Simon Rimmer slams ‘cruel’ Love Island for ‘objectifying’ women 

TV chief Simon Rimmer has criticized Love Island, labeling the ITV2 series as ‘cruel’ and anti-feminist.

The Sunday Brunch host, 60, revealed his daughter had been asked to star on the dating show, and he was relieved when she turned it down, admitting he thought it was a “weird approach” as she wasn’t a “Love Island type” ‘ is. of person.’

Simon explained that Flo, 25, caught the attention of producers after the pair started doing their own cooking series on social media called Flo and Simon Taste the World and the only reason she would ever agree to do the reality series is to support her TV career to promote – not to find love.

In an exclusive interview with MailOnline, Simon said he believes Love Island is “a huge step backwards for feminism” and finds the show, which sees young contestants trying to find romance in a Mallorcan villa, “difficult to watch”.

He said, ‘My daughter has been invited to come along. Basically they took her off Instagram because she has quite a lot of followers because she did things with me online and she rejected it.

The Sunday Brunch host revealed his daughter (pictured) had been asked to star on the dating show, and he was relieved when she turned it down

Simon explained that Flo caught the attention of producers after the pair started doing their own social media cooking series called Flo and Simon Taste the World

‘She’s definitely not the Love Island type. But I actually thought it was a weird approach. So she is not a Love Island person.

“I wouldn’t say it would be my dream job for her. But if she decided to do it, she’d do it for the right reasons, she wouldn’t do it to find love, she’d say “you know what, this could be a career opportunity,” she’s pretty smart, so she would do it for those reasons instead of thinking, “I’m going to find love,” but I don’t think any of them really think that, do they?

‘I think it’s a difficult watch. I think it’s cruel. I also think it’s a huge step backwards for feminism and women.

“I don’t think it’s what I want young people to do and how I want men to behave or the way women behave.”

And it’s not just his daughter that Simon wouldn’t like to see on Love Island.

The Channel 4 presenter would also be against his son Hamish, 20, joining the singletons line-up.

He added, “It feels a bit weird that girls are still being treated as objects and I don’t like that objectification.

“As a father of a daughter, I don’t think I would want… I don’t want my son to act like that towards women and I don’t want my daughter to be treated like that by men.”

It’s not just his daughter that Simon wouldn’t like to see on Love Island, the Channel 4 presenter is said to be against his son Hamish joining the singletons line-up

Love Island producers often recruit celebrity offspring for the show, including Michael Owen’s daughter Gemma, and hoped to do the same with Simon’s daughter Flo.

Simon and Flo star together on Instagram and TikTok, with the chef demonstrating his cooking skills and his daughter teaching the ropes

Love Island producers often recruit famous offspring for the show, including Michael Owen’s daughter Gemma, 20, and Ronan Keating’s son Jack, 24, who both starred in the summer series last year.

Simon sympathizes with the fame that contestants can experience overnight after starring in the ITV2 series, saying: ‘If you live a ‘normal life’ and are thrown into the world of celebrity and notoriety, you can be quite difficult, I can imagine.’

The restaurant owner, who has run Sunday Brunch with 55-year-old Tim Lovejoy for 17 years, spoke about the cancellation culture and how he always tries to “be one step ahead” while hosting live television.

Reflecting on the passing of former This Morning presenter Phillip Schofield, who left ITV for good last week after admitting to having an affair with a younger colleague, Simon said those who work for big companies in TV are not the ones who are the ‘ control’ and it is likely that the bubble will burst.

He said: “It’s a very fickle bedfellow, television, and you’re not really in control of what happens, even with so many years in it, it may be two years from now that Sunday brunch won’t be up and running and Channel 4 will decide . enough is enough so you have to be a healthy fatalistic about your TV career and realize it’s not forever and it will end and that’s the reality of it.

“Being a live announcer is getting more and more difficult. You are always one sentence away from killing your own career.

“We interview six people on the show every week and in the last few years I’ve become more aware that we live in a culture where people want to pick things up, social media can be a pretty brutal place for that.

“Sometimes you try to be one step ahead and when you see an interview going a certain way, you try to allow an interview not to go a certain way. We’re all so exposed, everyone knows what we’re doing every second of the day, we all know too much now.”