It appears things are not going well for the recently premiered Love Island SA as the show has lost it’s lead sponsors, Lotto Star. This follows backlash for the show’s lack of diversity and poor production.
Lotto Star has announced that they are parting ways with the MNet production. The company took to social media to share the news.
“Lotto Star has taken the decision to respectfully withdraw its sponsorship of Love Island SA. We wish the show and its contestants ever success”- Director.
This follows a social media outburst at the lack of diversity on the show. With 10 contestants, only two are black in a country whose population is 80% black. This wasn’t welcomed well by viewers who took to social media to lash out at the production. Viewers promised to boycott show due to the lack of diversity.
DSTv took to apologizing for the error and promised to rectify the situation.
“Viewers can be assured that this will become more apparent in future episodes of Love Island SA. We hope viewers will keep watching to enjoy the new stars of the show who will be arriving over the next few days, ” said DSTv’s spokesperson.
However, the production has been scrambling to make amends and restore the excitement that viewers had for the show before it premiered. In their attempt to restore the image of the show, the show has announced. Unfortunately their attempt at saving face was exposed on Twitter by a lady whose cousin has been recruited for the show.
“Yes because they contacted my cousin who they had rejected her application. She even said she is in a relationship now but they said she must just come and act. And yes she was given 24hrs to prepare herself etc as it’s a good opportunity for her to get in the industry”.
However, the outcry was not directed at the lack of diversity only but at the poor production as well. A lot of complaints regarding the show’s song and general poor quality were also aired.
MNet also issued an apology to the public that wasn’t well received.
“You called us out on the lack of diversity and production quality in our first episode of Love Island SA. We’re sorry- we didn’t meet our usual standard on both counts. We are working tirelessly to fix things, and to deliver the Magic you deserve.”