The dating contest show, LOVE Island, has its casting team actively seeking out potential participants with a visible disability for its next season.
According to a source, ”It’s all part of the show trying to be as diverse as possible. The final line-up hasn’t been sorted yet but it would be ideal if they had at least one disabled islander.”
One potential star is influencer and para-athlete Milly Pickles, 26, who had her leg amputated after being electrocuted.
Love Island previously featured Niall Aslam, 25, who revealed his autism diagnosis after leaving the villa prematurely in 2018.
He later told fans that he quit the show because of psychosis and hallucinations, eventually ending up in a psychiatric hospital.
ITV has faced much criticism for its lack of diversity in casting, specifically with race and body shape.
In 2019, Richard Cowles, creative director of ITV Studios Entertainment, defended the show.
“I think we try to be as representative and diverse as possible. It has to come back first and foremost – it’s an entertainment show and it’s about people wanting to watch people we’ve got on screen and then reacting and falling in love with one another,” he said.
“Yes we want to be as representative as possible but we also want them to be attracted to one another. We’re saying here’s a group of people that we want to watch for eight weeks, and we want to watch them fall in love. That’s not at the front of our mind, but we do want to be as diverse as possible,” added Cowles.
