‘Love Island’ Host Caroline Flack Quits British Reality Series After Assault Charge

Peter White
Updated

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Caroline Flack, the host of ITV2’s Love Island, has quit the forthcoming season of the hit reality series after being charged with assault.

Last week, the British TV presenter was charged with assault after an incident involving her boyfriend. Police were called to her home in north London, where she lives with her partner, tennis player Lewis Burton, in the early hours of Thursday morning.

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Burton was not seriously injured, police said, but Flack will appear at Highbury Corner Magistrates’ Court on December 23.

Flack revealed that she wouldn’t take part in the forthcoming season of the ITV Studios-produced format, which is debuting a winter version next month set in South Africa.

“Love Island has been my world for the last five years, it’s the best show on telly. In order not to detract attention from the upcoming series I feel the best thing I can do is to stand down for series six. I want to wish the incredible team working on the show a fantastic series in Cape Town,” she wrote on Instagram.

Former Strictly Come Dancing winner Flack has presented all five seasons of the show, which has been remade in the U.S. for CBS, since 2015. ITV is now be searching for a replacement with former Love Island contestant Maura Higgins and Laura Whitmore, who has worked on I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! spin-off shows, touted as potential hosts.

An ITV spokesperson said, “ITV has a long standing relationship with Caroline and we understand and accept her decision. We will remain in contact with her over the coming months about future series of Love Island.”

It’s not clear whether her assault charges will affect other shows in the works including Channel 4 format The Surjury, as revealed by Deadline in October. The show has wrapped filming with Flack hosting and is set to go out in 2020.

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