TREASURE ISLAND
ITS contestants may be paid less than the minimum wage but Love Island is a money-making machine.
Initially dismissed as a flop, ITV2’s hit reality show has since been sold for millions to telly networks across the world, including in the US, Australia and Hungary.
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And the programme, fronted by Caroline Flack, 39, is said to be worth £25million a year in advertising to ITV.
But while the contestants are paid only £250 a week during recording, they can make a fortune once they are out — even if they are not part of the winning couple that takes home the £50,000 prize money.
Looking great in shorts or bikinis on national telly is almost guaranteed to lead to lucrative modelling contracts or sponsorship deals.
Commercial experts have worked out that after leaving the Majorcan villa, a Love Island participant will earn more than the average graduate of Oxford or Cambridge makes in a lifetime.
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We take a closer look at the show’s success and how it became the treasure island of television...
Insta-grand
THERE are no prizes for guessing why 85,000 hopefuls apply to go on Love Island each year.
Aside from the £50,000 prize up for grabs, every contestant, even the ones evicted early, are certain to boost their social media following.
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On the back of that they can earn thousands of pounds for endorsing products aimed at the programme’s youthful audience.
Last year’s winner, Dani Dyer, made around £1.7million thanks to deals with Mark Hill Hair and the In The Style fashion website.
Olivia Buckland and Alex Bowen, from series two, are said to have pulled in £4.4million, even though they finished second.
The couple, who secured a £25,000 magazine deal when they got married last September, earn around £2,000 for each sponsored post they make on Instagram.
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Amber Davies, who won with Kem Cetinay in 2017, is said to have made £1.6million thanks to Instagram posts and modelling deals.
The underwear chain Boux Avenue paid her a six-figure sum and she is currently starring in the West End’s Dolly Parton musical 9 To 5.
Former partner Kem’s bank balance is almost as healthy, thanks to deals with BoohooMan, Primark and Sainsbury’s.
Chris Hughes, who finished third with Olivia Attwood the same year, became a millionaire after landing advertising deals with McDonald’s, First Choice holidays, Coral bookmakers and Green Flag breakdown service.
Even the show’s narrator, Iain Stirling, has cashed in by publishing a book called Not Ready To Adult Yet: A Totally Ill-informed Guide To Life.
The merch
MILLIONS of us want to get the Love Island look, and ITV has found a way to sell it to us.
On its website, it shifts all the products associated with taking a sexy, summer break in Mallorca.
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There are Love Island suitcases priced at £80, aviator sunglasses for £50, bronzing spray for £20 and a phone case for a tenner. The biggest seller is the official water bottles, costing £15 each. ITV has sold 750,000 of them.
High street retailer Primark has a Love Island line, including swimwear, mugs, keyrings, nightwear and a bum bag.
Unofficial products can also be found online, including T-shirts emblazoned with popular catchphrases from the show, such as Have You Done Bits?.
Meanwhile, the perfect bodies on display have resulted in a rise in bookings for cosmetic surgery among younger Britons.
The average age of women applying for plastic surgery dropped from 42 in 2012 to 37 last year.
One clinic in Manchester created a Love Island package, featuring Botox and lip fillers – with a nose job an optional extra.
Love World
IT has been sun, sea, sand and silver for ITV, with the Love Island format having been snapped up by the most lucrative global market, the United States.
Due to start on the CBS network next month, the programme is expected to follow a similar format to the UK version, although it is unlikely the American contestants will be talking about “mugging off” or “pieing off” anyone.
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Love Island has also been sold to Hungary, Canada, Germany, Australia, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland.
In the UK it averages 2.95million viewers per show, with 3.6million tuning in for last year’s finale.
Our version already has a following in the US, where it can be viewed on Netflix streaming rival Hulu.
The Washington Post described it as a, “TV dating show that manages to be trashy, yet a tad classy”.
Ad it up
THEY say that sex sells and the chance to see which Love Islanders are up for “dusting” – or sleeping with each other on national telly – is part of the draw for viewers.
The food delivery service Uber Eats reportedly signed a £5million deal to sponsor this year’s show. That is double what Superdrug paid last time round.
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If you want to secure a slot during the commercial break, it will set you back £100,000.
ITV2 is making the most of those tidy sums by squeezing in more shows. The programme airs every Sunday to Friday at 9pm and will run for eight weeks. That is much longer than series one, which lasted for just over five weeks.
ITV’s chief executive Carolyn McCall said: “Love Island is a phenomena which has got legs that will be commercially fantastic for ITV.”
But producers of the Bafta award-winning smash will be aware that it is being watched closer than ever this time.
The spotlight is on it following the suicides of former contestants Mike Thalassitis, 26, and Sophie Gradon, 32.
This year the channel has scrapped the controversial lie detector test and promised more emotional aftercare once the cameras stop rolling.
Firm bodies
THE most important couple as far as Love Island’s creation goes is ITV and the lesser known Motion Content Group – the companies that turned it into a hit after the original celebrity version was axed in 2006 after just two series.
Motion Content Group is owned by the world’s biggest advertising firm WPP, whose former chairman Sir Martin Sorrell used to receive the biggest pay packet in Britain.
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In 2015 Sir Martin, who stepped down last year over misconduct allegations – which he denies – was paid £70million. It is unclear how much Motion Content Group makes from Love Island, but its revenue is £43million.
The man credited with turning Love Island into a hit, ITV executive Richard Cowles, is believed to earn £300,000 a year, with no rights to a cut of the copyright.
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Richard, who was also part of the team behind I’m A Celeb, transformed Love Island when it was revamped in 2015.
Richard said: “I just get the warm feeling of success.”
The first series of the celebrity version was won by Jayne Middlemiss and Fran Cosgrave.
Molly-Mae Hague takes Tommy Fury and Curtis Pritchard on dates, making the other girls jealous on Love Island
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