After months of anticipation, dramas and firings (bye bye Flack Attack) the ‘winter’ series of Love Island hit the screens. The launch episode received only 2.39 million views compared to 2019’s series 3.3 million views, this is the lowest launch-night rating since the 2017 series. Though, this could be because most are reluctant to watch others tanning in the sun while Britain is dealing with the beautiful rain and cold weather. The new series so far has shown a wider diversity of cast, this can still be improved especially in terms of body diversity, but shows the series is willing to adapt to what the public wants.
The major scandal before the start of the series saw Caroline Flack axed as host of the show leading to her replacement by Laura Whitmore who has received both positive and negative feedback. However, in my opinion she has truly proven herself a worthy replacement, not only does she embody the ‘Flack walk’ but she also brings a new character to the show. She is easy to warm up to and the islanders seem to enjoy her presence.
The first episode saw the first ‘couples’ of the season and this goes as follows Leanne and Mike, Sophie and Connor, Paige and Ollie, Siannise and Nas, and Shaughna and Callum. It did not take long for the South African villa to shake up when the blonde bombshells (who are twins by the way) rocked the villa, Eve and Jess, who joined the villa on the first and had to choose a man to recouple with leaving two of the new girls ‘single’ in the villa. Eve chose Callum while Jess chose Mike leaving Shaughna and Leanne single! In true love island style this only tests the relationship between the past couples resulting in Callum and Mike going back to their original partner. This was not a shocking twist as both men seemed happy with their respective partners.
More shocking news came when controversial contestant Ollie decided to leave the villa as he was still in love with his ex-girlfriend, leaving Paige ‘single’. But not all went wrong though when two lovely new boys entered the villa, Finley and Connagh (with a G). Connagh became the most talked about newcomer in the villa due to his stunning looks and his resemblance to Anthony Joshua’s brother (his literal brother). With the introduction of the new boys came drama that the show was lacking, Connagh took Sophie on a date leaving Connor (small Connor) fuming and upset as he had ‘put all his eggs in one basket’. This caused arguments and shady comments from Connor as he could not deal with what he felt was rejection from Sophie, who had no choice on the dating matter.
Now onto important business, the first recoupling of the season! The recoupling provided a new twist as Connagh chose Sophie leaving Connor (again) raging as he felt ‘snaked out’. Connor was ‘forced’ into a friendship couple with Siannise. This was a great ending to Friday’s night episode as it resembles season 3 of love island when contestant Johnny called out Theo for ‘stealing his women’. Other couples include; the beloved Leanne and Mike, Paige and Finley, and Jess and Nas. This left twin Eve to leave the villa.
Not much has happened so far, but the first few episodes are always the most boring! Let’s hope for more drama as we approach week 2 of Love Island.
Catch the new series of Love Island on ITV or ITV hub.
