Love Island producer reveals all-time favourite Islanders and the reason they got cast

Love Island has now cast over 300 Brits for the show, and while many of us would assume it’s solely based on aesthetics, a producer has revealed the secret formula to getting on the reality TV show.

“There are lots of imitations that come up all the time to Love Island,” producer Lewis Evans recently said at a Royal Television Society event.

“It is extraordinary and it takes so much to pull off an authentic layered reality show as glossy as Love Island in a fast turnaround environment. One of the main things about our show is the cast. We spend a huge amount of time casting. We spend months finding the right people who are going to be in our opening line-up and also alongside that creating format points that generate authentic stories within the villa.”

He said that around 80,000 people apply for the show every year, and according to the “key” detail he laid out, they all have one thing in common.

The producer’s favourite Love Island stars might be surprising

If you ask anyone for their favourite Love Island cast members, you’ll probably get answers ranging from Maura Higgins to Molly-Mae Hague – but those are like super boring answers. In the same interview, Love Island producer Lewis offered some slightly more original picks for favourite Islander.

“A favourite always has to be Jess and Eve Gale,” he said. “They were my first series, series six, so those twins will always have a special place as the first cast.”

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VIP hostess Jess took part in season six of the show, where she was coupled up with Ched Uzor for the majority of her seven-week stint. She returned for All Stars season one, coupling up with Callum Jones. Eve, Jess’ twin sister, also took part in both season six and All Stars one, where she was with Mike Boateng and the man you’re sick of seeing on TV, Casey O’Gorman.

Outside of the obvious draw of casting twins, Lewis was a huge supporter of casting Whitney Adebayo from season 10 and Josh Oyinsan from season 11 just last year.

“Um, more recently, Whitney was a favourite of mine that I cast,” he added. “From the latest series, Josh Oyinsan, who came in fairly late and went on to win the show.”

So, what led to the above Islanders being cast on the show? Producer Lewis claimed the “key” is always personality, he explained: “A great personality is definitely key, definitely got to be able to hold a conversation, have some good stories and also have a laugh with us. We know what we’re looking for, and I think being funny definitely helps.”

Though I don’t doubt Lewis’ favourite islanders, the idea that personality is “key” for casting is outright laughable. If this really is the case, how did the likes of Olivia Hawkins and Jonny Mitchell slip through the cracks?

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Featured image credit: ITV