Love Island 2019 is well under way and it seems its avid viewers are already taking bets on who will be crowned the winning couple.
On Monday, the fifth series of the hit ITV dating programme returned to the small screen and welcomed 12 new contestants to its Majorca-based villa.
And while Twitter users have criticised contestant Joe Garrett's upset over his split with former partner Lucie Donlan after just two days on the show, some of the programme’s viewers are convinced the pair will win the competition following its eight-week run.
According to bookmakers BetVictor odds released following Wednesday night’s show, Garrett leads the way when it comes to the favourite male contestant to emerge victorious with 15/8, while Donlan triumphs with odds of 6/4.
Meanwhile, Tommy Fury and Curtis Pritchard follow closely behind Garatt at 9/4 and 4/1, respectively, while Amy Hart and Amber Rose Fill are both next in line to Donlan at 5/2 and 7/2.
The contestants with the worst odds are Anton Danyluk with odds of 16/1 and Yewande Biala and Anna Vakili both lag behind with 9/1.
The news comes days after several Twitter users called for ITV to remove Danyluk as a contestant on this year’s show after a picture emerged of him wearing blackface at a party.
In a photograph, found by The Sun on Facebook, the 24-year-old gym owner is dressed up as former professional wrestler Mr T.
The picture, which was shared on Danyluk’s gym’s social media account, shows the contestant wearing a mohawk cap, dungarees, gold chains and face paint which he had used to darken his skin.
After the photograph came to light, several social media users expressed their outrage over the image and called for ITV to remove Danyluk from the show.
"If I see Anton on the show this week I will be p****d off because blackface should not be condoned at all," one Love Island viewer tweeted.
"#LoveIsland are proper scraping the barrel this year... proud cheat and actual racist who parties in blackface? Yeahhh let's make this guy famous," another wrote.
Marcel Somerville, who starred on the programme in 2017, led the criticism towards the Scottish contestant for his "extremely offensive" behaviour.
"Blackface isn't just about painting one's skin darker or putting on a costume. It invokes a racist and painful history," Somerville wrote in a post shared on his Instagram story.
Somerville continued, suggesting that the producers behind Love Island should inform Danyluk’s fellow contestants of his blackface photo.
"It doesn’t matter if you are dressing up as Mr T ‘for a laugh’ or pretending to be Al Jolson, there’s never an excuse for it. I find blackface extremely offensive and there’s no place for it in any situation," the former member of Blazin' Squad told The Sun.
Keep up-to-date with Love Island 2019 coverage here.
