Love Island's latest series has done wonders to keep viewers on their toes this summer.
The seventh series of the hit ITV2 has been jam packed with nail-biting cliffhangers, unforeseen twists and turns, islanders’ heads being turned more than ever, and more drama than the reality show has ever seen before.
This year, producers appear to have upped the ante when it comes to dishing out the explosive drama and behind-the-scenes chats – leaving the islanders vulnerable and forcing them to hear and witness scenario’s that they wish they never had.
In the past two weeks especially, Love Island bosses have faced harsh criticism over the way in which they have manipulated scenarios in the villa to stir up drama and tension between the islanders.
Here, we take a look at how Love Island bosses have done the most to engineer certain twists and turns in a bid to create some of the best storylines in the reality TV show’s history.
Lille, Liam, and Millie Love Triangle
Last week, Love Island viewers could practically cut the tension with a life when bosses decided to bring Lillie back into the villa to have a chat with Millie after the Casa Amor beauty dished the dirt on her brief fling with Liam.
Drama reached an all-time high as viewers watched with bated breath to see Welsh hunk Liam stroll back into the villa alone to continue his romance with Millie, after he spent three days ‘grafting’ and snogging Lillie behind her back.
And while viewers were already seething with tension over the love triangle, Love Island bosses decided to add more fuel to fire when they brought Lillie back to the main villa where she delivered the shattering blow that she and Liam had ‘a strong connection’ in Casa Amor – despite him telling Millie that he was practically distraught without her.
Viewers watched the drama unfold further as Essex babe Millie broke down into tears after realising her knight in shining armor was nothing of the sort after he two-timed her while on his ‘lads holiday’.
To make matters worse, producers decided to manipulate the situation even further when they brought Lillie back to a second time to have a one-on-one chat with Millie about her brief fling with Liam.
Lillie subsequently told heartbroken Millie that Liam had been ‘tickling her legs’ and cuddling her as they shared a bed on the very first night of their stay in Casa Amor, and she then went on to reveal that she and Liam had kissed three times – much to the surprise of Millie.
After the whirlwind storyline, producers faced harsh criticism from viewers who accused them of ‘breaking down’ Millie by forcing her to have a one-on-one chat with Lillie after her Casa Amor competition wasn’t shy about chatting up her man.
Love Island bosses manipulated the situation in a bid to build tension between the trio and the actions of the producers led to several tears and emotional chats and one of the most unexpected love triangles in the show’s history.
Movie Night Madness
Last week, the islanders were treated to a spontaneous ‘movie night’ where they were shown clips of their respective partners and love interests acting and speaking in distasteful ways.
Love Island producers introduced the brutal new challenge in a bid paint a number of islander’s - including Jake, Teddy, Faye, and Liam – in a bad way.
The savage challenge left Liberty close to tears as she watched in horror as her boyfriend Jake told the lads that he doesn’t ‘feel like ripping her clothes off’ as he questioned his sexual attraction to the Birmingham beauty in the early days of their relationship.
Although Jake made the confession during the very first few days in the villa, Love Island producers did their best to stir up the drama by forcing Liberty to hear the heartbreaking words come out of her boyfriend’s mouth.
In a savage attempt to stir the pot between the strong couple, producers put Liberty’s feelings on the line and left her feeling incredibly insecure as a result as viewers watched her fight back the tears.
Elsewhere, another strong relationship crumbled before our eyes after the savage movie night revelations when Faye lost her cool after watching Teddy to Clarisse that he was ‘sexually attracted’ to her while in Casa Amor.
Although the fan favourite never cracked on the brunette beauty, and although he slept outside on the day-bed out of respect for Faye, producers made it appear as though Teddy was pursuing Clarisse behind Faye’s back.
The clip resulted in one of the villa’s most furious rows as Faye laid into Teddy in front of their fellow islander’s - branding him as a ‘fake’ and a ‘liar’ - despite the fact that he had stayed completely loyal to her during his time in Casa Amor.
The manipulated clip led to the pair calling it quits on their short-lived romance as Faye told Teddy that she would rather be single than ‘be hurt’, adding that she felt as though she could never trust him after his apparent ‘deceit’.
Naturally, after witnessing the whole story with their own eyes, Love Island viewers hit out at producers after they painted Teddy in a negative light to Faye in a bid to simply stir up drama and test the solid pair.
More fans claimed that the situation had ‘obviously impacted’ Teddy’s mental health as the loveable reality star was seen crying in the diary room, and ‘barely holding it together’ during the awkward tensions in the villa.
Postcard Pettiness
During Casa Amor week, tensions reached an all-time high as ITV bosses delivered a telling yet heavily manipulated postcard to the main villa for the girls to fret over.
The unpleasant postcard depicted the six boys kissing and cuddling up to the Casa Amor babes with the main purpose of stirring up drama between the stronger couples in the villa.
While some photos spurred the likes of Kaz to crack on with new love interest Matthew after seeing her beau Tyler snog Clarrise, other photos were heavily sabotaged to take the storylines to a whole new level.
Liberty was left riddled with anxiety as her eyes burned into a snap of Jake looking cosy with Irish beauty Kaila, and Faye’s head completely turned to Sam after producers made it look as though Teddy had moved on with Clarrise as they sent her a snap of him kissing the brunette babe during a cheeky challenge.
Storyline Selection Process
Lifting the lid on why producers feel the need to twist storylines, a TV insider revealed that they honne in on the storylines which they know will attract mass debate among viewers.
“It’s entertainment, you’re seeing less than 60 minutes out of 1440 in a day and there are around 12 people in the villa at all times. There’s no way absolutely everything that happens in the house could be represented,” the source told inews.co.uk.
“Storylines are identified and if viewers are showing interest, it will be developed.
According to the source, there are around 70 cameras within the villa, ready to capture all the action – but only about eight will actually be filming at any given time.
“There’s a limited capacity to film what’s going on – producers will be watching at all times and if anything gets interesting the recording will start. This means that obviously some things will be missed.”
Love Island continues tonight at 9PM on ITV2.
