Love Island

This article is about the 2005-6 television series. For other uses, see Love Island (disambiguation).
Love Island
Also known as Celebrity Love Island
Genre Reality television
Created by ITV
Presented by Patrick Kielty (2005–06)
Kelly Brook (2005)
Fearne Cotton (2006)
Country of origin United Kingdom
No. of series 2
Production
Executive producer(s) Rachel Arnold
Natalka Znak
Producer(s) Toby Gorman
Editor(s) Alistair Knapp
Rebecca De Young
Location(s) Fiji
Running time 30–60 minutes (inc. adverts)
Production company(s) ITV Productions
Release
Original network ITV
Picture format 16:9 (HDTV)
Original release 16 May 2005 (2005-05-16) – 28 August 2006 (2006-08-28)
Chronology
Related shows I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!
External links
Website

Love Island (originally Celebrity Love Island) is a daily British reality television programme. In the show, twelve single celebrities spent five weeks on an island in Fiji. Viewers would vote for the couple they would like to see in the "love shack" where the two would get to know one another better. In the first series, each week viewers voted celebrities off the island, but in the second, the inhabitants had the final say. The identities of those being kicked out were revealed in the elimination episodes. The prize for the final couple left standing was £50,000. The second series also featured the inhabitants having to cook and clean up after themselves to fight the appearance that they were just there for a free holiday.[1][2]

It was originally presented by Patrick Kielty and Kelly Brook, with Fearne Cotton taking over as female host in the second series. It aired in the United Kingdom on ITV. The first series aired in the summer of 2005, and it was won by Jayne Middlemiss and Fran Cosgrave. The second series began in July 2006, dropping Celebrity from its name. It was won by Bianca Gascoigne and Calum Best.

The theme tune for the first series was "Wish I", performed by Jem. A specially-composed summer theme by Daniel Pemberton (later released under the title "From Fiji with Love") was used for the second series.

The show was axed in November 2006. On 13 February 2015, it was announced that Love Island will return on ITV2 in 2015. It was later announced that Caroline Flack would host the revived series[3] starting on 7 June 2015.

Series 1 (2005)

The first series was broadcast during the summer of 2005.

Contestant Occupation/Known for Notes
Jayne Middlemiss TV presenter Winner
Fran Cosgrave Nightclub owner Winner
Calum Best Model
Paul Danan Actor
Michael Greco Actor
Lady Isabella Hervey "It Girl", sister of Lady Victoria Hervey
Du'aine Ladejo Athlete
Rebecca Loos David Beckham's former PA
Liz McClarnon Singer (member of Atomic Kitten)
Lee Sharpe Footballer
Judi Shekoni Actress, model, TV presenter First to be evicted
Abi Titmuss Model
Nikki Ziering Model (Late arrival)

The show attracted controversy from the moment it was announced by ITV. It was marketed as a rival for Channel 4's popular reality show, Big Brother, which returned for a sixth series soon after the show's launch. Many commentators felt that the format of the show provided low quality television as an excuse to attract high ratings.

Following the launch of the show, the celebrities were criticised by viewers for being boring, and the celebrity status of some of the participants was questioned. There was some suspicion that the contestants were simply using the programme as a free holiday, and the tabloids claimed that producers held crisis meetings to figure out how to keep things interesting.[4]

Soon afterwards, tabloid reports claimed that the show's presenters, Kelly Brook and Patrick Kielty, were engaged in a bitter feud. The problems between the pair allegedly started after Kielty told viewers on the live show that Brook had previously been involved in a relationship with one of the contestants, Paul Danan.[5] However, even the promise of fireworks between the two hosts was not enough to keep viewers interested, and one episode of the show only attracted less than 2 million viewers. Producers later hired model Nikki Ziering to spice up the show.

The show was also resented by fans of long-running ITV soap Coronation Street. ITV decided to move its flagship programme from 19:30 to 20:30 on Monday nights, to provide a successful lead-in for Love Island, in the hope of increasing ratings. Writers John Fay and Daran Little complained to the press about the treatment of the show. ITV argued that it took the decision to move the soap very seriously and only did so when absolutely necessary. A meeting was requested with ITV programming director Nigel Pickard to discuss the issue.[6]

On 10 June 2005, although ratings were beginning to pick up, with the show close to overtaking Big Brother in popularity, a strong storm over the islands of Fiji disrupted the programme. A live eviction show had to be cancelled as six-foot waves made it impossible for crewmembers to cross over to where the celebrities were staying. Instead, ITV was forced to repeat the episode from the previous night with unseen footage.

Shekoni was the first celebrity to be voted off the show by the public. "For the short period I was there I got on with everybody and didn't have any negative experiences. But when I watch it now I just think, oh God, I had a lucky escape that I didn't end up crying in front of the cameras, or getting rejected by any of the guys, or involved in any of the arguments. I know my family are just pleased that I got out and didn't do anything to ruin my integrity and morals and didn't do anything embarrassing in there. I knew almost instantly that I didn't fancy any of them, and I think that's why I got voted out. That's fair enough because it is supposed to be the love island and I obviously hadn't found love. I'm still looking, though, and I've been out searching ever since."[7]

Series 2 (2006)

The second series first aired on 10 July, and ran for seven weeks, a little longer than the previous year's series. It was announced in late May 2006 that Fearne Cotton would be Kielty's new co-host with Series 1 winner Jayne Middlemiss presenting Aftersun with Matt Brown on ITV2. It also has a new sponsor, popular chocolate bar Bounty.

