The Love Island Low Down: Latest Updates From The Villa

Love Island is finally backon our TVs and while the world eagerly waits to find out what the contestants of 2018 will be bringing to Mallorca's most famous villa, we wouldn't be surprised if you were already feeling the pressure to keep up with it all. We get it. It's a lot.

Last summer's office chit chat was dominated by talk of dramatic recouplings, conspicuous action between very thin sheets and momentous mugging off. The show spawned plenty of think pieces on toxic masculinity, true feminism, real romance and Caroline Flack's whereabouts in between waving unsuccessful singles off the Spanish coast.

And so, this year's series comes with high expectations. Which makes the prospect of tuning in six times a week to avoid FOMO and maintain conversation even more daunting. But before you cancel all plans in the outside world, fear not. That's where we come in.

We're watching Love Island every day so you don't have to. We'll take the strain of cultural obligation from your shoulders so you can enjoy that post-work drink that accidentally turns into five. You don't need to worry about making it back from dinner before 9pm because we've got everything you need to know right here. Relieved? Thank us later.

Check back every morning for the three things you need to know about last night's episode.

Episode Eight, 13 June 2018

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The best moment of the series so far came last night, when Adam and Charlie used their snaking powers for good to outsnake the ultimate snake that is Eyal. The duo decided it was time to help Alex get some alone time with Meghan, since every time he tried to talk to her Eyal was hot on their tail. Distracting him with conversations about the stars, they asked him a series of hilariously stupid questions, including 'is the northern star the one over Newcastle?' and 'can you smell my beads?'. The best part? As soon as Alex and Meghan stopped talking, they ran for their lives leaving Eyal none the wiser. Honestly lads, well played.

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The Alex, Meghan, Eyal love triangle is the most exciting thing thats happened so far, so naturally, it's spawned the most memes. Our favourite has to be this, ridiculously savvy comparison to Hugh Grant and Colin Firth's characters in Bridget Jones. Hopefully, Meghan will pull a full Bridget and end up wearing matching Christmas jumpers with Alex by the end of the series.

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As much as the fragility of Alex has created the most entertaining storyline, the entire nation getting fawning over him doesn't quite sit right. As Lady Jade points out, we're all treating Alex as if he's entitled to love (or more importantly, to Meghan), just because he's seemingly quite insecure and hasn't put himself out there in the same way.

In reality, he's probably the most privileged person in the villa, and much of his failings in love have been thanks to his own doing. It's not that we shouldn't feel sorry for Alex not being chosen, but the way Samira is ignored despite having just as hard a time, if not worse, when Alex is worshiped by everyone speaks volumes for the way we treat men and women differently when they face the same challenges. Why is the world rooting for Alex and not Samira? Where is Samira's Jack telling her she's a peng sort? These are the questions we must be asking...

Episode Seven, 12 June 2018

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We were teased in the previous episode and the tension was too much to bare for 24 hours but we finally found out what that Rosie and Adam cliffhanger was about. It turns out Adam pulled an Adam and made moves towards new contestant Meghan and badmouthed Rosie in the process.

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Rosie decided to confront Adam about his foolish and unwelcome behaviour in front of the entire villa. Marched over to Adam and called the rest of the Islanders over to come over to join them and witness her try and serve Adam a couple of home truths - 'every girl that's been played by a playboy and has been feeling the way I feel today', she said. We unpick her take down on Grazia here.

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Elsewhere in the Villa, Eyal has really gone down in our estimations. Now that he and Hayley are officially, really, really not pursuing each other, it's apparant to Eyal that he is now vulnerable. So he's be vying for the attention of new girl Meghan and hasn't been a very good sport in going about it. Much to Twitter's delight, Meghan displayed an interest in Alex and things were finally looking up for the doctor. Well, until Eyal interrupted a conversation that Alex and Meghan had gone off to have in public, forcibly kissed her in front of everyone under the pretense of truth or dare when it wasn't technically his instruction to do so, and walking from one side of the villa to where Alex was standing, snogging Meghan in front of him, and then scurrying off in the other direction. There's a way to play the Love Island game, Eyal. And this is not it.

Episode Six, 10 June 2018

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Oh Alex, you’re really not helping yourself mate.

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Is it just us or is what this Love Island series is seriously missing is a good dose of diversity? And, maybe a little more depth that even Eyal has in him. What we would do to tune in at 9 pm and see a cast of characters that reflect society-at-large and not just a tiny section of our Fitness First….

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Much has been shared on social media about the ages of Love Island’s contestants. Many are doubting that the contestants are divulging their real ages. As far as we can tell (and trust us, we’ve done our research), the Islanders are telling the truth. Once the Daily Mail is done uncovering everyone’s birth certificates one very salient message remains: why do the show’s producers have such a problem with contestants over 30? Life events are ageing up - we’re having children later, getting married when we’re older and purchasing a property years later than previous generations - yet in Love Island’s alternate universe, you’re seemingly on-the-shelf if you're over 29. What a sad, fake reality.

Episode Five, 8 June 2018

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A good half an hour went by before we spotted Alex in this episode, and Twitter definitely noticed. He did make it to the recoupling ceremony though, and stayed true to his word in chosing to pair up with Samira once more because 'she really deserves a chance to find love'. Swoon. You won't be the only one hoping these two fall in love, but with two new boys due to enter the villa this weekend, there's no telling what might happen.

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SPOILER ALERT: Friday's recoupling did not go down the way the Twittersphere expected it too. The world had hoped that Eyal would pick Kendall but instead he chose Hayley who, lest we forget, made it very very clear that she didn't like him. This left Kendall vulnerable to Adam's toxicly misguided ways and in the end, he chose new girl Rosie. Albeit ridiculous, his choice wasn't all that surprising after we watched him tell Kendall that he wanted to call it day because 'he couldn't see it going further' (didn't like that she wouldn't put out for him) and less than 30 seconds later, entered a lengthly snogathon with Rosie. He has since been dubbed even more of a slime ball than last year's 'Muggy Mike'.

