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Love Island ‘to move from ITV2 home next year’

Change isn't always a good thing!

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Well here’s a bit of Love Island goss that’s absolute testament to the stonking success that was this year’s show!

Rumour has it that bosses at ITV1 want to move it over to their channel from ITV2  because of its record viewing figures.

Love Island's Wes gets advice from the boys
We couldn’t get enough of this year’s line up (Credit: ITV2)

Read more: Why has Love Island’s Megan cancelled her forthcoming personal appearances? 

A show insider reportedly told The Sun that ITV1 are making moves to ‘steal’ the show after the final notched up almost 3.6 million viewers.

Easy enough to add a 1 on that logo… (Credit: Twitter/ITV)

The mole claimed that ‘tensions are running high between bosses at both stations’ and that ITV2 are desperate to keep the show.

caroline flack love island ITV
Even Caroline was surprised by the audience figures (Credit: ITV)

However, when such rumours surfaced last year, ITV executive Kevin Lygo made light of them at the Edinburgh TV Festival.

The TV Boss claimed the two channels attracted viewers of very different age groups, and that the antics shown on Love Island might not be suitable for the generally older watchers of ITV1.

This, he told an audience during a panel discussion, kept the show on the digital channel.

To further prove his point, Kevin went as far as to joke that ‘old people would die’ if the raunchy show moved channels!

Well, old people should live to see another summer, if the official line from the show is to be believed. Ent Daily was told: “There have been no discussions about moving Love Island from ITV2.”

Dani Dyer and Jack Fincham on Love Island (Credit: ITV2)
Apparently this would be too much for some viewers… (Credit: ITV2)

This year’s huge viewing figures were off the scale though – the show was the most-watched programme in its time slot across all channels, and was up 200,000 viewers from when it first launched.

This has practically guaranteed its re-commissioning going forward – with ITV2 boss Angela Jain telling the Daily Star on Sunday that it could go on for years, and change and grow with each new series.

“It is a show that will evolve and live and breathe,” she said.

“My hope is that it is going to be on telly for the next five years. So who knows where it will go.”

What channel do you prefer watching, Dan? (Credit: ITV2)

Don’t miss out: Three steps to ensure you see all ED!’s latest news on Facebook 

The surge in the show’s popularity has also meant a huge uptake in applications to appear on it – the figure for this year was put at around 85,000 – although casting producer Lewis Evans told Cosmopolitan not to let the number put you off: “If you think you’ve got what it takes, go for it.”

Where do we sign up?

Were you one of those 200,000 new viewers? Does it bother you which channel it’s on?  Leave us a comment on our Facebook page @EntertainmentDailyFix and let us know what you think.


Nancy Brown
Associate Editor

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