Every time ex-Islanders have said the producers engineered storylines

Every year we excitedly watch every episode of Love Island, spending two months following 20 somethings in swimsuits talk about their types on paper and their icks. But one thing that is often discussed among fans is whether or not the show the staged, and just how much the producers control what the Islanders get up to and who they talk to. Over the years, multiple Love Island contestants have spoken about how the producers suggest certain topics of discussion for the Islanders and nudge them towards particular Islanders to form a couple.

Here is every time a former Love Island contestant has alluded to the show being controlled and staged by producers:

Molly-Mae Hague

Season five runner-up Molly-Mae Hague revealed to Closer that the producers on Love Island were move involved in the show than expected. During a challenge, Tommy Fury and Anton Danyluk went to the shops, and Anton gave his number to a shop assistant, while still being coupled up with Belle Hassan. Molly-Mae said: “Tommy told me a little secret about Anton giving his number out to a shop assistant. And when he told me that, one of the producers came up to me and said, ‘You need to tell Anna about that, make sure you tell Anna that happened.'”

Initially, Molly didn’t want to tell anyone as Tommy had made her promise, but the producers told her they wouldn’t “show that bit”. Molly continued and said: “So I told Anna, and I know I got a lot of backlash for being unfaithful to Tommy, but sometimes you have to do things in there that you don’t necessarily want to do, but for the storyline it just makes it work.

“Sometimes things like that happen, and it just wasn’t me. So sometimes I wish I’d stuck up for myself a bit more and said, ‘actually no, I’m not going to do that.'”

At the time of the claims, a Love Island spokesperson said: “The opinions they have, decisions they make and the relationships formed are completely within the control of the Islanders themselves. It is always our intention to produce a show that is fair and accurate representation of life in the villa.”

Megan Barton Hanson

One of the biggest discourses behind the Love Island villa is never seeing the Islanders in the swimming pool. Season four’s Megan Barton Hanson told Grazia they are allowed to swim but are not allowed to flirt as they aren’t wearing their mics. Megan said: “Everyone asks why don’t people get a little flirty in the swimming pool, but you’re not allowed to go in with your partner and have a conversation. You can go in there, but it’s chit chat only as you can’t wear your mic pack in the pool.”

Amy Day

Amy Day featured on the last season of the dating show, coming in as a Casa Amor girl. She was coupled up with Hugo Hammond before they were both dumped from the island. Amy has since spoken about what she wished she knew before going onto the show, and what the producers tell the Islanders to do when in the villa.

Speaking to the Daily Star, she said: “It was quite restricted, so I actually thought it would be a lot more fun than it was. Producers would tell you when to do everything like, wake up now, go to bed now, do this now. It was more than what I thought before I went in, I wasn’t stupid I went in knowing this is a game show, but I thought I’d be able to wake up at 8am and go for a swim, have a coffee.”

When asked if there was anything she wished she’d known before entering the villa, Amy said: “I wish I knew how fake it was, everything was fake, but Hugo was the biggest example of fakeness, to be honest.”

Tyla Carr

After her time on the show, season three Love Island contestant Tyla Carr claimed the show was staged. She said the producers would often reshoot scenes and the Islanders were guided to discuss certain topics. In an interview with the Daily Star, she said: “What viewers don’t see is there is always a producer on site, they don’t live in the villa with us, but someone generally comes in every hour to have a chat. They tell you what they want you to talk about, and who with.”

If any Islanders planned on pulling someone for a chat, they had to tell the producers. Tyla said: “You have to tell the producers on site if you are planning to have an important chat or do something, so they make sure the microphones pick it up and the cameras get it, if you forget they would call you in and ask you to film it again.” Tyla alleged that Olivia Attwood had to dump Sam Gowland twice so the producers could get the best footage.

Following the allegations, a spokesperson for Love Island said: “It is absolutely untrue to suggest Love Island is fake. The opinions they have, and the relationships formed are completely within the control of the Islanders themselves. As we have said since series one, Love Island is a combination of reality and produced elements. Any produced elements are designed to allow viewers to understand what the Islanders are feeling and to help move narrative threads on.”

Sophie Piper

Sophie Piper was on season six of Love Island, the show’s first winter season. When asked by Grazia if the Islanders are “nudged” towards people and told what to discuss, she said: “A bit of both, but it’s not massively staged. Producers might suggest, ‘Why don’t you speak about this and that?’. A lot of stuff happened naturally. People think it’s more staged than it actually is.”

Savanna Darnell

During season four of Love Island, Savanna joined the show as a Casa Amor girl. Speaking with the Daily Mail, Savanna’s mother, Karen Smallwood shared what it was like for her daughter on the show. Karen said that during Savanna’s time in the villa, she had a connection with Wes Nelson. While in Casa Amor, they were giggling and laughing all night and had to be told to go to sleep, but it never made the show as “it didn’t fit with the story they had planned for Wes”, Karen said. According to her mum, Wes had told Savanna he was going to take her back to the main villa.

Brad McClelland

Brad McClelland was on Love Island in 2021 and although he didn’t make it all the way to the end, he’s still keeping up appearances. Speaking on the Chat S**t Get Cancelled podcast, Brad said that there was a producer walking around the villa who had “good craic” and would often tell the Islanders to have conversations in different areas of the villa.

He said: “Sometimes you would be having conversations with someone and they’d come up on the tannoy like ‘Brad and Jake, could you go and have that conversation over there.”

Love Island 2023 continues at 9pm on ITV2 and ITVX. For all the latest Love Island news and gossip and for the best memes and quizzes, like The Holy Church of Love Island on Facebook.

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