expose

Eight episodes are currently available to stream on Netflix

Love Is Blind UK bosses have opened up on a history-making moment that viewers never see on the show.

The third instalment of the hit Netflix show has returned to screens this week with the first eight episodes released in one go yesterday (August 19).

Hopeful singles have once again headed to the Love Is Blind dating pods hoping to find ‘the one’ where they will date potential partners. They will only meet face to face for the first time if a couple decides to take their relationship to the next step and become engaged.

The series has proved a hit with Netflix viewers, but there is a wait on their hands before the next batch of episodes will be released (August 26).

As the new release hits screens, executive producer Nazleen Karim and series editor David Cheesman spoke about one thing that viewers did not see and it is an incredible milestone which has made history.

This time around, there was an unprecedented number of engagements as 14 pairs took their relationships to the next step. However, the show only showed six couples’ journey, meaning there was so much more that viewers didn’t get to see play out on screen.

Nazleen said: “When there are more engagements than we can physically follow, we have to make difficult editorial choices. We’re looking for a range of different relationship journeys and stories that together capture the full experience of the experiment.

“Not being selected isn’t a reflection of the strength of a relationship – many couples continue exploring their connection once they leave the Pods.”

David added: “It’s never an easy decision and we wouldn’t want to diminish the love those other couples have formed. We’ve never had as many as 14 engagements which is why we ended up following six couples this time as opposed to five.”

With a combination of “natural drama and love, sexiness, chemistry and humour”, the series is potentially the strongest so far as David confirmed: “Every season brings something different, but this one has some of the most surprising twists, emotional moments and unforgettable characters we’ve seen.”

Hosts Matt and Emma Willis also touched on the monumental engagements as Matt said: “There are clearly a lot of thirsty people in the UK! I think we both got a strong sense that people really were there to get married.

“They weren’t just going in to see what this was all about – they wanted to find a husband or wife. Maybe the RAYE song ‘Where Is My Husband!’ was the inspiration.”

Although the new episodes follow six potential pairs, viewers will need to tune in to see who makes it to the altar, and who, if anyone, continues their marriage in the outside world.

Love Is Blind UK can be streamed in the UK.

Extreme Heat Intensifies Europe’s Prison Crisis

As record breaking heatwaves continue to sweep across Europe, prisons in France, Italy and Belgium are facing mounting pressure from overcrowding, ageing infrastructure and inadequate cooling systems, exposing what prison officials, inmates and rights groups describe as a growing humanitarian challenge.

With temperatures exceeding 37 degrees Celsius in many areas this summer, inmates and prison staff say prolonged heat has turned already overcrowded facilities into dangerous living conditions, prompting renewed calls for prison reforms and infrastructure upgrades.

Reuters spoke to more than 40 inmates, prison officials, doctors, lawyers, union representatives and activists across the three countries, many of whom said this summer’s extreme temperatures have highlighted longstanding structural weaknesses within Europe’s prison systems.

French Inmates Describe Dangerous Living Conditions

At Orleans Saran prison in central France, 29 year old inmate Manu said surviving the heat required constant improvisation. He placed wet towels over his barred window to cool his cell and spent most of the day lying still to conserve energy.

“You have to deal with it mentally,” he said.

France’s Chief Prison Inspector Dominique Simonnot said her office received an unprecedented number of complaints during the June heatwave, forcing it to recruit additional staff to handle the surge.

She described conditions in many prisons as unbearable, noting that three or four inmates are often confined inside nine square metre cells in ageing buildings without air conditioning.

One inmate at Limoges prison reportedly lost consciousness during the heat and suffered a head injury. While his lawyer attributed the incident to heat exhaustion, prison union representatives said he slipped while trying to reach a window for fresh air. Reuters could not independently verify either account.

French authorities said prisons increased access to drinking water, showers, sun cream and allowed inmates to purchase electric fans where possible.

Justice Ministry spokesperson Sacha Straub Kahn acknowledged that overcrowding remains a major obstacle to protecting prisoners during extreme weather.

Overcrowding Reaches Critical Levels

Government and prison monitoring data show prison occupancy has reached alarming levels across several European countries.

