Love Island

About

Love Island is a British reality dating television game show. In the series, people are placed in a villa and put under surveillance as they attempt to couple up with others for love, friendship, or possibly money, as the final couple wins 50,000 pounds. The contestants are coupled up based on first impressions of each other over the course of the series are tasked with "re-coupling" where they can swap or stay with their partners. Each week, single contestants can be eliminated if they are not paired up. Couples can also be voted off by viewers as viewers vote for who they want to see stay via a smartphone app.

History

The series was originally conceived by ITV Studios. The first series aired with a celebrity cast and ran for two seasons before being cancelled in 2006 (clip shown below).

On February 13th, 2015, ITV announced that the series would return and air on ITV2.^[1] The format of the series is similar, but the contestants are not celebrities. As of June 20th, 2019, the series has run for four total seasons and is currently in the midst of a fifth. Over the course of the series, the show has gained millions of viewers, going from .5 million viewers in season 1 to 3.96 million viewers in season 4. The first two series have been made available on Netflix. ^[2] Versions of the series have aired or are in production in several countries, including the US, Australia, Germany, Belgium, New Zealand, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, and others.

Controversies

Two cast members of Love Island have committed suicide: Mike Thalassitis and Sophie Gradon. Gradon's boyfriend Aaron Armstrong also committed suicide after Gradon's death.^[3] This led some fans to demand the cancellation of the series,^[4] slamming the aftercare the show provided contestants after they'd left the series. The series responded by providing therapy and training to all contestants on the series.^[5]

Online Presence

The series has a wide social media presence. Its Facebook page has over 1 million Facebook likes;^[6] its Twitter page has over 993,000 followers;^[7] its subreddit has over 19,000 members.^[8] Each episode regularly sees fans reacting to the show with jokes and memes, and these are regularly covered in news publications.^[10][11][12] For example, on June 19th, The Tab^[9] posted a compilation of 41 reactions based off the previous nights episode (examples shown below).

Search Interest

External References