There's never a shortage of drama on Love Island and this year has been no different. From Curtis Pritchard ending his villa romance with Amy Hart, to Anna Vakili and Jordan Hames' dramatic showdown, it's been impossible to switch off. With a dozen beautiful people together in a villa for ten weeks, it's not hard to see how relationships can get messy, but now former contestants have come forward to reveal the secrets behind the camera. According to multiple whistleblowers, the show is 'scripted' and 'fake'.
One former contestant told The Mail on Sunday, "People don’t realise how scripted it is, how much the producers influence it.
"It is completely disingenuous and a lot of the time very, very fake. It isn’t fair to mislead the audience like that. The producers don’t care what they’re doing to people as long as they’re making their ratings. We were treated like performing animals and the current cast are still."
They also claim that certain situations are created by producers to cause chaos in the villa, including last year's awkward kiss between Jack Fowler and Georgia Steele. It was allegedly filmed 'three or four times' to get the right shot, while Sam Bird's relationship with Georgia was 'completely fake'.
"It was set up by producers," one of last year's contestants revealed. "They kept it going for a few months after they came out of the villa but then split."
While ITV claim it's a ‘combination of reality and produced elements,' a 2017 star also admitted that it's clear when the show are favouring one character over another.
"The producers have their favourites," they said. "Some of the contestants are barely shown. If you’re not a favourite, they won’t give you any time at all. When you’re in there, you do know that they don’t really want to show you or side with you. You can feel it. I knew I wasn’t going to benefit from being in there – the producers make it very obvious. They flock around who they like, and if they don’t want to talk to you then they just won’t."
Amber Davies, who is the first ever Love Island star to earn £1million, was also the victim of sabotage when producers sent in Simon Searles to break her and Kem Cetinay up after they saw an interest in their on/off romance. But when Simon refused and claimed he liked Montana Brown instead, he was voted off the show.
The contestant explained, "Simon said no, he was happy with Montana. Amber and Montana fell out because they made it look like Simon had moved in for Amber but he was told to do it for the cameras.
"After all of that, he was the next person to be voted off."
The show, which earns £136million a year for ITV, has become one of the most popular TV shows of the decade, with 2million viewers tuning in every night to catch the drama. Now with a winter series starting from 2020, it looks like there's no chance of it slowing down.
Read more: which Love Island couples are still together?
Which Love Island couples are still together? (RADIO - SLIDER - USE THIS VERSION)
1 of 9Series Two: Nathan Massey and Cara de la Hoyde
Nathan Massey and Cara de la Hoyde are the only Love Island winners to have remained together.Despite splitting for a number of months in 2017, the couple rekindled their romance when Cara discovered she was expecting the couple's first child.
2 of 9Series Two: Nathan Massey and Cara de la Hoyde
The couple later welcomed a baby boy called Freddie in December 2016. Sharing the happy news on social media, Nathan wrote, 'The day has finally come !!!! Myself and @cara_delahoyde have become parents to our beautiful baby boy !!! Massive hats off to Cara Who delivered our boy safely !!!!! #thenextchapter ud83dudc99ud83dudc76ud83cudffc[sic]In July 2018, Cara and Nathan announced they are now engaged with Nathan popping the question in the villa they first met.
3 of 9Series Two: Olivia Buckland and Alex Bowen
It took her a while, but Olivia Buckland finally found her man during Love Island season two. After leaving the villa together when they finished in second place behind Cara and Nathan, the couple haven't looked back!
4 of 9Series Two: Olivia Buckland and Alex Bowen
Just a few months after leaving the villa, Alex popped the question to Olivia during a romantic trip to New York. The couple married in a luxury ceremony in 2018, with parts of their wedding being shown on their very own TV show.
5 of 9Series Three: Dom Lever and Jess Shears
Despite the public thinking their relationship was just a 'joke', Jess Shears and Dom Lever have defied the odds and are one of the two couples still together from their series. Despite all of the drama with Jess and 'Muggy Mike', Dom proposed to his girlfriend in September 2016.
6 of 9Series Three: Dom Lever and Jess Shears
The couple have cashed in on promotional shoots together, appearances, and even got 'married' on Good Morning Britain on Valentine's Day. Despite the 'fake wedding', Jess and Dom then tied the knot for real in 2018, when they married at a private ceremony on the Greek island of Mykonos. In October 2019, they welcomed a child together.
7 of 9Series Three: Jamie Jewitt and Camilla Thurlow
The nation fell in love with Prince Harry's ex-girlfriend Camilla Thurlow in 2017. And, after she had her heart broken by a number of different men in the villa, model Jamie Jewitt arrived and swept Camilla off her feet.After enjoying time together outside of the show and meeting each other's families, the couple are living happily ever after.
8 of 9Series Three: Jamie Jewitt and Camilla Thurlow
The loved up couple have since traveled the world together on charity missions... can they get any better?
9 of 9Series Four: Tommy Fury and Molly May Hague
The king and queen of Love Island 2019 are still loved up. While Molly Mae is living it up as a brand ambassador for PrettyLittleThing, Tommy's days are filled with training as well as being a brand ambassador for Boohoo Man.
READ MORE: Before This Year I'd Never Watched Love Island, Now I’m Addicted
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