On 6 July the list of contestants was announced, with the news that the word "Celebrity" would be dropped from the show title, due to the inclusion of non celebrities.[8]

10 July–28 August, seven weeks, 17 contestants and 3 house guests:

Contestant Known for Status
Bianca Gascoigne Modelling, being the stepdaughter of Paul Gascoigne Winner
Calum Best
(late arrival week 4)		 Modelling, being the son of George Best Winner
Kéllé Bryan Singing (former member of Eternal) Runner-up
Brendan Cole Dancing Runner-up
Kate Lawler TV/Radio Presenting, DJing, winning Big Brother 3 Evicted: At the Final (late arrival week 6)
Chris Brosnan Being the adopted son of actor Pierce Brosnan Evicted: Final Day
Sophie Anderton Modelling Evicted: Week 7
Lee Otway Acting (previously in Hollyoaks) Evicted: Week 7
Colleen Shannon DJ, Model (former Playboy playmate) Evicted: Week 7
Shane Lynch Singing (former member of Boyzone) Walked: Week 5
Paul Danan Acting (previously in Hollyoaks) Evicted: Week 5 (late arrival day 6)
Emma and Eve Ryan Glamour Modeling Ejected: Week 4 (late arrivals week 4; ejected after 5 days in the resort, they spent 2 days prior in the secret suite, for unexplained reasons)
Leo Ihenacho Doing backing music for The Streets Evicted: Week 4
Emily Scott Modelling Evicted: Week 3 (late arrival week 3)
Lady Victoria Hervey Being an "It Girl" Evicted: Week 2
Alicia Douvall Modelling, being a kiss and tell queen Evicted: Week 1

House guests on Love Island

Contestant Occupation/Known for Status
  • On Love Island three house guests entered the resort for set periods of time, which was usually a contract of a week. House guests were not eligible for evictions or winning the prize fund of £50,000 at the end of the series, but were allowed to be voted into the Love Shack. As with the actual contestants they received an appearance salary.
 Abs Breen Singer (former member of Five) Week 4 (Stayed 5 days)
Dennis Rodman Former NBA champion, CBB 2006 contestant Week 3 (Stayed 4 days before quitting)
Steve-O Clown and stuntman Jackass Week 2 (Stayed 2 days because he was not allowed the beer and chocolate which he requested)

Returns

Notes

On 18 July, Steve-O was added to the show in an effort to boost ratings. Despite stating he has stopped drinking he asked for beer while on the show. On 19 July, he abruptly left Love Island because he was not allowed enough alcohol or chocolate.[9]

Lady Victoria Hervey was voted off the show on Friday 21 July although her chosen man Chris Brosnan had been the favourite to leave. Hervey told hosts Patrick Kielty and Fearne Cotton that she hoped the relationship would continue in the real world but then had second thoughts when she was shown footage of Brosnan saying that he also liked Colleen.

Basketball legend Dennis Rodman entered the show on the third week on 27 July as a House guest to boost the ratings. he flirted with Colleen Shannon, and created friction with Lee Otway before walking in the midst of an argument between Lee and Paul Danan, on his fourth day on 30 July out of the seven contracted until 3 August 2006.

Identical twins Emma and Eve Ryan joined the Love Island on 31 July, but were ejected from the show by producers on 4 August. No explanation was given to the public.

It was announced on 6 August that Calum Best would enter Love Island next day. Also on 6 August, it was confirmed on the Love Island website that Shane Lynch had left the island to make up with a woman back home.

On 14 August, Big Brother 3 winner Kate Lawler entered Love Island. On final night, 28 August 2006, Kate Lawler was the last girl to be evicted before the final showdown.

The winners were Bianca Gascoigne and Calum Best, with Kéllé Bryan and Brendan Cole runners-up.

An average of 3.8 million people tuned in to watch the final, peaking at 4.4m, down from last year's peak figure of 5.9 million.

Head to head with Big Brother

The show did not always go head to head with Channel 4's Big Brother, as Big Brother aired at 9pm on Tuesdays, Saturdays and Sundays and only clashed on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays with Love Island at 10pm. However, many terrestrial viewers in Wales could only watch Big Brother at a fixed 10.00pm slot every night on S4C which also broadcast the show due to many Welsh terrestrial televisions failing to receive Channel 4. Love Island's audience was about half the size of that for Big Brother.[10]

Cancellation

On 24 November 2006, ITV revealed that a third series would not be made.[11]

Revival (2015)

On 13 February 2015, it was announced that a new revived show, also called Love Island, would air in summer 2015 on ITV2. ITV's Director of Digital and Acquisitions Angela Jain confirmed the revived show would be revamped and will see non-celebrity contestants compete to survive a public vote each week.[12] The new series is hosted by Caroline Flack and produced for ITV2 by ITV Studios.

See also

References

External links

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