Gemma Nettle
As Love Island returns to our TV screens, we brace ourselves for sun, sexy singles and love – something quite opposite to the dreary winter the UK is experiencing. Bringing in over five million viewers last year for just one of its summer episodes, the show has no doubt become a staple of British reality television. But will it continue its meteoric rise or has it lost its spark?
The inaugural winter edition of Love Island made its debut back in 2019 in South Africa, but with the pandemic disrupting any murmurings of another, it was scrapped. However, ITV2 has defrosted the concept and brought it back this year.
Too Much of a Good Thing?
Spending eight sweltering weeks in Cape Town, the show airs nightly from Sunday to Friday. Not only that, but its spin-off shows Unseen Bits (which does exactly what it says on the tin) and After Sun (where celebrities discuss the events from the week) have returned.
And if you haven’t got enough Love Island in your life, you can also tune into the Morning After podcast hosted by Sam Thompson and previous participant Indiyah Polack.
“Is ITV2 putting it on ‘factor 50’?”
Safe to say it’ll be hard to avoid this show for the extensive eight weeks it airs, but is ITV2 putting it on ‘factor 50’? The concern is viewers will become overexposed to the charms and dramas of Love Island and start to tune out, but perhaps it will only fuel people’s obsession. We know from previous experience that it consistently attracts viewers, but will having two series per year change things?
Strategy
The friendship couple has become a fundamental feature of Love Island, especially in recent years. Islanders will couple up, oftentimes making it quite clear their intention to stay ‘just friends’ from the start. Some competitors make it through a massive chunk of the competition in friendship couples before they finally commit to a romantic coupling. On this topic, Hugo Hammond and Chloe Burrows from season seven immediately come to mind.
“Are people only applying for the show because of the opportunities provided afterwards?“
When it comes to this show, the most common reason you’ll hear as to why people don’t watch it is that it can appear to be highly driven by brand deals. Islanders will usually seek out partnerships with big clothing brands once they’re out of the show, or be propelled into presenting roles, or be awarded their own reality TV shows. Are people only applying for the show because of the opportunities provided afterwards? Most likely, yes.
Rumours
A number of islanders who have left the villa have since revealed secrets about what isn’t aired. Producers prompting conversations between the islanders to ignite drama and gossip is one of the most common revelations.
Georgia Steel and Jack Fowler stirred controversy in 2018 when they locked lips on a date while the latter was already in a ‘loyal’ couple with someone else. Fellow islander Wes Nelson claimed to have seen the smooch, but footage broadcast on the show told a different story. A later released cut however proved that the kiss was filmed multiple times, verifying people’s suspicions.
“the concept of the interactions being a little staged isn’t new”
However, the concept of interactions being a little staged isn’t new. We’ve seen the likes of it in a number of our favourite reality television shows over the years.
Welcome Distraction
There are some highlights for this year’s winter season though – the show introducing its first visually impaired person being number one. It’s a positive step in the right direction for this series and it’s something we hope will continue.
Love Island is a welcome distraction. While we’re all worrying about the cost of living, it’s nice to switch off our brains and mindlessly watch 10 singles try to navigate love and friendship while soaking up some winter sun. In the words of Iain Stirling, it “blows those winter blues away”.
“Love Island‘s viewing figures suffered a blow on Monday”
Becoming the network’s most-watched show in its history in 2018, it was again the most-watched TV show for its target audience of 16- to 34-year-olds in 2020. But according to the Daily Mirror, Love Island‘s viewing figures suffered a blow when the launch show received just 1.4 million views – a step down from its usual 2.5 million for the last three seasons.
We’ll have to wait and see whether the ITV2 show has seen its dying day.
Love Island is currently airing and streaming every night at 9pm from Sunday to Friday on ITV2 and ITVX.
Featured image by Taylor Simpson via Unsplash. Image license found here. No changes were made to this image.
Gemma Nettle
Gemma is one of our entertainment editors. She also works full-time as a reporter. You can find her on Instagram and Twitter @gemmanettle.