Love Island hit with 264 complaints about Gemma Owen age gap

The daughter of former England striker Michael Owen entered the villa last week at the age of 19 and has turned several heads over the past few days.

But viewers became concerned when, in the show’s second episode, Gemma coupled up with Italian stallion Davide Sanclimenti, who is eight years her senior at 27.

The pair also locked lips during a challenge when the dressage champion was dared to kiss the “boy she fancied the most”, prompting 167 people to complain about their age difference to TV watchdog Ofcom.

Amid growing online queasiness over the age gap romance last week, the couple addressed the near-decade difference, with both parties deciding they were fine with it.

Explaining how she’s used to dating “guys who are much older”, Gemma told Davide: “It’s not an issue for me at all.

“I feel like if it was, I wouldn’t have wanted to get to know you in the first place.”

And her love interest agreed: “For me, it’s not an issue. I actually say sometimes you are much older than me.”

But their romance eventually fizzled out when Davide cracked on with bombshell Ekin-Su Cülcüloğlu and Gemma was seduced by fishmonger Luca Bish.

And on Sunday night, the drama was laid on factor 50 when Gemma’s ex, rugby player Jacques O'Neill (23), made his way inside the villa.

After Gemma revealed that they had dated for several months but called it quits a year and a half ago, viewers determined that she would have been only 16 when they first got together while Jacques would have been 20.

Shocked by the inappropriate age gap being promoted on screen, a further 97 viewers complained to Ofcom.

Ofcom have since confirmed they will not investigate the complaints, MailOnline reports.

Meanwhile, Love Island host Laura Whitmore revealed that contestants are in for a stinky summer after admitting that the villa smells “so bad”.

The Irish presenter said that the “grim” stench builds up after eight weeks of messy singletons living together in the sweaty Majorcan climate.

“It smells so bad. If you think about it – that amount of people, about 40 or 50 Islanders go through it the whole summer,” she said.

“It starts off with about 10 or 12 and then more keep going in. And they’re like 18-year-olds. The carpet, the fake tan, the make-up, the BO... it stinks!

“It smells like Lynx Africa, you know when they try to cover the BO? That’s what it smells like. It’s when you walk in and you think it’s all glitzy.

“But as soon as they left and the final happened, my friends came to watch the show and we went in there. We had a proper little rummage around and it was grim!”