Former Love Islander India Reynolds is calling on show bosses to feature greater body diversity in the line-up for the upcoming series. India finished third back in 2019 whilst coupled up with basketball player Ovie Soko and was surprised to find she was being referred to as ‘the curvy one’ when she left the villa.
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India told The Sun:
It was mad that I was considered curvy on the show. I’m a dress size 10, which is smaller than average. When I came out, I realised there was a huge misrepresentation of women’s bodies because if people are looking at me and thinking I’m the curvy one then the general scale is way off.
India Reynolds body positivity
This isn’t the first time that India has spoken out about body positivity. She previously said:
I’m absolutely thrilled to be called curvy, I’m really happy with it but it just shows that there is not a very well proportioned selection of women or men in there. If I’m a size 8 to 10 and being put as the 'curvy one', then I don’t think it represents bodies or women very well.
Will there be better body diversity on Love Island 2021?
Reports earlier this year have suggested that Love Island producers are keen to address the lack of body diversity on this year’s show. A source told The Sun that bosses ‘want to make sure that they can't give anyone anything to criticise them over’ and that the casting team had been told to recruit Islanders in ‘all shapes and sizes’.
However, similar promises have been made before and left viewers disappointed when ‘curvy’ Islanders like India and Anna Vakili have been held up as examples of ‘body diversity’ on the show. Meanwhile, plus-size model Jada Sezer turned down a spot in the 2019 villa as she didn’t want the narrative to be about her size.
