'Love Island' is reportedly set to cast its first disabled star.
Laura Whitmore
The ITV2 dating show - which will return later this month, hosted by Laura Whitmore - is attempting to be "as diverse as possible" for the upcoming series.
An insider told The Sun newspaper: "Casting are actively approaching for someone who visibly has a disability.
"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."
Last week, TikTok star Milly Pickles, who is an amputee, revealed she turned down the chance to appear on this year's 'Love Island'.
She said: "Just thinking – I was asked to go on 'Love Island' this year and I said no but, would would I have been the first disabled Love Islander?
"And does this mean that they’re being more inclusive? Because if so, fabulous. I cannot wait to watch.
"They contacted me and I had calls with various people but I pulled out because I realised, 'Why am I doing this? It doesn’t align with who I am.'
"That’s not the point I’m making though. I’m saying that, because they got in contact with me and I’m disabled, does that mean that they’re going to bring other disabled people in? Because hopefully."
The programme has been criticised in the past for having a lack of body diversity in its line-up.
In 2019, Richard Cowles, creative director of ITV Studios Entertainment, said: "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.
"Yes we want to be as representative as possible but we also want them to be attracted to one another.”
On the subject of diversity, ITV commissioner Amanda Stavri recently said including gay contestants could present a "logistical difficulty".
She explained: "The line-up will be announced within time and it goes without saying that we want to encourage greater inclusivity and diversity.
“In terms of gay Islanders, I think the main challenge is regarding the format of 'Love Island'. There’s a sort of logistical difficulty, because although Islanders don’t have to be 100 per cent straight, the format must sort of give [the] Islanders an equal choice when coupling up.
“With our dating shows, such as 'The Cabins', there is much more sexual diversity. The formats don’t have as much restrictions as 'Love Island'. So we’re very sort of mindful of that across our programming on ITV and dating series. But that’s the difficulty with 'Love Island'.”
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