ITV has responded to Love Island viewers after the first episode came without subtitles, days after introducing the show’s first Deaf contestant Tasha Ghouri.
The new series of the hit ITV2 dating show launched on Monday night, with a new cast of boys and girls entering the villa in the hopes of finding love and winning a share of that £50,000 prize fund.
In a Love Island first, the singletons’ fate was in the hands of the public, as they got to decide who coupled up with who – with Tasha pairing up with estate agent Andrew Le Page.
During last night’s episode, fans were in awe after Tasha called a group meeting to share that she wears a cochlear implant.
However, viewers took to Twitter to complain about the lack of subtitles, which left many unable to locate the accessibility feature.
‘Imagine #LoveIsland having their first deaf contestant but still not having subtitles accessible when watching live on ITVHub,’ one person wrote.
‘The irony of having a deaf cast member but no subtitles on this show #loveisland.’ another added.
The network addressed the controversy on social media and wrote: ‘We’re sorry for the disappointment. We’re working on subtitle offering including on the live streams so watch this space!’
A spokesperson told Metro.co.uk: ‘All Love Island programmes will carry subtitles on ITV2 and for catch-up on the ITV Hub.’
Tasha – who has been Deaf since birth – won’t require additional support for her hearing difficulties while on the show, and her implant provides a sensation of hearing to people who have permanent, severe to profound deafness, and cannot hear the full range of speech sounds with standard hearing aids.
Love Island 2022 is now well and truly underway, with comedian Iain Stirling back with his voiceovers and wife Laura Whitmore back as presenter.
Elsewhere during Monday’s debut, Davide Sanclimenti made a late arrival as this year’s first bombshell, and is sure to cause disruption tonight when he chooses agirl to couple up with.
Love Island returns tonight at 9pm on ITV2.
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