It’s that time of year again when the biggest show of the ITV schedules is shown every night. Love Island has been a television phenomenon, with millions tuning in each night to see who is coupled up with who, and the final winners of the show are guaranteed a new career in the media. Recently, the show has expanded to feature two series a year, one in summer in Europe, and a winter series based in South Africa. Efforts to secure a spot on Winter Love Island were thwarted for convicted criminals after show producers enhanced background checks with the government's Disclosure & Barring Service. Asking all potential contestants to have a DBS check should flag up anyone with a serious criminal history, and whose presence in the house could being the show into disrepute.
Background Checks
All potential contestants who make the shortlist for inclusion in the show undergo stringent screening, encompassing STD tests and criminal background checks, before being accepted. Each season attracts thousands of potential contestants, so screening is only ever possible for those who make it to the final stages of the selection process. Additionally, the production team will scour Islanders' social media profiles to make sure there is nothing in the far past which might come back to haunt them, alongside physical and mental health assessments carried out by medical professionals.
Applications for this year's series of Love Island saw multiple past offenders attempting to join the cast of the show. The ITV production team said that they were ramping up background checks on all contestants at an earlier stage of screening, both to preserve the reputation of the show, and to make sure that there was no danger for other contestants or the production team. As soon as the names of the candidates are released, newspapers and fans will start their own searches on their favourite – or least favourite – contestants, and production wants to make sure that they know about all the skeletons in the closet first.
DBS Checks for Love Island – How Does it Work?
As part of the application process, contestants will be asked to disclose whether they have any criminal record. People may, or may not, choose to tell the truth about their record. The production team may also choose to run a basic DBS check on their contestants, and this will reveal any unspent convictions or cautions only. If at this point the production team find that a contestant has not been honest, this raises concerns about integrity.
A standard or enhanced DBS check would potentially reveal more information about someone’s past criminal record, as these checks may contain information about spent convictions too. However, these checks are restricted to certain occupations, and this doesn’t include appearing on TV reality shows. Production teams will use the basic DBS as a starting point and will carry out other searches on the candidates who they feel have the strongest chance of making it onto the screen.
