LottoStar Terminates Sponsorship Deal With Love Island SA After Only One Episode Was Aired
LottoStar Terminates Sponsorship Deal With Love Island SA After Only One Episode Was Aired. LottoStar has terminated its sponsorship deal with Love Island SA; it released a tweet that said, “LottoStar has taken the decision to respectfully withdraw its sponsorship of Love Island SA. We wish the show and its contestants every success,”. LottoStar did not mention their reasons for ending the sponsorship deal. The first episode of Love Island was aired on Sunday and it was met with a lot of criticism as people noted that the show did not represent the diversity of South Africans as the majority of the cast are white people. The show was also criticised for its poor production quality.
M-Net issued an apology on their Twitter account that read, “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.”
The channel’s broadcaster, DStv, told TshisaLIVE that, “We pride ourselves in reflecting diversity and inclusion for all our shows, including Love Island. The many channels and thousands of programme hours we produce are testament to this. Viewers can be assured 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 that will be arriving over the next few days. We understand viewers’ disappointment in relation to the production quality and would like to apologise for the technical issues experienced yesterday Sunday and are working hard to resolve them,” said DStv spokesperson Sbu Mpungose.
Love Island is an American dating reality show based on the British series Love Island. The series was announced and commissioned in 2018, by CBS. It premiered on July 9, 2019, on CBS. The series is simulcast in Canada on CTV, with the second season also airing in Australia on the 9Now streaming platform.
ITV Studios’ power format Love Island continued its global expansion and reached its 20th territory. The first season of Love Island South Africa was launched on M-Net 101 on DStv in February 2021. The dating reality series will be recorded in the Western Cape and produced by Rapid Blue. Love Island is owned by ITV Studios and Motion Content Group Ltd and is distributed internationally by ITV Studios.
Challenges abound with new Islander arrivals and dramatic twists as friendships and relationships form. In addition to choosing their partners wisely, Islanders must also win the hearts of viewers who have the opportunity to shape events on screen and ultimately crown one lucky couple the winners, who will then have the chance to walk away with both love and the cash prize of half a million rand.
