Executive producer of ‘Love Island USA’ dies after medical emergency

In a statement, Peacock announced that Baker died in Fiji, where season eight is currently in production.

“ITV America and Peacock will honor executive producer James Barker, who passed away in Fiji last week after an unexpected medical emergency, on Tuesday’s episode of the Love Island USA series,” the release said.

“James’ unimaginable loss has been deeply felt, not only throughout the Love Island USA production, but across ITV and Peacock. He was a beloved and highly valued member of our collective family whose kindness, talent and dedication left an indelible impression on all of us and on all those who had the privilege of knowing and working with him,” the statement continued. “We extend our sincere condolences to James’ partner, family, friends and colleagues.”

Exact details surrounding the death, including the cause, have not been released.

In addition to Love Island USA, Baker also worked on the dating series Hulu Are you my first?the HGTV competition series Table Wars with Tamera Mowry and Martha Stewart, and was co-executive producer Cosmic lovea dating show on Amazon Prime that matches singles based on their astrological signs, and the second season of Claim to fame on ABC.

But Love Island USA seemed to have a special place in his heart. In a pinned post on Instagram, he celebrated the record numbers for the show’s seventh season, saying: “From the moment I heard #loveisland was coming to the US, I knew I had to be a part of it. Now, six years later, we’re doing crazy numbers on @loveislandusa and I love my job more than ever before. Congratulations to the team, both past and present. We did it.”

It’s not clear if production on the show will be halted or temporarily suspended, but this isn’t the first time the show’s producers have made news on camera.

Three years ago, two producers filed a lawsuit claiming that some of their colleagues had prevented a black contestant from succeeding on the show, and that they had witnessed certain crew members watching the cast show despite being instructed not to do so.

The lawsuit accused the defendants of race and sex discrimination, retaliation, failure to prevent discrimination, harassment and retaliation, whistleblower retaliation and wrongful termination.

During their employment, while on location, Jasmine Crestwell and Alex Rinks said they “immediately became concerned about the show’s labor practices.”

Rinks said she complained about alleged unsafe and unsanitary conditions in the show’s supposedly luxurious “villa,” which was “in reality a dilapidated, dilapidated farmhouse with inadequate plumbing and unusable bathrooms.”

“The villa was also unsanitary. Islanders were generally limited to specific portable toilets connected to their rooms. These toilets were rarely cleaned and were often broken and unusable. The showers in the villa’s bathrooms were clogged and overflowing,” the suit said.

Crestwell said she talked about the alleged mistreatment of islanders, specifically a black female contestant named Serenti Springs, one of the “few women of color on the show.”

ITV publicly denied the claims, categorizing the lawsuit as a “frivolous attack” and stating that the producers were rightly dismissed over job performance issues. The lawsuit is still ongoing.