We couldn’t have saved Love Island’s Mike Thalassitis, says ITV boss
ITV's chief executive Carolyn McCall has said the channel does everything it can to look after stars but 'can’t do that forever with an individual'
ITV’s top boss says any link between Love Island and former contestant Mike Thalassitis’s death is “extremely tenuous”.
Chief exec Carolyn McCall said the channel does everything it can to look after stars but “can’t do that forever with an individual”.
She added: “There’s got to be a framework and it will come to an end.”
Dame Carolyn, 57, spoke out after ITV announced changes to its hit reality show in an exclusive letter for The Sun.
They include therapy, social media training and financial management for all contestants.
Mike, 26, was found hanged in a North London park on March 16.
Dame Carolyn said the death was “devastating” but pointed out he had been on two more reality shows — E4’s Celebs Go Dating and MTV’s Ex on the Beach — since ITV2’s Love Island in 2017.
She told the Broadcasting Press Guild: “We did have a duty of care.
"We had clear processes and procedures.
“I don’t think anybody has made a direct link between what happened to Mike and Love Island and that is very important to say.
MOST READ IN BIZARRE
“It would be an extremely tenuous thing to do given he was very happy on Love Island and all of his mates have actually said that, and he has done two other reality TV shows in the two-year gap.”
Last June, former Love Islander Sophie Gradon, 32, also died in a suspected suicide.
Government mental health adviser Dr Paul Litchfield has been brought in to independently review the show’s set-up.
- GOT a story? RING The Sun on 0207 782 4104 or WHATSAPP on 07423720250 or EMAIL exclusive@the-sun.co.uk
