Have you ever watched Love Island and thought to yourself, 'There’s no way that just happened organically.' If so, you’re not alone. Plenty of us are questioning whether the pulled chats, veranda moments and explosive arguments are actually scripted - so what is the truth? Find out here…
While most islanders have claimed that the show is not scripted, many have suggested that it is not like you see on television. Speaking about what is going on behind the scenes, Liam Llewellyn, who quit the show after only a few days back in 2022, told The Sun: "There’s a lot of stuff that goes on behind the scenes that people don’t get to see. On TV all you can see is two people on a date - but there’s like 30 people running round as you’re dating, getting camera angles right, getting the lighting right.
"And if they make a bit of noise you’ve got to pause for a second and then go again. Maybe that was a big factor in my decision and maybe I wasn’t comfortable with all that going on and people not knowing what you’re having to deal with at the time. It’s tough to meet a girl for the first time, sit down and date when there’s all that going on in the background… So that was definitely a shock - obviously you know it’s filmed, but to that extent? It was definitely a surprise to me."
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Jay Younger told Heatworld that certain lines - including what the bombshells say when they enter the villa - are fed to them, saying: "We’ve been told our lines, so I’m going to say, ‘Sorry I’m late to the party’ […]If you say, ‘I’ve got a massive chopper, here I come', they’re [gonna step in]. There are certain things in there that are scripted… They get you to do things. They’re very good at emotional manipulation – not saying that in a bad way."
He added: "They’re hyping you up; they are making you feel like you’re God’s gift. They’re making you feel like you can get any girl in there… When you’re in, it’s a hunting ground for a minute – and then, produced. That’s when it becomes an experiment. It’s like George Orwell 1984 Big Brother."
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Charlotte Sumner, who starred in the summer 2023 series before being dumped, denied that it was at all scripted, and that the footage is due to how intense the feelings get in a closed-off environment. She said: "When I used to watch the show, I used to have loads of questions like, 'Surely some things must be scripted?' or things like that but it's literally not.
"Because it is so intense when you watch it you're like, 'Surely this is scripted', then once you go in there you're like, 'Okay, it's not scripted'."
In a statement to Metro, a spokesperson for Love Island said: "As anyone who watches the show regularly would know, Love Island is a combination of reality and produced elements that are reflective of what’s happening in the villa, and is a fair and accurate representation of villa life.
"It is absolutely untrue to suggest that Love Island is fake, staged, or scripted. The opinions they have and the relationships formed are completely within the control of the Islanders themselves."