The beleaguered reality TV show’s woes continued Tuesday as LottoStar announced its withdrawal as a sponsor.
This follows a huge outpouring of criticism by viewers on social media after the first episode aired Sunday night with a predominantly White line-up featured on the show.
Just three Black contestants entered the villa, two men and one woman, viewers were not impressed, pointing out that despite South Africa having a population of more than 80 % Black Africans, the show featured mainly White contestants.
Durang Atembe, 22, Asad Boomgaard, 24, and 26-year-old female, Thimna Shooto, are the only Black contestants on the show. The globally popular format sees 10 hopefuls, five men and five women, shut up in a villa together for six weeks as they search for love.
This lack of diversity coupled with some major technical errors Sunday night, has seen the backlash continue to grow – hence the loss of LottoStar as the headline sponsor. They took to Twitter to make an official statement.
"LottoStar has taken the decision to respectfully withdraw its sponsorship of Love Island SA. We wish the show and its contestants every success” - Director, LottoStar. #LoveIslandSA
— Lottostar (@Lotto_Star) March 2, 2021
M-Net has acknowledged the outcry and issued a statement saying: “We’re sorry, we didn’t meet our usual standard on both counts.” Rapid Blue is the production company behind the show.
— M-Net (@MNet) March 2, 2021
