Contestants fly to Mallorca, do a bit of snogging, drink out of personalised water bottles, and crack on with crackin’ on.
The truth is, to create a show as gripping and glamorous as Love Island, you need an army of behind-the-scenes crew on standby to keep everything running smoothly.
Meanwhile, 2017 islander Harley Judge told the same publication he thought members of the casting crew were queue-jumpers at an event.
Whilst we all know the islanders are given phones for all the iconic Love Island “I’ve got a teeeeeeexxxxtt!” moments, but did you know that the phones allow them to message each other, too? Former islanders Adam Collard and Zara McDermott spoke to OK! Magazine about how they used to communicate in secret.
Season Five alumni Amy Hart explained how they used to wind each other up by sending messages pretending to be the crew, in a blog post for Cheltenham Betting Offers.
“It used to unlock and we used to wait to hear it unlock and run towards it and any cigarettes, alcohol, or like moisturiser we requested would just immediately turn up in there.” If only self-stocking cupboards existed in real life.
According to Laura Anderson, there’s a two-way larder in the kitchen which producers use to pull islanders for secret chats.
Speaking on This Morning in 2019, Cetinay revealed that the producers actually give the cast a break to chill for a day and are often taken out of the villa and down to the beach.
Laura Anderson also spoke about the contestants’ time off, saying that, during her season, they were are given four half-days off over the eight-week filming period, during which the boys and girls were split up.
“They used to give us a dessert after every lunch and every dinner, and the cake was unreal, and we could request food if we wanted,” she said.
Gabby Allen, a former runner-up, let slip that she and her fellow stars were allocated slots to train.
“During the first four or five days when we didn’t know each other we had alcohol to break the ice, but then, after that, it was two glasses of wine a night.
There’s been a lot of debate over the years about whether contestants are given access to salons and hair stylists.