The mum of the late Sophie Gradon wants Love Island scrapped after Caroline Flack became the third person involved in the show to take her own life.

Deborah Gradon, who lost her daughter Sophie to suicide in 2018 has spoken out as she revealed she ‘couldn’t breathe’ when she found out about Caroline’s death after it ‘catapulted’ her back into hell as it brought back the heartache of losing her daughter.

In the past two years, two Islanders from Love Island died by suicide – series two star Sophie, who died aged 32, and series three star Mike Thalassitis, who died aged 26 in March 2019.

Last May, ITV also cancelled The Jeremy Kyle Show following the death of Steve Dymond, who took his own life after appearing on the controversial programme.

And on Saturday 15 February, the former Love Island host also took her own life.

Deborah admitted that even today the Love Island advert ‘wrenches’ her gut as she questioned ‘how many more families must be destroyed?’

‘I want Love Island taken off the air,’ she began. ‘How many more families must be destroyed like this? There’s our family, there’s Mike’s family and now there’s Caroline’s family.’

Sophie’s mum went on to explain that ITV didn’t reach out to her family after Sophie took her own life and she believes that Caroline was ‘thrown to the wolves’ as she insisted the show must have seen how vulnerable she was.

‘The question that haunts me is whether they could have done more to help her. I feel they owed Caroline and our daughter the same duty of care when they left the show,’ she added to the Daily Mail.

The 60-year-old and her husband Colin were on holiday when Sophie took her own life, and even to this day, her mum believes her daughter had an undiagnosed post-traumatic stress disorder which was a result of her being bullied during her time on Love Island.

‘To lose your child is to suffer unspeakable loss. And too many parents have lost their children because of this three-ring circus,’ she exclaimed.

Deborah has also taken to social media to share her thoughts as she feels the inquiry has not been concluded.  She went on to use the hashtag #CarolinesLaw.

‘Inquiry into ITVs duty of care to participants The DCMS Committee’s decision to launch the inquiry into reality TV comes after the death of a guest on The Jeremy Kyle Show and the deaths of two former contestants in the reality dating show LoveIsland. NOW CONCLUDED #CarolinesLaw [sic],’ she began on Twitter.

She followed the post by adding: ‘Re previous: The Inquiry has not been concluded but swept under the carpet. Not so much a lump but a Landmine. [sic]’

Despite Deborah placing blame on the government, Caroline had previously asserted that Love Island was not the ultimate cause of either Mike or Sophie’s deaths.

Speaking to Cosmopolitan at the time in 2019 Caroline said: ‘It’s dangerous and I’m really, really angry. It’s not just that you’re blaming a TV show, you’re blaming people and their jobs.

‘In life, we all have a duty of care to look out for each other, but I don’t think it’s fair to point fingers of blame.

‘This is a much bigger issue than just a reality TV show, and when something this bad happens – and I’m talking about Mike – when something this horrible and sad occurs, it’s so dangerous to point fingers within hours and minutes of it happening.’

The Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee from the British House of Commons launched an inquiry into reality TV shows in 2019, although a notice on their website has since announced that the inquiry had been closed ‘due to the general election’ that took place on 12 December 2019.

A statement on the website read: ‘Due to the general election on 12 December 2019 the Committee has now closed this inquiry. Following the dissolution of Parliament on 6 November, all Select Committees will cease to exist until after the general election.’

While it’s been left open to continue the probe ‘in the future’, it has not been updated to reveal whether it will start again following Caroline’s tragic death, the statement continued: ‘If an inquiry on this subject is held in the future, the Committee may refer to the evidence already gathered as part of this inquiry.’

Kevin Lygo, director of television at ITV explained that ITV continued to give Caroline support after she stepped down as host.

He explained ‘After Caroline stepped down from the show, ITV made it clear that the door was left open for her to return, and the Love Island production team remained in regular contact with her and continued to offer support over the last few months.’

Metro.co.uk has reached out to The Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee for comment.

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