A brief history of every Love Islander who has been accused of being a ‘producer plant’

For years Love Island viewers have accused the show of casting contestants purely do their own dirty work, and an Islander or two is always dubbed as a producer plant. Whether it’s to stir up drama for no reason whatsoever or to just simply irritate the other Islanders, there is always one Love Island contestant who viewers reckon are producer plants.

To put it simply, if an Islander is called a producer plants it is because they have never ending screentime and are constantly in the middle of drama one way or another. Here are all the times Islanders were called out for being producer plants during their time on Love Island.

Molly

via ITV

Viewers have claimed Love Island season 10’s Molly Marsh is a producer plant, largely because of her history with the show. Before she became an Islander, Molly had visited the villa twice before on a press trip and it has been reported that’s where she caught the eyes of producers.

When Molly was rumoured to be an Islander, it was reported she “made it clear” to producers she wanted to be part of Love Island. “Molly has made it clear she”s got what it takes to make a bang and ITV love her,” a TV insider claimed.

Molly continued to ruffle the feathers of viewers when she was given a lot of screentime in comparison to the other contestants, with some dumped Islanders dubbing the show “Molly Island”. However, Molly was soon dumped and the words producer plant weren’t thrown around as much, that was until she was brought back into the villa in Casa Amor.

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Molly joined the show again as a Casa Amor bombshell, hoping to air things out with Zachariah after he was moved on with Kady. No one can quite understand why Molly is so pressed about Zach moving on given she wasn’t in the villa anymore. But more is still to unfold!

Viewers have become convinced Molly’s mum worked high up at ITV, hence why she is getting a lot of screen time and a second chance, however that isn’t the case. Molly’s mother is an actress who just so happened to be on Coronation Street on a handful of occasions.

Olivia

via ITV

The words producer plant begun to be thrown around a lot more when Olivia Hawkins starred in winter Love Island 2023. People said she had a family member working in ITV and that was the reason she had so much screentime, even though that was false.

For a lot of the time in the villa, Olivia was at the centre of drama whether it be with Kai, Zara or Tom. It was truly never ending.

After being dumped from the villa, Olivia squashed rumours she was put in the show by Love Island bosses, finding it all quite humorous.

“Apparently my dad is CEO of Love Island. You have to laugh don’t you?” she told The Sun.

“The truth is I was a real contestant, I was not planted in there for any other ulterior motive. I was my real self the whole way through. I really went through it, even being in six couples.”

The former Islander doubled down on her statement, saying she was her “true self” in the villa, and “no acting was going on”.

Ekin-Su

via ITV

Queen Ekin-Su proved to be her authentic self in the villa, but was subject to some producer plant claims in her early days as a bombshell on Love Island. Viewers reckoned she had been planted in the villa to cause chaos amongst the Islanders, which she did without a doubt.

Ekin-Su coupled up with Davide Sanclimenti almost immediately, but that wasn’t before she shared a flirty exchange with Jacques. Viewers began to suggest Ekin-Su could be a “plant” and shared their thoughts on social media.

“I feel like Ekin-Su is a plant to wind up Gemma,” one user wrote, with another adding: “Nah Ekin-Su is a plant and I love it!”

Jacques

via ITV

A lot of viewers also believed Jacques was thrown into the 2022 villa to stir up drama and oh boy he did. Jacques was Gemma’s ex-boyfriend and ruffled a lot of feathers when in the villa, specifically with Luca. However, it didn’t seem he was all that interested in Gemma and cracked on with Paige before he chose to leave the villa.

Ellie

via ITV

If you can cast your mind far back enough to when Casa Amor was first introduced in season three, you’ll remember Ellie. Ellie was Jack Fincham’s ex-girlfriend and it was a cause for tears in the main villa when Dani Dyer made the connection.

After watching the clip of Jack on a Love Island phone, Dani became convinced that he had cheated and was left distraught, despite Jack being completely innocent.

Dani later spoke out about the moment following being crowned the winner of Love Island, saying Ellie had to be put in there for the viewer ratings. “Oh listen, they’ve got to make a TV show. If I weren’t crying the viewers would drop,” she told The Sun.

Love Island 2023 is 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. 

Related stories recommended by this writer:

• As a former drama student, Love Island’s Molly Marsh is triggering my fight or flight

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• A rundown of everyone who’s left Love Island 2023 so far, and what they had to say

Featured image credit via ITV.