The new season of Love Island has just hit viewers’ screens this week, and people have already found a huge problem with the reality show.
Now, Love Island is somewhat of a cultural phenomenon. The first season aired in 2015, as a reboot of the original celebrity version of the series which ran back in 2005 and 2006.
Although the first season was a bit of a slow burn with viewers, the second season captivated viewers with the all the drama, which even resulted in Zara Holland being controversially stripped of her Miss Great Britain title.
By the third season, Love Island was a staple of post-watershed summer TV, with the love stories of Dani Dyer and Jack Fincham, as well as Molly Mae and Tommy Fury, making for unmissable programming.
Flash forward to 2023 and the show has seen somewhat of a transformation, with many viewing the show as a quickfire way to boost the beginnings of an influencer career. Changes to the show over time include the banning of smoking on camera (and hence the removal of the villa’s smoking area), a limit on the amount contestants can drink and most recently a ban on contestants having active social medias while inside the villa. They have also switched from their partnerships with fast fashion brands, and are now working with eBay, in a move praised by sustainability experts.
The show has also tried to engage viewers more with twists such as Casa Amor, as well as switching up which villa they use. However, it seems to have done little to impress people, as they have already found a huge problem with this year’s show…
The latest season’s viewing figures have been some of the most dire the show has ever seen. On Monday’s premier episode, the show only drew in 1.3 million viewers and an 11% audience share. With ITV X viewers added in, this comes to a total of 1.7 million, per The Mirror.
Last year, the show managed to draw in 2.4 million viewers on average in the summer. However, 4 years prior, the show’s first episode reached a whopping 3.3 million viewers.
Furthermore, viewers found one detail about this year’s first episode to be incredibly frustrating. For those trying to tune in from the ITV X player, they were met with so many glitches that they deemed it “impossible to watch.” So much so, that many viewers gave up on trying to watch entirely!