The line-up for 2024 has been revealed and it seems the show is already catching heat before it’s even launched.
With returning as host, is back on TV screens from June 3, which will be music to the ears of long-time fans.
Alas, not everyone is so pumped, having slammed this year’s batch of Islanders for lack of diversity.
This is nothing new, as Love Island famously attracts criticism year after year for a ‘samey’ line-up with contestants who all appear to be carbon copies of one another.
But it seems now that people have had enough.
The cast for this series includes a professional footballer, a dancer, and a nurse.
Girls looking to find their soulmate on the ITV reality series include make-up artist Samatha Kenny, mental health nurse Mimii Ngulube, shop manager Jessica White, investment worker Patsy Field, professional dancer Harri Blackmore, and account manager Nicole Samuel.
Meanwhile, the boys include surveyor and rugby union player Ciaran Davies, businessman Sean Stone, hairdresser Sam Taylor, recruitment manager Munveer Jabbal, and footballers Aye Odukoya and Ronnie Vint.
Taking to social media after the cast announcement, fans have begged for better representation from a show with such massive reach.
X user kesiahdelali slammed: ‘they’re all conventionally attractive, but it’s so boring. The casting director needs to be fired sorry. Why won’t they just change things up a bit? It’s just giving Love Island factory’.
‘This gotta be the worse lineup yet. All the girls look the exact same. Same hair colour. Same face. No diversity at all’, wrote 6thumbs.
Blasting the show for mainly casting white hopefuls, thejrmbeng wrote: ‘Is there just not enough diversity for y’all to pick from or what? Only thing whiter is an A4 piece of paper.’
‘Love island doesn’t feel like love island anymore’, added a disheartened Dan2063559Dan, while XOforevaaa is praying for things to improve later in the season: ‘Y’all better have diversity in the bombshells because it’s lacking in this lineup ummm’.
Also raging was itsbbplus, who penned: ‘It baffles me that 11 seasons in, and they still don’t understand the importance in diverse casting. You’re STILL only casting ONE black woman & ONE black man in the original cast? Do better. It’s not hard.’
It’s not just the physical appearance of each Islander that folk have a problem with – it’s also what they stand for.
Speaking in a pre-launch interview, the Islanders were quizzed on what they’re looking for in a potential partner, and their own best qualities.
While MUA Samatha, 26, from Liverpool, claims she will be bringing ‘some fire’ to the villa, Mimii, 24, believes being a ‘girl’s girl’ and her sense of humour will win her a man on the show.
However, 27-year-old Ronnie, who plays for Lewes FC, didn’t seem to have super in-depth requirements for a possible suitor.
In fact, he was looking for ‘blondes with nice boobs’.
Oh, but he did also emphasise that he wanted someone who was ‘family orientated, caring and career-minded’, which is something…
For all you Love Island fanatics out there, don’t fret, because it’s not all doom and gloom – the show has received praise too.
For example, Patsy Field, 29, an office administrator from Orpington, has Erb’s Palsy, which is paralysis of the arm caused by injury to the upper group of the arm’s main nerves resulting from a difficult birth.
Proud to be representing her community, she said her disability is the one quality she would like her other Islanders to know about her.
She said: ‘I’ve got something very special about me which is my disability, it’s a condition I was born with called Erb’s Palsy.
‘It doesn’t define who I am, but it makes me a little different, although I’ve learnt to get on with it and it’s never held me back.’
She added: ‘My friends would say that I’m the loudest person in the group, I’m the one who’s always up for doing a dare, they’d say I was the life and soul of the party.
‘My family would say that I’m bossy and that it’s always my way or the highway, they’d say I rule the roost.’
As mentioned, Love Island’s casting is a topic of conversation every year, but that doesn’t mean to say it’s always been dull.
Kai Fagan and Sanam Harrinanan – – won the last Winter Love Island series, while finalists in the summer of 2023 included Tyrique Hyde, Ella Thomas, and Whitney Adebayo, the latter of whom was widely tipped to win. Amber Rose Gill won series 5 in 2019 too.
Also in terms of disability diversity, ITV points out that Tasha Ghouri, who is deaf, was a runner-up in the 2022 series, and Ron Hall, who lost sight in one eye as a child, made the final in 2023.
The broadcaster notes that host Maya is an East African woman of Somali heritage, having become one of ITV’s most popular and in-demand talents in recent years.
With Love Island’s viewing figures dwindling series after series – last summer’s final was watched by 1.3million viewers on ITV2, down one million from the year before and down two million from the launch four years ago – it remains to be seen whether this is the year it can redeem itself.
Love Island returns to screens on Monday, June 3 at 9pm. The first episode will be simulcast across ITV1, ITV2, ITVX, and STV.
