by Thinus Ferreira
A "soft reboot" to reset and re-introduce DStv
subscribers to what the show could be is coming to Love Island South Africa on
M-Net (DStv 101) with the local version of the ITV Studios format that will see
the return to the schedule of the first Love Island SA: Unseen Bits episode on
Sunday night.
The reality show produced by Rapid Blue got off to a disastrous start on M-Net two weeks ago when it was marred by heavy criticism over its lack of
diversity in casting of the so-called Islanders, the quality of the "villa" set
on a wine farm in the Western Cape, as well as a litany of cringe-worthy
production mistakes ranging from sound and editing to camera quality and a host
of other technical aspects.
LottoStar pulled out of the show as its main sponsor and M-Net
didn't place any episodes on MultiChoice's DStv Catch Up service.
Weekday
episodes were not available earlier on a new feature called "Early Access" as promised, while insiders said that the crew is in a "flat
spin" and feeling as if they’re "living through a nightmare" while they were scrambling to try and attempt fixes and workarounds.
Meanwhile illegally ripped and recorded copies of Love Island SA episodes also
immediately found their way to streaming and download across the internet.
Parody accounts and hate-watching of the series started, and M-Net also pulled the plug on all Love Island SA repeats and reduced the
original episode order by axing the first Love Island SA Unseen Bits episode
that would have started last Sunday.
At Rapid Blue 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.
Now M-Net and the producers are trying to reset expectations
around the series that follow contestants who have to couple up or get dumped,
and has returned Love Island: Unseen Bits to the schedule for Sunday night
after the debut episode was abruptly replaced by a film last Sunday.
By Thursday the M-Net schedule on MultiChoice's electronic
programme guide (EPG) for DStv reflected two "Unseen Bits" episodes –
one original new episode scheduled for Saturday night entitled "Unseen Bits (1)" and a second original episode for Sunday night entitled "Unseen Bits (2)" –
with each episode covering one of the past two weeks’ worth of content.
The Saturday
episode, part of a preliminary schedule upload, was later removed in an M-Net schedule
update.
Insiders at the show told TVwithThinus that tonight's Love Island SA:
Unseen Bits at 21:40 – an episode as part of the series' format that usually
shows a collection of racier content and moments that haven't made the
"usual" episodes – will be a test to see if the producers can get the
production quality right and up to standard.
"The show will now have had two weeks and some more time than
the daily episode deadline to prep the first 'Unseen Bits' playout. It must
look better. Everyone's been embarrassed and the pressure's been so big over
what happened," one of the insiders noted.
M-Net was asked if it's correct that an Unseen Bits episode
will now be shown this Sunday night after it was preempted last Sunday, if the
episode will indeed serve as a type of "soft reboot" for Love Island
SA, and what M-Net, Rapid Blue and ITV Studios have been doing over
the past two weeks to improve the production issues and how the series looks
and works.
In a written response to the media enquiry M-Net told TVwithThinus that
"M-Net has always planned to screen
Love Island South Africa: Unseen Bits’ on a Sunday evening, just after the
blockbuster movie".
"Schedules are subject to change and the
channel took the decision to start screening the Love Island South Africa:
Unseen Bits from Sunday 14 March 2021."
"M-Net was called to account and has
apologised for the technical issues in the first episodes of Love Island South
Africa. We have been working tirelessly to ensure we meet our usual standards
and to bring our viewers the magic they expect and deserve in this exciting new
local production."
Neither the cause of the problems that led to the show's poor production values nor Love Island SA's lack of diversity in casting
has yet been explained, with MultiChoice and its Aprio PR agency that have
rebuffed all interview requests so far with M-Net executives and Rapid Blue
producers to talk about any of these issues.
Love Island is owned by ITV Studios and Motion Content Group Ltd
and is distributed internationally by ITV Studios.
