.
The contestants were subsequently informed that Shannon would be dumped from the show as a result.
The family of marketing executive Chloe, 25, said they had subsequently seen “hundreds” of messages including death threats posted on social media.
A statement from ITV on Twitter said: “We want Love Island to be a positive experience for all of our cast and their friends and family members.
“Last night’s episode created strong reactions but some viewers’ posts were wholly unacceptable.
“We take these matters extremely seriously and will support cast members and their families in reporting such posts.
“We would once again urge all of our viewers to think before posting, and remember that our Islanders are people with feelings.”
It comes after a statement from Chloe’s friends and family on the contestant’s Instagram story, which said: “We hate to introduce ourselves under such vile circumstances but we’ve had enough after just three episodes.
“We all have thick skin but the amount of trolling Chloe has been receiving is absolutely disgusting.
“This morning we woke up to yet another DM encouraging Chloe to kill herself – there have been hundreds.”
Referring to the deaths of former contestants Sophie Gradon, who was found dead aged 32 in June 2018; Mike Thalassitis, who killed himself in March 2019 aged 26; and show host Caroline Flack, who took her own life at the age of 40 last year, the statement added: “Have the deaths of Sophie, Mike, and Caroline taught us nothing?
“Not only that, but people are flooding her inbox threatening to kill her themselves. People… this is a game show, there is a cash prize!
“We understand the frustration surrounding Shannon’s eviction – we feel it too!
“She didn’t deserve to leave so early but Chloe does not deserve to die because Shannon had to leave the villa! She will have had no idea of the repercussions of her decisions prior to making it.
“We are not naive. We know that this post won’t put an end to trolling.
“All the advice we get is to ‘ignore it’ and ‘block the trolls’, sometimes it’s not that easy. Our hope is that this just reminds some of you #BeKind x.”
Ahead of the return of the series, ITV published duty of care protocols for contestants, who will be offered a minimum of eight therapy sessions on their return home and will receive training on the impact of social media and “how to handle potential negativity”, as well as training on financial management.
Among the processes detailed for all contributors on Love Island are “comprehensive psychological support”, “detailed conversations on the impact of participation on the show” and a “proactive aftercare package”, ITV said.
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