by Thinus Ferreira
M-Net's shoddily produced Love Island South Africa remains badly "affected" across all DStv platforms with the reality show that has been unable to fix embarrassing production problems by Wednesday night's 4th episode while insiders who are "living through a nightmare" admit that the production is" in a total flat spin" over the show's implosion and loss of its main sponsor.
By Thursday morning not a single episode of the cringe-worthy local adaptation of the ITV Studios format show, produced by Rapid Blue, has yet been made available on MultiChoice's DStv Catch Up service, with the pay-TV operator telling DStv subscribers trying to access episodes that the problem with the highly criticised show affects all DStv decoders as well as all other devices.
MultiChoice and its PR company Aprio haven't responded to media enquiries as to why the show is not available on Catch Up, or with comment about the loss of LottoStar that withdrew as the Love Island SA main sponsor on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, pirates have swarmed the show to see and share globally what MultiChoice doesn't want them to replay.
Illegally ripped copies of episodes in pristine 1080p high-definition clarity - including Sunday's mistake-filled debut episode - are available for streaming and download across the internet where they have already presumably been watched thousands of times. M-Net publicists didn't respond to media enquiries about it.
Wednesday night's embarrassing 4th episode of Love Island SA was once again marred by a new contestant, Xavier, whose mic didn't work, bad sound throughout and the narrator speaking over contestants, bad editing, as well as whole scenes literally being replayed minutes later in TV déjà vu.
According to insiders, the crew working on Love Island SA are "in a total flat spin" and feeling as if they're "living through a nightmare" as they are scrambling to try and attempt fixes and workarounds.
Meanwhile, all of the glaring production gaffes, extremely unusual for a show on M-Net as DStv's most premium pay-TV channel, continue to inflict daily reputational damage on MultiChoice, ITV Studios, M-Net, Rapid Blue and the Love Island format name as a brand and made worse by the lack of any communication with the media and DStv pay-TV subscribers.
MultiChoice and Aprio have rebuffed ongoing interview requests to talk to any M-Net executives and Rapid Blue producers for them to explain what the cause of the various persisting issues are around the local adaptation of the ITV Studios reality format show, as well as the controversy about the lack of diversity in casting.
After 4 days there's yet to be a virtual press conference from the pay-TV operator's top execs to take questions with no statements yet from Yolisa Phahle as MultiChoice Group CEO for general entertainment, group executive of general entertainment Gideon Khobane, Nkateko Mabaso as group executive of programming, M-Net director Jan du Plessis; or Kaye-Ann Williams as M-Net's head of local productions.
At Rapid Blue, also responsible for The Bachelorette SA currently on M-Net, Love Island SA is overseen by executive producers Adi de Lancey and Duncan Irvine, series producer Abigail Clark, series director Nadia White, and Kim Thwaites as head of production.