France recorded an average prison occupancy rate of 141.3 percent in July.

Italy’s prisons were operating at approximately 139.7 percent capacity, according to prison rights organisation Antigone.

Belgium reported an occupancy rate of 121 percent in August.

Experts warn that overcrowding significantly increases heat exposure by placing multiple inmates into small, poorly ventilated cells originally designed for far fewer people.

Italy Introduces Emergency Measures

Italian prison rights organisations staged coordinated visits to 34 prisons in July to highlight deteriorating conditions during the heatwave.

Antigone President Patrizio Gonnella criticised the lack of basic cooling facilities, arguing that inmates spending up to twenty hours each day inside their cells face increasingly unsafe conditions.

Italy’s Justice Ministry allocated 800,000 euros for prisons to purchase fans and refrigerators and pledged to create an additional 10,000 prison places before the end of the year.

However, official data show no new prison spaces have yet been completed.

Separately, Italy passed legislation allowing thousands of prisoners with drug or alcohol addiction to serve sentences under supervised rehabilitation programmes at home, aiming to reduce overcrowding.

Authorities also agreed to remove perspex window barriers from prisons in Cosenza after concerns that they restricted ventilation.

Belgian Prisons Report Rising Violence

Belgian prison officials say prolonged heat has increased tensions among inmates and staff.

At Ghent prison, Director Pieter Van Caeneghem said the facility currently houses 447 inmates despite having space for only 260.

He warned that every challenge associated with overcrowding becomes significantly worse during extreme heat.

At Merksplas prison, Director Serge Rooman said officials began relaxing certain security procedures several years ago by keeping windows open overnight and opening prison doors to improve airflow during heatwaves.

Those temporary measures have since become part of official prison guidance.

Rooman argued that the greatest problem remains outdated prison infrastructure, including poor ventilation and single glazed windows.

Governments Expand Heatwave Response

Authorities across Europe have introduced temporary measures to reduce health risks inside prisons.

France has expanded access to drinking water, showers and sun protection.

Belgium instructed prison directors to continue heat response measures into September, including increased water supplies and more frequent shower access.

Italy has focused on purchasing cooling equipment while pursuing legislative reforms aimed at easing prison overcrowding.

Despite these measures, prison officials and rights groups argue that temporary responses cannot resolve deeper structural problems affecting Europe’s correctional systems.

Europe’s prison systems are becoming another visible casualty of climate change, where rising temperatures are exposing decades of underinvestment in public infrastructure. Heatwaves have not created the prison crisis but have amplified existing problems such as overcrowding, ageing facilities and inadequate ventilation. While governments have responded with temporary measures including fans, additional showers and water supplies, these interventions do little to address the structural deficiencies that leave thousands of inmates vulnerable during periods of extreme heat. As climate driven weather events become more frequent, European governments may face growing legal, humanitarian and political pressure to modernise prison infrastructure while tackling chronic overcrowding that continues to undermine both inmate welfare and prison security.

With information from Reuters.

Women displaced by Sudan’s war are speaking publicly about surviving rape by Rapid Support Forces fighters. UN investigators verified 546 incidents affecting at least 838 victims, warning the documented cases represent only the tip of the iceberg.

OLIVIA Attwood has promised to expose ‘messy screenshots’ after taking a swipe at her ex-husband Bradley Dack.

The ITV presenter, who split from footballer Brad in January, issued a warning to her followers about what she’s keen to reveal.

Taking to her Instagram stories on Tuesday night, Olivia penned: “Guys I’m about to get sooooo messy are you ready?” with a string of side-eye emojis.

Another slide she shared simply read: “Screen shot time…”

She then updated followers shortly after with a video saying: “So the screenshots are on pause, because my management want me to be the bigger person.”

Her manager then said in the background that he was “actually petrified”.

ALL LOVED UP

Why Olivia & Pete’s ‘serious’ relationship will beat friends-to-lovers curse

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Olivia Attwood takes SAVAGE swipe at ‘bits on the side’ as ex Brad seen with his ex

Her tease and then massive U-turn came shortly after her ex’s public jaunt with his former flame Emily Rose Maloney, in which his former lover was seen smiling as they strolled towards his home.

