Oh,Casa Amor, how we love thee. The most highly anticipated week of British reality TV is upon us, and we're thrilled to get stuck in. Casa Amor tests even the strongest of couples as the boys and girls split into separate villas and get to know 12 new bombshells.
Out of sight, out of mind is truly the slogan of this week as history shows Casa Amor only brings chaos and temptation to the couples. It also brings iconic moments; from season eight's Andrew Le Page’s classic tit-gatemoment to season five's Anna Vakili erupting at Michael Griffiths for leaving Amber Gillsingle.
But what really happens in Casa Amor when the camera’s stop rolling? Casa Amor bombshells from seasons past have revealed some juicy details over the years. Here is everything you need to know about the behind the scenes:
Secret communication
Season 8 Casa Amor bombshell Coco Lodge revealed that the Islanders secretly communicate on their phones before the dramatic recoupling. She explained, ‘We write messages to each other on the phone, like hide it under the duvet so [the producers] can't see. With the boys I think they did it before the Casa Amor recoupling to tell each other who they're picking, so it wasn’t so secret amongst them.'
Pre-Casa Amor recoupling
This might be the wildest secret of all! Yes, they literally do a pre-recoupling before the main one that we see on the show. Casa Amor season seven contestant Amy Day, told OK! Magazine those in Casa Amor have their own mini recoupling beforehand to give the contestants time to pack and get ready. She said, ‘It was a real shock because the whole time you don’t know where any of the boys’ heads are at, and nothing is guaranteed.’
Season 8 bombshell Jazmine Nichol told Closer that the Casa girls knew their fate beforehand and it was emotional. She revealed, ‘All of us girls were huddling around crying because you know you’re going.’ She added, ‘It was mad. We were there all day knowing [we were going home] so all the boys were just chilling in the pool going, “Oh yeah, that was good fun. It’s a shame.'”
Coco Lodge also said that producers gave them some time before the dramatic recoupling to have final chats with boys – these scenes are unaired. ‘We had a 24-hour break before the Casa Amor recoupling just to get into the boys' head a bit, so have them thinking about whether we are the better option than all their girls.’ She added, ‘I think there was maybe an hour of filming just when you get the text.’ We wonder if any of these unaired chats were the ones to completely turned the boys’ heads in the past...
OG Islanders have said they actually already know how the big recoupling is going to play out…
So you’d think the big Casa Amor recoupling is completely candid and the islanders are genuinely shocked by what happens, right? Most of the time, yes. But apparently some Islanders in the past have worked their fate out, and knew they were about to be left single. Shaughna Phillips starred in the first winter series of Love Island, and was initially paired up with Callum Jones before he returned from Casa Amor with new girl Molly Smith.
Shaughna revealed, ‘I 100 per cent knew Callum was going to come back from Casa Amor with another girl, before he entered with Molly. They [the islanders] get told what order to sit in from left to right. And while I never got a vibe about who was going to be dumped, I 100 per cent knew what was happening during my Casa Amor recoupling.
The ex-Islander continued, ‘I knew Callum was going to come in with another girl because my name was called out last – and the last one is always a shocker. Also, I was sitting next to Luke Trotman and the producers told him to move over to make more room. I think they were doing that to throw me off to make me think that Callum was going to come back and sit next to me, but I wasn’t falling for it.’
The Casa Amor bombshells first meet at the new villa too
When the original Islanders meet the Casa Amor bombshells, this is the first time all the new Casa Amor cast members have met each other too. ‘The first time I met the other Casa Amor girls was in the Uber from my villa to the holding area. I shared the car ride with Lillie and we spent the whole journey laughing and screaming,’ Amy Day told OK! Magazine.
‘As soon as we got dropped off outside the villa, we saw the other girls and that’s when we all got talking. We probably had an hour to get to know each other before we made our big entrance.’
They film the new bombshells walking into the villa multiple times
To make sure all the best expressions and shots of the 12 new Islanders are available, the dramatic walk into the villa is filmed lots of times. Amy said, ‘Entering the [Casa Amor] villa was the craziest day – it was also the hottest day of the year, too. The producers had to film us walking into the villa and we must’ve filmed that walk about 10 or 15 times before we got it right. As it was so hot, we were all sweating, and the producers had to get us towels to pat us down. We joked about how we were going to enter looking like we’d just been swimming.’ So, that slo-mo walk isn't as sexy after all...