NB. This piece from June 2019 has been republished ahead of the launch of Winter Love Island 2020

The new Love Island cast are ugly. One of them looks like a creep. One of them looks like a “gobby bitch”. Another – 18,000 people agree – looks like a prostitute. These are all opinions posted to Twitter since the cast of Love Island 2019 were revealed less than a week ago.

When the new series begins, most Love Island viewers won’t be following along on just one screen. Over the last few years, the reality TV contest has become a Twitter phenomenon – in 2018, it was the most-tweeted about television show of the year, inspiring six million tweets over the summer.

From serious discussions about racism and consent to sleuthing for second camera angles to prove Jack kissed Georgia, live-tweeting is a huge part of Love Island’s appeal. But after two former contestants died by suicide last year, we must all think twice about what we tweet when watching the show.

On June 20 2018, Sophie Gradon – a model who appeared on series two of Love Island – was found dead in Northumberland. Three months before she took her life, the 32-year-old spoke at a conference about cyber-bullying, telling the audience that she “descended into quite a dark, dark place” after appearing on the show. Gradon said online abuse left her feeling “vulnerable, unsafe and upset”, adding: “I started to believe what these people were saying about me was true.”