Olivia, who is enjoying a new relationship with Towie‘s Pete Wicks, alluded to Brad’s antics in a caption of a post which read: “I have definitely beat up myself over my poor judgement over the past decade.

“But I guess I could have spent 10 years as the bit on the side / professional bench warmer … so silver linings I guess”.

She wrapped the post with melting face and coughing emoji icons.

In March, The Sun exclusively revealed that Bradley had reconnected with his ex-girlfriend, Emily.

They were eventually pictured together for the first time this week, seen returning to her flat in South-East London.

After capturing another new image of her make-up table, Olivia took a second dig and, appearing to refer to Emily, put: “They all want their 10 minutes now”.

She then added: “These people get themselves tangled in their own web of lies.

“All you have to do is sit back and wait, took seven months of people trying to make me think I was crazy and they are all coming out of the woodwork now,” followed by a rat emoji to finish.

This comes after we revealed that Olivia’s new relationship with Pete is likely to beat the friends-to-lovers curse he has been accustomed to before.

Speaking to The Sun about Olivia’s decision to keep things as private as possible, a source revealed: “What they have right now is special.

“Because her other relationships have played out so publicly, she’s making a conscious effort to keep it close to her chest.

“She’s aware that in the industry she’s in, people want to know details, but this time she wants to keep something back, to herself.

“It’s serious and a more grown up relationship.”

Gary and Sarah Andrews’s daughter Wynter died 23 minutes after she was delivered by Caesarean section at the Queen’s Medical Centre on 15 September 2019 after repeated warning signs of her being in distress had been missed.

Wynter died from a loss of oxygen flow to the brain – which an inquest found could have been prevented had staff delivered her earlier.

Sarah, 41, had been admitted to hospital on 14 September, six days after initially experiencing contractions.

The inquest heard the maternity unit was “busy” when she arrived, with information on the patient’s history not properly handed over to other staff at shift changes.

The inquest found Wynter may have survived if “multiple missed opportunities” had been spotted.

In what would become a recurring theme about warning signs being missed, the coroner cited a 2018 letter from midwives to bosses at the trust, outlining concerns over staffing levels as “the cause of a potential disaster”.

“The grim predictions… were indeed realised some 10 months later when Wynter died as a result of the unsafe practices warned about,” coroner Laurinda Bower said.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) prosecuted NUH over her death in January 2023, with the trust pleading guilty to care failures.

The criminal prosecution resulted in NUH being fined £800,000.

With a year to go until the World Cup starts in Brazil, this was a concerning scoreline that gives Wiegman plenty to ponder.

Facing world champions Spain away is arguably the toughest test in football, but to lose so comfortably was not an easy watch.

Former England midfielder Fran Kirby said Wiegman’s players looked “deflated” at full-time and she “hurt just watching it”.

“They will learn from it, and they have to rise up to put in a good performance against Ukraine,” Kirby told BBC Radio 5 Live.

Just the top team from their group automatically qualifies for the World Cup and even if England beat Ukraine on Tuesday they will likely miss out, with this defeat by Spain the only blotch on their otherwise solid campaign.

So what damage did the 4-0 defeat have on England?

“Of course, it’s not a great scoreline. It’s hard, it’s disappointing, and I think there was a difference – a big difference – between ourselves and Spain,” added Wiegman.

“We review this, recover, stick together, play a good game and then move forward.

“We know if we qualify [automatically] that there’s a different preparation than if we don’t qualify. Let’s first see what happens on Tuesday.”

England midfielder Keira Walsh, who captained the side in the absence of injured centre-back Leah Williamson, conceded they “just weren’t good enough”.

“Spain played incredibly well but I think there are a lot of things we could have done better. It felt like they had bodies everywhere,” said Walsh.

“It was very difficult to get out of our own box. I don’t have solutions right now. Obviously we’ll look back but right now the emotions are very high.

“It was a disappointing game. We’ve still got a small chance to qualify automatically. It’s out of our hands. We can hope Iceland do us a favour.”