Love Island bosses have promised to support the contestants families both before and after the show amid recent reality deaths.
The ITV2 show, which returns on June 3, have written an extra clause in the stars' contracts which vows to help the loved-ones of cast mates, as well as the contestants themselves.
It comes in the wake of the suicides of Sophie Gradon, 32 and Mike Thalassitis, 26, who appeared on the reality series in 2016 and 2017 respectively.
Taking action: Love Island bosses have promised to support the contestants families both before and after the show amid recent reality deaths
The extension in the welfare section means the whole family can have the support of ITV bosses throughout the duration of the Love Island experience.
A source revealed to The Sun: 'They’ve put in measures to ensure all contestants have enough mental health checks and have a psychologist on call 24 hours a day.
'They’re taking their duty of care very seriously which is why they’ve written the support for families into the contract for the first time.
'Love Island is a fun show. They want to keep it positive.'
MailOnline contacted a representative for Love Island, who said: 'We have always ensured that the families of Islanders have the contact details of key members of our production team and there is always an open line of communication. We have always offered support to families where appropriate and when requested.'
Extra support: The ITV2 show, which returns on June 3, have written an extra clause in the stars' contracts which vows to help the loved-ones of cast mates, as well as the contestants themselves
Everyone at Love Island is so shocked and absolutely devastated with the tragic news of Mike Thalassitis.
The Mike we knew was a remarkable and charismatic young man who made a huge impression both on the Love Island team and on viewers of the show. Our thoughts and deepest sympathies are with his family and friends at this difficult time.
When something so awful happens it is natural to enter a period of soul searching and ask whether anything could have been done to help avoid something so terrible happening. It is not for us to speculate on the reasons behind this tragedy and what is so heartbreaking is that we simply cannot know.
Our show put Mike in the spotlight with all the ups and downs that brings. Mike’s TV career took off with Love Island and he went on to take part in other reality shows as his career grew.
Since the terrible news there have been a lot of people questioning Love Island’s processes and aftercare. Many of the things that have been said about them bear no relation to the support we offer. We want to outline our care processes.
As the show has grown ever more popular and our Islanders get increased attention in an ever changing landscape, each series we evolve the support we give them.
Our duty of care is a continuous and ongoing process for each Islander. This follows three key stages; pre-filming, filming, and aftercare. We work with both an independent GP and a psychological consultant to provide an assessment of the physical and mental health of each of the shortlisted cast members and their suitability for inclusion on the programme.
The medical team also contacts each Islander’s GP to check they feel that person is able to take part. We ask for full disclosure from potential cast members to these health professionals so that so that we can support them appropriately. As TV producers, we rely on medical experts to assess both mental and physical health to ensure that each candidate is suitable for inclusion.
Care continues whilst the Islanders are in the villa. We have a medical team on location which includes a psychological consultant. They not only look after Islanders’ healthcare needs, but also monitor them to check that there are no emerging signs of any problems developing whilst they are in the villa. Additionally, several of our senior team, who monitor the cast around the clock, have been trained in mental health first aid.
When the time comes for each Islander to leave the show, our aftercare process kicks in. Every Islander has a series of debrief meetings on location with the executive team and the medical team, including the psychological consultant. After this, they are told how to access after care support as well as information on seeking professional representation. They also meet with the press team the day after leaving the villa and are briefed and advised on their press coverage whilst in the villa.
We have had requests for help from former Islanders, and have provided this.
We have always recognised that this should be an evolving process and six months ago we engaged Dr Paul Litchfield, an experienced physician and a Chief Medical Officer, to independently review our medical processes on Love Island. He has extensive experience of working with large companies and Government in the area of mental health.
This review has led us to extend our support processes to offer therapy
