The latest season of Love Island finished at the beginning of August, and after Ekin-su and Davide were crowned winners, they have been paraded around like royalty. Fans love to learn more about the lives of the winners and remaining couples and hope that they stand the test of time and remain together.
While Love Island is a highly popular reality TV show, it has been criticized for being fake or scripted. Producers from the show have vehemently denied these allegations, but some past contestants have spoken about what life in the villa is really like and what fans don't see behind the scenes.
Producers Prompt Islanders
In a stunning revelation when speaking with the Daily Star, season 3 islander, Tyla Carr, revealed that producers prompt the islanders to have certain conversations. She also said the islanders have to reshoot scenes sometimes, but that’s only (usually) for clarification or if the microphones didn’t pick up the conversation the first time.
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After Tyla blindsided Love Island fans with this knowledge, producers from the show released a statement that Love Island is categorically not scripted. Tyla then changed her tune by saying the show is not fake, but it seems that she was prompted herself by producers to make those claims (via Heat World).
Storylines Are Left Out Or Fabricated
U.S. Love Island-er, Mackenzie Dipman, shared that the show left out crucial parts of her conversations, specifically with Connor Trott, with whom she was in a relationship. She said by the end of the conversation, which wasn’t shown, they were talking about getting back together.
She also revealed that after she was dumped from the island, he told her he loved her while she was leaving, which he had never done before. While ultimately it is up to the producers to decide what airs, it seems that some moments that are important to certain storylines are left out to create a false storyline in its place (via The Things).
There’s A Lot That Viewers Don’t See
While it’s not feasible to believe that viewers would watch every second of every day in the villa, some fans have pointed out weird irregularities, such as almost never seeing the islanders eat. Amy Hart from season 5, who had one of the most shocking exits on Love Island, revealed in a TikTok that the cast made their own breakfast but had a catering company bring in lunch and dinner.
While the islanders were eating lunch and dinner, they weren’t being filmed, and they weren’t allowed to talk about anything pertaining to the villa or drama happening in it. Production wanted to ensure any and all drama was captured on camera.
Islanders Have A “Role”
Sharon Gaffka spoke to My Imperfect Life and said that she believes she was cast to be a certain role within the villa. She said her audition process was like a job interview, and that she lied to get into the show. She said she would either be the sweetheart of the villa or “public enemy number one,” which production clearly liked, so she was cast.
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She also said that she believes she was always going to go home single, no matter what because that was her “role,” and production didn’t intend for her to find love and make it to the end with the others.
Bombshells Are Thrown In To Test Relationships
While this isn’t necessarily “fake,” it appears that bombshells are brought in to give them a chance at finding love, but the reality is that those who are chosen are picked specifically to cause drama with already existing couples.
Abigail Rawlings told My Imperfect Life, “I definitely do believe that it depends on who is the strongest couple at the time, and they'll throw people in there to test that relationship.” She went on to say that in the end, this is a TV show based on drama, so producers are going to do whatever they can to make the show as dramatic as possible, while still making it realistic.
Islanders Could Text Each Other
Kady McDermott, considered to be one of the worst Love Island islanders of all time, was on season two and spoke about her time in the villa with Cosmopolitan. She said that the islanders could text each other on their phones and take photos. She also said that getting texts from the producers where they would shout “I’ve got a text!” actually took forever.
She didn’t go into much detail over what they would text to each other, but based on how strict production was about getting the drama all on camera, they likely couldn’t be gossiping through text message very long.
Islanders Were Told To Stop Talking About Their Personal Lives
Kady McDermott, who had one of the most explosive fights on Love Island, spoke about how boring the villa got because they had to entertain themselves all day and night. She said that what viewers see on the show is about 20 percent of the conversations they had, and the other 80 percent was about their personal lives, their families, vacations, just normal conversations.
But production would tell them that they should try to only talk about each other because they couldn’t air the random, unrelated conversations, as they had nothing to do with the drama inside the villa (via Cosmopolitan).
Molly-Mae Was Forced To Tell A Secret
In season 5, Anton, Tommy, and Danny went to a shop and “as a joke,” Anton gave his number to the female cashier. When they got back, Tommy told Molly-Mae. In an interview with Closer, Molly-Mae revealed that a producer came up to her and told her she had to tell Anna. At first Molly-Mae said no, but the producer insisted.
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Molly-Mae said she received a lot of backlash for going behind Tommy’s back and telling Anna, and said she wished she had stood up for herself more and refused to divulge Tommy’s secret.
Everything Is Fake
Amy Day spoke with The Daily Star about how surprised she was that the producers were so involved. She said everything was really restricted, and it wasn’t nearly as much fun as she thought it would be. She even said, “I wish I knew how fake it was, everything was fake, but Hugo was the biggest example of fakeness, to be honest.”
Amy said that after being asked what she wished she’d known before entering the villa. She was led on by fellow contestant, Hugo, who she felt lied to her the whole time, although they had one of the strongest friendship couples of their Love Island season. She also said that production didn’t control the islanders, but they did “manipulate” them.
The Producers Become Like Friends
In her interview with Closer, Molly-Mae said she was surprised at how involved the producers were. This makes sense because there’s not even a hint of crew when watching a season of Love Island. But in reality, there’s always producers around.
Molly-Mae also said that the entire cast and crew become like one big family. She said she got close to them and was good friends with them. If an islander was in a mood, Molly-Mae said that a producer would talk to them, and that she herself was told she was bringing the entire mood of the villa down and to perk up a bit.
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