Ofcom have revealed the most complained-about TV events of 2022.
Over the past 12 months, the broadcasting watchdog received a total of 36,543 complaints about more than 9,500 and completed 74 broadcast standards investigations; of which they found 66 of the cases had broken their rules.
Take a look at the top ten most-complained TV events this year:
1. Love Island
Love Island’s Movie Night was the most complained-about TV event of 2022.
According to Ofcom, the episode which aired on July 17, received a total of 2,630 complaints.
During a clip entitled Good Bill Hunting, Luca Bish saw Billy Brown and his now-ex-girlfriend Gemma Owen chatting and “flirting” in the villa.
After watching the clip, Luca told Dami Hope: “If she wants to f**king play it down to me, I will f**king explode.”
He then said to Billy: “You were f**king cracking on with her. Mate, that was f**king flirting, don’t deny it, you were f**king flirting.”
“I don’t care, you can crack on, it’s Love Island but it was flirting and I was made out to be a f**king idiot for it!”
Luca then turned to his pal Andrew Le Page, and whispered: “Billy started saying, ‘oh mate there’s nothing here’. Mate, you were trying to crack on, shut the f**k up!”
However, Luca and Gemma rekindled their romance and went on to place runners-up on the show behind Ekin-Su Cülcüloğlu and Davide Sanclimenti.
2. I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here!
Matt Hancock’s appearance on I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! sparked 1,890 Ofcom complaints between November 6 and 27.
Last year, the 44-year-old made headlines after it was revealed that he had breached Covid-19 social distancing restrictions by kissing his colleague Gina Coladangelo at his cabinet office – despite being married, and was subsequently forced to resign from his position as Health Secretary.
Matt opened up about his Covid-19 kissing scandal to his campmate Babatúndé Aléshé while in the jungle.
The former UK Health Secretary confided in him that his life had been “tough” ever since the kissing scandal came to light.
“You messed up,” the comedian told him candidly. “It was really tough. I messed up and I fessed up,” Matt said. “I resigned and it’s no excuse, but I fell in love, right? That also had a lot of other consequences obviously.”
Babatúndé joked: “You didn’t just ‘fall in love’ you were grabbing booty bruv!”
Matt replied: “Oh, give over,” before adding: “That’s been hard. I obviously brought it on myself, so yeah… it’s been tough.”
Asked whether he was still with “the lady”, the former Health Secretary said: “With Gina? Yeah, very much so, yeah, totally. That’ll be the best thing about being kicked out, seeing her on the bridge.”
3. Friday Night Live
Trans performer Jordan Gray stripped naked during the revival of Friday Night Live.
Ofcom were hit with 1,548 complaints over the TV event.
The comedian performed a the song Better than You from her hit show Is It A Bird?.
At the end of the song, Jordan shouted: “The best thing about live TV is I can do stupid stuff like this…”
After playing they keyboard, the comedian ran across the stage and stripped naked to the audience’s applause and cheers.
Jordan, who is a trans woman, returned to the keyboard and began playing it with her penis.
4. Love Island
Love Island also ranked at number 4 on the list of the most complained-about TV events of 2022.
Ofcom received 1,523 complaints over the Snog, Marry, Pie challenge on July 19.
There was “alleged bullying and misogynistic behaviour from some of the male contestants” during the episode.
The Islanders were tasked with deciding who to kiss, propose to, or hit in the face with a pie.
Tasha Ghouri was left in tears before comments Luca and Dami made before they pied her.
It came after Andrew confronted his friends over comments they made about Tasha “riding his coattails” to the Love Island final.
5. Good Morning Britain
Ofcom received 860 complaints after Richard Madeley made comments about death threats aimed at Sir Keir Starmer on Good Morning Britain.
The incident, which happened on February 15, saw the presenter asked whether the threats he was receiving were “that big a deal”.
Viewers complained to the broadcasting regulator over the host’s “insensitivity”.
6. Jeremy Vine
On January 24, a health consultant who appeared on Jeremy Vine gave an inaccurate figure of the number of unvaccinated people in hospital with Covid-19.
The TV event sparked 773 Ofcom complaints.
Viewers complained to the broadcasting regulator over the host’s failure to correct the misinformation.
7. Love Island
Love Island once again found itself ranked on the list of the most complained-about TV events of 2022, this time over the subsequent fallout from Casa Amor and Movie Night.
The July 18 episode of the hit dating show sparked 769 Ofcom complaints.
The incident again related to “misogynistic and bullying behaviour”.
8. I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here!
I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! has ranked in eighth place of the most complained-about TV events of 2022.
Viewers complained to Ofcom over the campmates’ alleged “bullying” of Matt.
The incident, which occurred on November 13, sparked 627 complaints.
Addressing the claims, Matt told MailOnline: “I didn’t feel bullied at all in the jungle.”
“I formed an extraordinary bond with Seann Walsh in a short period of time, and then it took a few days to work through and develop relationships with the rest of the campmates.”
“Whatever he says about me, I think Boy George is wonderful and I did not expect to say that about him because we have very different backgrounds, to say the least. It took us a few days, but we had, what I would call, grown-up, respectful discussions.”
“Some of them, I could tell, didn’t take to me straightaway but it softened over time. Being in the jungle also gives you lots of time to think about what really matters. I thought about how much I care for the people I really love.”
9. FIFA World Cup Final
The coverage of the FIFA World Cup 2022 Final sparked 605 Ofcom complaints.
During the TV special, Gary Neville appeared to compare the hardship faced by workers in the sporting event to the hardship endured by NHS nurses.
During the episode, the former footballer said: “The working system of Kafala which obviously through football the conversation has started and it’s been removed here now in Qatar but it is abhorrent and we should detest low pay, we should detest poor accommodation and working conditions.”
“We can never accept that in this region or any other region and it is just worth mentioning we’ve got a current government in our country that are demonising rail workers, ambulance workers and terrifying nurses. In our country we’ve got to look at workers rights but when football goes, we have to pick up on workers rights wherever it goes because people have got to be equal and treated equal.”
10. Sky News
On September 10, Sky News mistakenly reported a Justice for Chris Kaba walk as people on their way to pay their respects to the late Queen Elizabeth II.
The 24-year-old was shot dead by the Metropolitan Police on September 5.
The TV incident sparked 599 Ofcom complaints.