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The ladies of Love Island sat down to have a chat about Brexit while the boys pumped iron in the background. Whether the conversation was prompted or staged, we'll never know. The biggest surprise was not that the conversation was had, but rather that Hayley revealed that she didn't know what Brexit was. As the other girls started to explain, she confused it for meaning that somehow, the UK would no longer have any trees. It's laughable on the surface, but we can't help but itch that niggling feeling in the back of our minds that urges better recognition of the fact Hayley not knowing about one of the biggest political reforms that many of us will live to speaks to a whole wider concern about the population's understanding of what we voted for back in 2016.

Episode Four, 7 June 2018

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After a public vote, the two new girls, Rosie and Georgia went on dates with Alex and Niall. Niall was nervous and smitten from the moment that Georgia opened her mouth and Dr Alex, who's date with Rosie took place at a table approximately two meters away from the other pair, very politely did his best to lay on the charm.

When they returned from the date Niall proudly told the other boys that he and Georgia had kissed, which Wes later let slip to some of the other girls. Hayley was clearly not happy to hear of this kiss.

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Much of the UK wanted Alex to find, to use his words, 'my future wife, mother of my children' in Rosie. Sadly, he did not. When Rosie debriefed with the rest of the girls at the villa we found out that she's not into Alex, but she does very much fancy Adam. The foundation for fall out has been laid...

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Kendall has made it clear that she wants to take things slow in the villa, and her insecurities have recently bubbled to the surface. But Alex seems to think that it's okay to rationalise his impatience with Kendall as an issue she has had to apologise for. It's not.

Episode Three, 6 June 2018

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So, Hayley is not into Eyal. She's made it very clear and Eyal cottoned on to the fact that Hayley doesn't know what type of dog she owns clearly means that she is not interested in pursuing a romantic relationship. She's told him, the other contestants and the shows viewers that she does. not. fancy. him. But then she found out two new girls would be entering the villa and Hayley suddenly decided she felt weird about Eyal being attracted to someone else. Thank you, Samira, for being there for Hayley in her time of need.

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Niall has been a bit down because he's currently the single man in the villa, which he equated to a story about a rainbow fish. It was something to do with him feeling like he's surrounded by really obviously attractive (ahem, rainbow) men and just needs a woman to spend some time getting to know him to realise that deep down he's a rainbow fish too... or something. In short, much like some of the other men he's understandably feeling a bit insecure about his looks and how attractive he's deemed to be by the women of Love Island.

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Two new girls entered the house. The existing female contestants were restricted to the balcony where they had to watch from above as the men entertained the newbies with drinks and uninteresting conversation. Naturally, they felt threatened and some responded to the situation a little, um, dramatically.

While it's totally understandable that these women, who's stake in the Love Island competition entirely depends on being coupled up, were unnerved by the introduction of two new tanned, toned and beautiful women. But the way that the gendered separation we'd seen within the villa throughout the episode culminated in defensive aggression is interesting (and not ideal, of course). We'll see how this pack mentality develops over the next few days...

Episode Two, 5 June 2018

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We're already far too emotionally invested in this show, and ICYMI episode two filled us with a little sadness. Alex (the doctor) is feeling frustrated as he is coupled up with someone he doesn't fancy (Samira), 'I feel quite frustrated because I'm making a lot of effort with her and trying to chat to her and trying to be normal and she is basically quite dismissive,' he explained. Someone prescribe him a hug and some aioli, STAT.

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The memes have been legendary so far this season, and so when the islanders' first game revealed that Jack, who is coupled with Dani, has cheated on ALL the girlfriends he's ever had, the Danny Dyer meme factory started up again. Who knew he was so meme-able?

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The islanders played their first game in episode two, and it got a little steamy. One person had to read out a scandalous secret on a card from a suitcase (baggage - geddit?) and then that person had to guess who it was about... and kiss them. Alex chose to kiss Hayley, and it was probably the most awkward scene so far as she dodged it. But consider this; as Daisy Buchanan mentions in the tweet above - isn't this just a simple case of consent? None of the men or women on the show should feel that they have to kiss someone just because it's 'part of the game'. Island or no island, you can choose what to do with your body.

Episode One, 4 June 2018

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ICYMI, Danny Dyer's daughter, Dani (no, really) is on the show. She paired up with a man called James who eludes Arg from The Only Way Is Essex vibes. They seem to get on and when Dani revealed that her Dad was Danny Dyer, he (understandably) lost his chill a little bit. But apparently his response to the news pleased Dani because normally men tend to make a bigger deal about it , and she very quickly started hypothesising introducing him to her parents.

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Samira, the only woman of colour on this year's season, wasn't chosen by any of the male contestants in the initial coupling. So, she ended up being matched with 27-year-old Alex, a tall A&E doctor who really really isn't her type - she may have mentioned it once or five hundred times.

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The first episode's twist came in the form of Adam, a tall, dark and handsome multi-abed man who really challenged other male contestants' insecurities. Interesting that, while the image and body type of the selection of women has disappointingly remained particularly un-diverse, it's the men who have prompted discussions about the pressures of body image.

Who Are The Love Island 2018 Contestants?

When Is Love Island 2018 On TV?

Episode one of Love Island hits ITV2 9pm - 10.35pm for a special extended show. After that, the show will air every day for an hour at 9pm.

When Does Love Island 2018 Finish?

There's no confirmed date as yet, but last year's series ran for seven weeks. We've been told that this season is expected to be Love Island's longest run yet, so our weekday evenings may well be occupied right through until August.