All the compelling evidence that Love Island 2023 was staged

Since the dawn of time people have asked if Love Island is staged, and here we are in the 2023 series with a notable amount of moments fuelling the speculation.

Of course, ITV and Islanders have always said the show isn’t strictly “staged” but there are producers running the game and they have a TV show to make and entertainment to provide, so naturally not everything is going to be 100 per cent authentic. Plus, the Islanders are in the villa 24-hours a day, and we see one hour, so everything is cut and edited to fit the programme, meaning a narrative can very easily be created.

From editing errors to the producers working harder than the devil to provide golden telly, here’s all evidence Love Island 2023 was staged.

Molly Marsh leaving the villa… and then coming back again

Let’s get the big one out of the way first: Nothing is giving staged more than Molly Marsh being kicked out of Love Island 2023 and then being brought back again. This was literally, plain as day, a move orchestrated by producers for what they thought would be our entertainment.

When an Islander gets voted out they’re gone – those are the rules. But somehow, Molly Marsh gets preferential treatment and is allowed to travel home, see her family, go on Aftersun, pick up Zach a pressie from Duty Free and walk straight back in. Sure!

A wine glass was seen moving on its own

Right near the start of Love Island 2023 there was an editing error during a conversation between Jess and Sammy. They sat on the sofas together, and Sammy’s champagne flute was next to him on the seat.

As he spoke to Jess, the camera then showed just his face, and you could see the glass had somehow appeared in his hand. The conversation was clearly highly edited, with a big enough chunk taken out for him to look at the glass, reach over and grab it, and bring it back to where he was sitting.

Kady McDermott being an ultimate bombshell

Another huge example of producers setting things up to stir up drama was the return of Kady McDermott. We’ve had it before, Islanders from old seasons coming back as a shock return, and now it seems it’s becoming a bit of a favoured tactic by the show.

Having someone who knows the drill, and is clearly here for chaos purposes alone, just isn’t pure Love Island. Kady was brought in to dump Molly – which they obviously knew would be the storyline – and then Molly was brought back anyway!

The Islanders started magically moving around mid conversation

During one episode of Love Island 2023, there were two editing errors back to back. The first came when there was a section where multiple Islanders were sat on the sofas outside discussing all the Casa Amor recoupling dramas, and it proved major bits of what was going on was being shown to us differently from how it actually played out.

At first it looked all normal, but then, the camera showed a closeup of Amber and Elom. This was when all the errors kicked in, and the Islanders started moving all over the place. As the camera changed angle, Elom moved from one side of the sofa to the other in less than a second. Mitch also appeared in shot, and Abi completely disappeared.

During the first clip Elom was round one side of the sofa, sat next to Ouzy. Amber and Abi were sat around the other side. Then in the next clip, which was shown instantly after with nothing in between, Elom was next to Amber, where Abi was before, and Mitch was in the conversation, when he wasn’t there at all before.

Tyrique literally looks straight into the cameras

There have been multiple moments this season where Tyrique has appeared to stare straight down the eye of the cameras, and it hasn’t gone unnoticed. What’s more, almost all of these occasions have been when he’s been doing something affectionate, or making big moves with Ella.

It’s as though he’s giving a not-so-subtle nod to the producers that he’s done his work for the day. He’s provided some good content, and hopes they got it all on camera for the show later.

I’m scared!

The drinks kept changing levels during a date scene

Earlier in the series, after being left single from Casa Amor, Jess, Kady, Tyrique and Scott went out for some cocktails together. There’s a big reason why Love Island usually sticks to the water bottles and gold wine glasses in the villa – so viewers can’t see the level of drinks and know when huge parts of conversations have been cut up and edited to look a certain way. But here, the Islanders were given normal glasses.

You guessed it – the drinks kept going from full to empty and full again in a matter of seconds, showing the clips had been chopped up out of order, and people’s facial reactions weren’t actually to what had just been said.

Absolutely loads of the Love Island 2023 cast knew each other before the show

Look, we all know the Love Island producers like to keep their circles small, but this series more than ever, the Islanders have known each other well before the show. This is no accident!

Ty knew Ella T and Ella B before the show, Leah knew Molly and Kady, Ella T also knew Ouzy, Montel knew Zach and Ty. There really are loads of crossovers. Here’s a full web of how the 2023 Islanders knew each other before the show. 

Did the barber scene in the final even happen?

There was a big editing error in the final of Love Island 2023 which begs the question if this scene even happened or if it was all put on. We saw the boys head out the villa to get their hair cut, whilst the girls stayed in the villa and had a spa morning.

As the boys headed into the barbers, they each took a seat as though they were about to get the full works done. They spoke about getting their hair cut, seemed to have some treatments, and then left. Next thing, the boys are all sat down writing their declarations of love and they look… exactly the same. Not a single hair has been taken off any of their heads. Ummm, explain?

So like, was the trip to the barber just for show and then someone came into the villa later to do their hair? Was it all shown to us in the wrong order? ITV, why did you feel the need to show it us this way? Just show it how it happened!

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:

• Islanders moving and villa ghosts: The biggest editing errors so far on Love Island 2023

• Love Island 2023 web: How the Islanders all secretly knew each other before the villa

• Then and now: These are the biggest transformations from the cast of Love Island 2023