Is an eight year age gap so bad?

A 19-year-old and a 27-year-old couple up on an island... and the world loses their minds.

A 19-year-old and a 27-year-old couple up on an island... and the world loses their minds.

Love Island UK has only been on-air for a week, but at least 200 watchers have issued complaints to the broadcast regulator to voice their concerns over one, specific event.

You may be thinking: What could possibly madden the placid folk who spend six hours a week watching bronzed singles tan, chat and “crack on” in a neon-tinged Majorcan villa?

Was it newbie Jay taking a jibe at Jacques for being “a bit small for a rugby player”?

Perhaps it is the show’s decision to nix the initial process of letting girls select the boy they like the most (which inevitably leaves at least a few dudes who have always been told they're god’s-gift-to-women unchosen) and instead letting the public couple the Islanders up?

No. What sent viewers running to the complaints tab was a notable tournament of tongue-wrestling between contestants Gemma, 19, and Davide, 27. 

A couple with an eight year age gap.

A total of 167 Ofcom (the UK’s TV regulator) complaints were made for the June 7 episode, in which the viewers saw the contestants kiss. Later, on Jun 12, when Jacques entered the villa (more on this below) viewers made a further 93 complaints to the regulator, with many of them linked to the pairing.

A representative for UK production company ITV told The Oz that Ofcom is not investigating the complaints made.

“The show has always been open to those over 18,” they said.

Sure, there may be something off about a 27-year-old Italian Stallion (self-proclaimed) going after a fresh-out-of-high-school dressage rider.

But it’s really just an eight year difference. Why are people so annoyed?

“People do get a bit freaked out by age gaps, but I'm surprised this one is freaking so many people out,” relationship psychologist Nicole Mathieson told The Oz. 

“In this situation I guess there is a big difference between just coming out of adolescence, versus someone who has been an adult for nine years. There’s a developmental mismatch there.” 

I can understand people getting up-in-arms about a large age gap.

One of my best friends dated a 40-year-old when we were fresh out of high school and it quickly exploded.

But that was inter-generational. She often got the "he could be your dad" comment. In the case of Davide and Gemma, they're both (sort of) at the same life stage.

Especially as there are a tonne of studies that highlight how women mature, emotionally, quicker than men.

(Hits play on All Too Well: Taylor's Version - again).

Taylor Swift's All Too Well. The epitome of a messed up age-gapped relationship.

Some couples, famous ones, who have made it work - albeit with some drama on the side and middle - including Beyonce and Jay Z. The pair have a 12-year age gap and began dating when B was just 19-years-old. 

Beyonce told Oprah, years later, they had a friendship as their foundation.

“We were friends first for a year and a half before we went on any dates,” she said.

When Jay met Bey, she was just 18, he was 30.

Relationship psychologist Theresa DiDonato said there was a “prejudice” tied to age-gap relationships, accounted for by the belief an older person is reaping more rewards than the younger person.

“Perhaps observers respond negatively to relationships (with large age differences) because they feel as though the older person is taking advantage of the younger person,” she said.

You can all rest easy though (at least for the moment) as Davide and Gemma have seemingly called it quits... just after a brief discussion about their age gap. 

“It's not an issue for me at all,” Gemma explained. “I feel like if it was, I wouldn't have wanted to get to know you in the first place. And as I've said, I've been speaking to guys and seeing guys who are much older than me.”

One of the men she's referring to? Contestant Jacques, 23, who entered the villa this week. Jacques and Gemma dated for eight months when he was 20 and she was... 16.

Gemma is also the daughter of soccer great Michael Owen - the former footballer who played for the likes of Liverpool, Real Madrid, and the England national team. So this new series is set to go in hard on her as the "star" if only for success equation of high profile personality + drama + headlines = solid ratings.

Old man Owen has come out in defence of his kid amidst all the backlash, which has only added fuel the fire. He insisted his daughter is "a mature 19".

"She's a bit like me in that regard. I was playing for Liverpool when I was 17, and having to make friends with 23, 24, 25-year-olds.

"The bottom line is, she's an adult and I have to trust her to make sensible decisions," Owen said.

Worth keeping an eye on this one.