Dr Alex slams idea of Winter Love Island — but praises show for ditching lie detector
The A&E doctor thinks a winter edition runs the risk of "devaluing" the hit dating show
Former Love Island contestant Dr Alex George has slammed ITV2's decision to air a winter edition of the dating show early next year, branding it a "mistake".
George, who starred in last year's series alongside eventual winners Dani Dyer and Jack Fincham, said that the winter edition — which will kick off in South Africa in "early 2020" —would risk "swamping the market," and eventually "devaluing the show".
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"I don’t really understand why they need to do it. It’s a summer show," he told Racing Post. "Sometimes you can overkill it by swamping the market with too much Love Island, I think it’s a mistake.
"I don’t understand the logic. The anticipation of the show is what people like, if you just give them Love Island all the time they’ll get fed up."
He said the summer edition, which runs for eight weeks, "requires too much attention" and that it's a big ask to expect "people to pay attention almost the whole year round".
"I think it devalues the show, not so much the contestants. They’re risking devaluing the show by doing it," he finished.
But the former contestant did praise the show for axing the Lie-Detector Challenge, claiming the test "simply does not work".
"It was so inaccurate. Some of the things they said were true and false didn’t match up with what we felt was happening on the inside," he said.
"I can't remember what it was but I answered a question truthfully and it said it was false. The more you protest, the more everyone thinks you're definitely lying. Detectors which measure pulse or respiratory rate aren't that accurate quite frankly. I am glad it has gone, hopefully forever."
RadioTimes.com previously approached ITV for comment on the broadcaster's decision not to include the challenge this year.
The Love Island final airs at 9pm on ITV2 on Monday
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