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Love Island South Africa producers promise more diversity after criticism

Love Island SA Love Island South AfricaLove Island SA
Images of contestants have been shared on social media

The makers of Love Island in South Africa have promised more diverse contestants will feature on the show.

The starting line-up for its new series was criticised by some viewers for being predominantly white.

Only three of the ten contestants were black, despite South Africa having a population that is more than 80% black according to recent data.

A spokeswoman for DStv said "we pride ourselves in reflecting diversity and inclusion for all our shows".

She added: "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."

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The black male contestants are Asad Boomgaard, a 24-year-old from Johannesburg and 22-year-old Durang Atembe from Cameroon.

Thimna Shooto, 26 from Mossel Bay, is the only black female contestant to feature so far.

Criticism came mostly from viewers on Twitter, with comments made about how the show does not represent the people who live in South Africa.

Historically, a much higher proportion of black South Africans have lived in poverty. In the first half of the last decade, the proportion of black and coloured (the term used in the country for people who are mixed-race) people in poverty increased, according to the government's own data.

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The show is made by production company Rapid Blue for the DStv network.

The commercial arm of the BBC, called BBC Studios, is a majority shareholder in Rapid Blue, which makes a number of reality TV shows in South Africa including The Bachelor and I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here.

Love Island has now been franchised to several countries across the world, including the USA, Germany, France and Norway after the popularity of the British version.

Australia's latest season of the show is being broadcast in the UK from this week.

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