Love Island fans have been left unimpressed with the programme's major bombshell just ahead of the finale. The champion of ITV's dating reality series' 13th season will be crowned live this evening (July 27). This follows eight weeks of explosive drama, shocking developments, and numerous romantic entanglements throughout.
The Twist
Yesterday's episode witnessed all previously eliminated Islanders making their return to the villa for one final verdict before the concluding show. Audiences watched as they gathered around the fire pit, with each participant casting their vote to axe one couple they felt was unworthy of a spot in the finale. The pair who garnered the highest number of votes and were consequently booted off the island were Samraj and Mica.
Yet that wasn't the end of it, as Samraj was handed a shocking text while gathering his belongings. The message revealed that just three couples could progress to the finale, leaving them to select one pair to depart alongside them. A sneak peek of upcoming finale footage showed Samraj declaring they must 'forget about friendships' while Simba appeared crushed upon learning their verdict through text.
Fan Reaction
Nevertheless, this massive curveball hasn't been well-received by all devotees of the programme. One committed fan headed to the show's subreddit to discuss it, posting under the title: "Not including the public in important decisions has hurt this season more than anything else." They revealed that plot twists of this nature occur far too regularly, with rejected couples and Islanders being handed 'too much power' to affect the competitive aspect of the programme. This has also been evident in the limited public votes this series.
The original poster went on to say: "In reality TV, the recipe for success is simple in my eyes: have a good casting, good storylines, and get the public as much involved as you can. The public was nowhere to be found this year. We voted like what, 3-4 times this year, and the only time we made the dumping was Priya and Aidan, I think. I remember watching LI UK season 5 when he had the power to send Tommy on a date with Molly, and it was just so clever, we could have brought a couple back or given immunity for the final to our favourite couple, like so many things, and we just had nothing."
They finished by recognising that viewers' favourites might completely miss out on reaching the finale: "It's possible that we're going into a final where we won't have Ellie who was voted favourite girl the 1st time, Julia who was voted favourite couple and favourite girl the 2nd time and Lorenzo who was voted favourite couple and favourite boy both times so why would people ultimately tune in every day if they can't express their opinion through voting?"
Another fan concurred, responding: "I agree. This is a stupid twist. I hope Mica and Aamraj choose to dump Yas and Tommy because it is the only right choice given the whole (ex)girlfriend situation. I don't even want Julia and Lorenzo to win, I'm rooting for Angie and Simba, but it's mad stupid if we'll have a finale without the favourite couple. For me, it'll make me tune out of next season's because why bother watching if my vote won't matter at all?".
Another viewer echoed this sentiment: "So Julia and Lorenzo topped every vote they were in, both individually and as a couple, and now they might not even be finalists. Great choice, production."
However, a regular watcher of the US version seemed to favour the UK show's approach. They remarked: "As someone coming from the US, I hope they adopt this less public voting format. We can't get anything right over here. I thought this UK season had the perfect number of public votes. And I thought the types of public votes gave the islanders enough insight into how the public was feeling without giving the public actual control over who left."
Love Island continues tonight at 9pm on ITV2 and ITVX.
