Yahoo News Love Island star wants show cancelled, calls it a "posh prison "
Yet another Love Island star has joined the chorus of people criticising the ITV reality show following the tragic deaths of two of its former contestants.
While some have called for the programme to take better care of the people who go on it, Zara Holland, who appeared on the show in 2016, states that she wants it axed entirely.
Speaking to the Daily Mail, the reality star has claimed that she felt trapped on the show, and that she was being pushed into acting a certain way.
She said: "You think you're on a summer holiday and you might find love, but you are in a posh prison where you don't know what time it is and a voice in a wall tells you what to do. I honestly believe I was brainwashed.
"Two producers lived in the basement throughout the show. They would say things like: 'Right, Zara. We want you to focus on so-and-so.' You trust them."
"I hadn't been allowed to do anything or go anywhere on my own," she said when talking about the lead-up to the show. "Even when I went to the villa for a photoshoot they put a blindfold on me and two people led me to the car so I could not work out where the villa was."
In the aftermath of The Jeremy Kyle Show being cancelled after the death of one of its guests, Zara said: "How can they contradict themselves by taking one show off and not the other? Am I angry? I'm absolutely fuming. I was only 20."
ITV has responded to her remarks, with a spokesperson stating: "The opinions the islanders have, decisions they make and the relationships formed are completely within the control of the islanders themselves.
"It is always our intention to produce a show that's a fair and accurate representation of life inside the villa."
Producers of Love Island also said in March that they would overhaul their aftercare system for new and former contestants.
Love Island will return to ITV2 on June 3.
Want up-to-the-minute entertainment news and features? Just hit 'Like' on our Digital Spy Facebook page and 'Follow' on our @digitalspy Instagram and Twitter account.
('You Might Also Like',)
