Love Island's newest contestant Ope Sowande is a West End dancer who previously performed on Strictly Come Dancing alongside BBC sitcom star Sarah Hadland. The 27-year-old dancer joined the cast of the popular dating show, trading the stage for the Majorcan villa.
Strictly Come Dancing Appearance
Ope Sowande danced with the Miranda actress and Vito Coppola during their Charleston routine to Popular from the musical Wicked. He shared snaps on social media at the time, commenting: "Dope time dancing on @bbcstrictly. @tommythefranzen killed the choreo on this one." The backing dancer was all smiles throughout the performance, and fans loved seeing the future islander working on his social pages as he danced at events including Netflix's Bridgerton and Hannah Waddingham's Home For Christmas.
What Ope Is Looking For
The West End performer will be making the villa home for the summer, and insisted that he hasn't "really got a type", but is hoping to steer clear of anyone with "negative energy". He also admitted that he has "such a wandering eye" when it comes to relationships. Teasing what viewers can expect, the Lincolnshire-native promised: "I'm never playing anything safe, that's boring. My thing is to go for the goal and make someone laugh straight away. I think that's the key to love and the key to getting girls." He added: "My ultimate thing in life is to make people feel comfortable around me, so as soon as that happens, I'm sweet. And I've got the best smile in Britain."
2026 Lineup
The 2026 lineup for the show was officially announced on Tuesday, and among the contestants are a detective, an electrician, a nurse, a quantity surveyor and DJ, a businessman, a school teacher, a real estate videographer, and a model. Some of the stars have interesting showbiz connections including Love Island's Mica Harris, 21, who is from Barbados but lives in London. Mica has a relative who starred in Only Fools and Horses and an aunt who is the Prime Minister of Barbados. Additionally, Jasmine Muller, a fashion business owner from Dubai, declared that she is looking for an "objectively hot" man and The Sun reports that she once dated Arsenal footballer Héctor Bellerin, 31, who now plays in Spain.
Series Launch
The series is just days away from starting, with a fresh batch of singletons hoping to find the love of their life in the Majorcan villa during the summer of love, and ITV is pulling out all the stops this year. Love Island kicks off next Monday at 9pm on ITV2.
