The Love Island contestant has reportedly left the show due to its association with the stabbing | Love Island

A Love Island contestant has reportedly left the show over his connection to a stabbing incident in London.

Gabriel Garland, 24, has been removed from the ITV2 dating series after appearing briefly in Sunday night’s episode as a villa boy in Casa Amor.

An ITV spokesperson said in a statement to The Guardian: “Gabriel has now left the villa and will not be returning.” It is understood that the broadcaster will not comment further out of a duty of care to the participants.

Garland was reportedly removed from the series after producers learned he was named in court documents in the conviction of Vitor Mazer, who was found guilty of two counts of grievous bodily harm with intent in a 2019 New Year’s Eve incident in south-east London.

Court documents state that Garland got into an altercation with the people whom Mazer stabbed. Garland’s mother gave a character statement about her son, who was 17 at the time of the incident.

He was not accused of any crime and the referee did not find any violations against him. This may explain why he did not appear in ITV’s background check.

Mazer was jailed for 42 months and his appeal against conviction was dismissed in April 2024.

Garland was on Sunday night’s episode of Love Island as one of six male contestants on Casa Amor. Except for the introduction, he does not appear in any major scenes and will be cut from the rest of the show.

News that Garland will be in the Love Island villa has prompted social media users to question ITV’s background checks.

The show is produced by Lifted Entertainment, part of ITV Studios, and WPP Media Motion Entertainment.

On June 4, George Knight left the show for “private reasons” due to health concerns involving an immediate family member.

Two Love Island USA contestants also left this year’s series, which is produced by ITV America. Alannah Keyser was removed last week after historical social media posts surfaced showing her using racial slurs. One video showed her apparently lip-syncing the N-word in a song, while other screenshots showed her using the same slur in an Instagram comment and Snap message.

The posts came from a private account and were not published until after Keyser entered the villa, and were therefore not flagged during the vetting process. Following her exit, Keyser apologized in a TikTok video.

Vasana Montgomery was also removed from the series after she was seen using the N-word in two different videos that circulated online. Montgomery later apologized in a statement on Instagram.