The brains behind Love Island have shared how their welfare team are tackling the next season after BBC Panorama's explosive documentary about welfare on Married At First Sight UK19:47, 27 May 2026Love Island bosses have revealed how recent controversies regarding welfare on dating shows have impacted their own practices. The show is set to return on 1 June, just a few weeks after a BBC Panorama documentary on the welfare team on Channel 4 show Married at First Sight UK was released.‌Speaking to the Mirror ahead of the first episode, executive producer Lewis Evans addressed welfare, saying: "We take welfare very seriously." He added that the structure of the show is helpful to ensuring the contestants are looked after.‌"Love Island is a fixed week show," he said. "It is six weeks long and the Islanders are always being filmed. There are cameras everywhere and they are always monitored. We always make sure they're OK."‌Ben Webster, ITV's director of programme publicity, also said: "Welfare is ever evolving." When it was mentioned that some former Islanders have had glowing things to say about the Love Island welfare team, such as season five's Molly-Mae Hague who said they were "incredible", Webster added: "It's not for us to say if we do a good job, but it's gratifying to hear that Islanders have said good things about our welfare team."This comes after Panorama released their documentary, titled The Dark Side of Married at First Sight, earlier in May. The documentary featured allegations from two brides of sexual assault whilst on the show, and a third bride accused her on-screen partner of sexual misconduct. One of the brides also alleged that the welfare team had dismissed her concerns, even when she told them that her onscreen husband threatened to through acid on her.‌In a statement sent to the Mirror, Priya Dogra, Chief Executive of Channel 4 said: “I want to express my sympathy to contributors who have clearly been distressed after taking part in Married at First Sight UK. The wellbeing of our contributors is always of paramount importance.“It would be wholly inappropriate for me to comment on what are very serious allegations made against some MAFS UK contributors. Those allegations – which I understand are disputed by the contributors accused – are not something that Channel 4 is in a position to adjudicate on. We are also mindful of our ongoing duty of care to all contributors, and the need to preserve the anonymity and privacy of all involved“On the claims that Channel 4 may have failed in its duty of care, I believe that when concerns about contributor welfare were raised, and based on the information available at the time, Channel 4 acted quickly, appropriately, sensitively and with wellbeing front and centre.‌“Nevertheless, because we aspire to the highest standards of contributor welfare, I felt strongly as Channel 4’s new CEO that it was right that we look again at how we handled issues raised at the time and ask whether changes should be made to further strengthen contributor welfare.“That’s why last month I commissioned an external review of contributor welfare on MAFS UK. That review will report to me in the coming months. We take these issues very seriously and are committed to ensuring that we continue to lead the industry in our duty of care for contributors.”‌Since the documentary, some have said this is the end of dating shows. But, Love Island's commissioning editor Amanda Stavri appeared to feel differently. Whilst talking about the longevity of the series in a press Q&A, she praised the ITV show's latest series ability to draw in viewers: "Last year was really successful. It had over 200 million streams on ITVX. It was the biggest rated series since 2022 and it was the summer of twists and turns. The viewers really loved that and engaged with it."There are key differences between Married at First Sight UK and Love Island. Firstly, the couples on Love Island are not fixed nor do they enter into a quasi-marriage. On the Panorama documentary, it was revealed that the marriage aspect did affect some women, with one contestant, who went by 'Lizzie', saying of her 'husband': "We were in our apartment on the sofa, and he tried to have sex with me, and I kept saying no, that I didn't want to do it, but he kept saying ‘you can't say no, you're my wife’, and just did it anyway."On Love Island, the contestants are also almost always around many other people, including when they sleep, rather than put in a private apartment with their partner. they are also filmed constantly. Writing for the Guardian after the Panorama documentary aired, series seven contestant Sharon Gaffka said: "On shows such as Love Island or Big Brother there is at least constant oversight.‌"Cameras in effect roll 24/7. There are microphones everywhere in the Love Island villa, including the bed headboards. Welfare checks are regular, to the point that producers even monitor how much water contestants are drinking." She added that though these formats are not "faultless", the documentary suggested there was less oversight on Married at First Sight.Love Island has faced its own controversies, particularly after the suicide of season three contestant Mike Thalassitis following social media trolling after the show. Women's Aid have also released statements in multiple years, calling some of the behaviour of contestants misogynistic. Last year, they made a complaint about Harrison Solomon's treatment of Lauren Woods and Toni Laites.‌In response to these controversies, Love Island have reviewed their duty of care protocols every year to ensure that their welfare practices improve in line with what contestants are actually facing. As such, their protocols incorporate Islanders' feedback. For instance, in 2023, following a trial period, the show started to ask participants to pause their social media handles whilst on the show, to make sure they and their families are protected from social media trolling whilst their in the public eye.Season five contestant Amy Hart explained why this was so important: “I didn’t really take into account when I went into the villa that although my best friend was really excited to run my social media account, it was me that signed up to do the show, not my family and not my friends."But it was them that had to read the death threats and it was them that had to read the horrible messages. Whereas when I came out, I came out to a great reaction because of the way that I left, and they were the ones who had a hard time when I was in there.”Article continues belowFor more of the latest showbiz news and gossip, follow Mirror Celebs on TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Threads.