Love Island All Stars: Will ITV’s gamble lift the ick?
- Published
Liberty Poole, Kaz Kamwi and Jake Cornish are returning for Love Island All Stars
Love Island is back, and if you're a fan of the show you'll get more than a hint of déjà vu.
Enter the All Stars, where the twist is that all the singles have been on the show before.
And, this time, it's quite likely they already know each other.
Two of the returning islanders - Kaz Kamwi and Liberty Poole - became best friends after appearing on series seven of the ITV2 show.
And Liberty's ex, Jake Cornish, from the same edition, will also be heading back.
The latest cast will also be familiar faces for audiences, who'll have got used to seeing some of them outside of the villa.
There's Georgia Harrison, who's become known for her campaigning on women's safety, and series five's Chris Taylor, who had a cameo in last year's Barbie movie.
But can bringing back fan favourites from the show's heyday in 2017 to 2019 also restore viewing figures seen in the same period?
It's no secret that fans of Love Island, which started in 2015, have been getting a wandering eye.
The 2022 summer series opener had an average TV audience of 2.4 million, while the 2018 launch episode attracted 3.3 million.
All Stars might be a new, exciting format for ITV - but it's a roll of the dice.
And it's a gamble that culture journalist Lauren O'Neill, who's written a column about Love Island, thinks could pay off and draw back "fatigued" fans.
Chris Taylor was on series five of Love Island, but has since had a cameo in the Barbie movie
"I think it's really smart," says Lauren.
"People who had maybe left Love Island behind might now come back, because they're interested in the personalities rather than necessarily in the format," she tells BBC Newsbeat.
"And obviously, we've seen how successful an All Stars format has been for shows like RuPaul's Drag Race.
"I kind of thought it was only a matter of time, really - and I'm actually cautiously optimistic."
Whether islanders are on it for (more) fame, or love, is another question.
All Stars cast members are reportedly being paid much higher fees than villa first-timers, and the show's lifted its new social media ban for the veteran contestants.
It means islanders' friends and families can post on their accounts while they're in the villa, feeding their social media following - and off-screen drama.
Plus, it's not as if they're being matched with strangers - a lot of Love Islanders know each other.
Former islander Indiyah Polack is hosting the show's official podcast, and she tells Newsbeat it's likely islanders will need fewer icebreakers "because everyone's familiar".
And the show's executive producer Mike Spencer has previously said that viewers can expect to find out about past flings between the contestants which haven't made the headlines.
Lauren adds: "I actually think it's the fact that they all know each other and stuff like that will add something different that we've not actually seen on the show before.
"I think it'll be probably quite compelling for viewers."
It will be Georgia Harrison's first reality TV appearance since ex Stephen Bear was jailed for posting intimate footage of her
Georgia Harrison, who is about to star on the series, agrees.
"Because of the drama that's built up over the last 10 years between the other islanders off the camera, this show is going to be absolute TV gold," she says.
And you might know the faces - but Jessie Wynter, who has been on the Australian and the UK versions of Love Island, says that, thanks to fame, you can expect to see a different version of the islanders.
"Going on the show twice is absolutely wild," she says.
"I feel like, for some reason, people would expect that it's easier the second time.
"But I feel like, when you go on Love Island, it changes you so much as a person and it forces you to grow up.
"You learn so much, you almost get media trained as well - everything about you kind of changes.
"I do think that you're probably going to see a completely different version of the islanders, especially considering if they went on it a few years ago."
We'll only know if the gamble's paid off when viewing figures come out, but ITV will be hoping audiences won't pie the launch episode later.
Related topics
- Published13 March 2023
- Published8 January
