Love Island Taking Over the World by Storm
Love Island has become extremely popular around the world, so much so, that many other countries have even created their own version, keeping the concept exactly the same. Some of the countries include, but are not limited to, Germany, Australia, Norway, Sweden, The Netherlands, and most recently, the U.S that just aired their take on Love Island this past summer.
Since its debut back in the summer of 2015, with their exponentially increasing number of views that have reached up to 3.7 million per episode, the British reality T.V. series has been ITV2’s most successful show in the channels history. The series follows 10 lucky singles living in a villa in Mallorca, with the hopes of finding love. During the eight week duration of the show, islanders are voted off or saved by the public since the episodes are aired-daily and viewed in real-time. The winning couple at the end of the series wins a cash prize of £50,000.
What catches many off guard, but captivates their viewers, is how episodes are aired daily, meaning the audience is watching 24 hours worth of footage in one hour. This differs from traditional shows where we see footage from a week in an hour. By airing episodes daily, the audience feels as though they are on the receiving end of more details and drama following the islanders very close to live.
The most intriguing factor for Love Island fans is “the human nature of seeing people make decisions and having their ‘heads turned’...You see real-time, and that’s the best part I think” says Baruch College student Francisco Centeno. Since Love Islands availability on Hulu as of April 2018, Centeno has been an avid watcher, catching up on episodes of past seasons completely absorbed into the Love Island drama.
The fact that the viewers are watching the show in real-time every single day really draws the attention of an audience that is much broader than one would think for a reality dating show. In the sense of really “hooking” their audience, the producers have done a fantastic job in creating interesting and dramatic storylines that keeps the viewers coming back for more.
Because of the increasing demand and rapid popularity that this show has attracted, the original British version has announced that they will be making a winter season in addition to the traditional summer season. The new season will be aired at the beginning of the upcoming year and will take place in Cape Town, South Africa. By adding a winter-time airing the show will now be shown twice a year, but with this, some mixed feelings have arisen.
Everything you need to know about Love Island. Source: YoutubeAlthough most reality shows are somewhat staged by producers in order to create a storyline, AUP student, Leanna Davis, still admits that she is a bit nervous for the new season to be released “in the sense that it’s just going to get too big and explode with fake stuff happening”. Despite this fact, when asked if she will still watch the new season, there was no question about it.
Being a British TV show from the ITV2 channel, it can be quite difficult to be able to watch it from a different country. As this show being so in demand, people will do just about anything to get it on their screens. Although past seasons are available on streaming sites such as Hulu, in order to watch the show live, Centeno and Davis both admitted to either having to get a VPN or illegally streaming the show online.
That being said, make sure you figure out a way to watch Love Island 2020 winter edition and get excited!
