The Broadcasting Standards Authority (BSA) has found that the edited first episode of Love Island met the G (General) classification and did not breach the children’s interests standard given its edited form and target and likely audience.

The BSA found that the episode, broadcast on 5 June, was not the same as the unedited version available on-demand on ThreeNow.

Love Island involves a group of British contestants living in a villa in Majorca where they must ‘couple up’ to avoid being eliminated from the show. The winning couple, who are chosen by the public, receives £50,000.

The Authority acknowledged in its decision that Love Island contained some mature themes and may not reflect values that all parents and caregivers would endorse for their children. But it also found that it did not contain content that would alarm or distress children to the extent justifying intervention.

“Audiences should have the freedom to make viewing and listening choices. It is not our role to denounce broadcasts which some may consider to be in poor taste or indecent, provided such broadcasts do not cause harm at a level requiring our intervention,’ the Authority said in its decision.

“Although it was broadcast at a time when children may be watching, the programme was not designed to attract a child audience and the presentation of the more mature themes would not have alarmed or distressed any children who happened to be watching.”

The BSA said it considered that “the nature and content of the show would have been clear to parents and caregivers who have a responsibility to be live to the individual needs of children in their care.”