How these Love Islanders were cast in the show
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Love Island's 2023 winter series may have come to an end after crowning Kai and Sanam the winners, but fans are already gearing up for the summer outing this June.
A fresh batch of hopeful singletons will enter the villa looking for love, although most of them will likely have been scouted by the producers.
Anyone can apply for the show (you can do so right here), but more often than not, Islanders are either approached by ITV itself or have had a helping hand from their agency... or famous dads.
Last year, it was revealed that only three out of the eleven OG Islanders in the 2022 series successfully made it through the application process, while the other eight had been scouted.
With that being said, we've done a round-up of how some the Islanders have been cast over the years so that you don't have to.
Olivia Hawkins
Before entering the villa for Love Island's 2023 winter series and getting swept up in a whirlwind of drama, Olivia Hawkins already had quite the CV – including a previous Love Island cameo.
As well as working as a body double for Brassic's Michelle Keegan and Harry Potter star Emma Watson, Olivia has appeared as an extra in both No Time to Die and EastEnders.
But her screen cameos don't stop there. Olivia also featured in a VT for 2019 Islander Joe Garratt, where she was seen flirting with him at his food truck.
Despite fans joking that Olivia was an "industry plant" who was put in the villa to stir up some drama, Olivia told The Sun that she auditioned for the show just like everyone else.
She said: "Apparently my dad is CEO of Love Island. You have to laugh don’t you? The truth is I was a real contestant, I was not planted in there for any other ulterior motive. I was my real self the whole way through."
Olivia recently revealed that she will briefly appear as an extra in the upcoming Fast & Furious movie, Fast X.
Ovie Soko
"Message!"
The producers struck gold with season five's Ovie Soko, who's perhaps one of the most memorable Islanders to have graced that villa.
It was pretty surprising, then, to learn that Ovie wasn't scouted for the show – he applied himself.
During an appearance on This Morning back in 2019, Ovie revealed: "I went in because of my big brother, funnily enough. Because I'm always sort of travelling and stuff because of basketball, I'm only ever really around in the summer times.
"I came back and Love Island always seems to be the big deal and he was like, 'Man, you'd be great on that show if you went on there' and I didn't think anything of it. I ended up applying when I had some downtime and yeah, now I'm sort of here."
Thank you for your service, Ovie's brother.
Belle Hassan
Belle strutted into Casa Amor as a bombshell in season five and earned herself a spot in the main villa after coupling up with Anton Danyluk.
As it turns out, Belle's famous dad Tamer, who's starred in Game of Thrones and EastEnders, helped his daughter out with the application process out by contacting someone at ITV.
Speaking to Closer Online about her dad's connections, Belle explained: "I had a conversation with my dad and he asked me if I wanted to do the show. I didn't really think much of it and before I knew it one of his friends [got me in contact] with someone at ITV, and then I did the audition and started the application process."
Nepo babies prevail!
Danica Taylor
Season eight's Danica Taylor didn't find love in the villa, but she did make an impression.
Danica was already a professional dancer before going on the show (she performed at Capital's Jingle Bell Ball in 2021), and the agency she was signed with helped her with the application.
Taking to her Instagram Story last year, Danica wrote: "Thank you to the team at Neon Management, they contacted me in January and arranged my application & interview with @loveisland and made the dream come true."
Kem Cetinay
Season three's Kem and his summer bromance with Chris Hughes has a special place in all our hearts, but, as they say, this isn't Friend Island.
Kem went on to win the series with Amber Davies, later revealing that he was scouted for the show on Instagram.
"I had a barber Instagram where I did my tutorials and it was quite big, it was doing really well. Then they messaged me off that randomly and was like do you want to come in," he said.
"I still went through the whole process; I did the audition, questionnaires and some of the video camera shots."
Sam Bird
Season four's Sam Bird told Closer that he was originally set to go on ITV2's Survival of the Fittest but, when it didn't work out, he was asked to go on Love Island instead.
"I got approached for a different show – Survival of the Fittest – and I was meant to go on that but it didn't happen," he admitted.
"The producers [who work on both the shows] said try Love Island instead. I said 'alright' and then I auditioned, so I kind of got approached."
Liberty Poole
Season seven contestant Liberty Poole was a total sweetheart (did we all bawl our eyes out when she left?), so it comes as no surprise that the marketing student was approached by producers.
"I've always sort of wanted to do [Love Island] but it's never been the right time until now," she said at the time.
"So I did get approached in my DMs, just asking if I would be interested. But I still had to go through the whole application process from start to finish in, there was no shortcut."
After appearing on Love Island, Liberty went on to compete in Dancing on Ice.
Megan Barton-Hanson
Megan Barton-Hanson was the bombshell that really did bombshell and her love triangle with Laura Anderson and Wes Nelson was one for the books, so everyone say thank you to the producers for scouting her on Instagram.
"I never had an agent but I had an Instagram and I had quite a few followers on it so I just got picked up that way," Megan previously revealed.
"I was really hesitant at first because obviously Instagram is your filtered, photoshopped best version of yourself and I was like 'I'm happy to share that but do I actually want to go on national TV with everyone seeing me with no makeup on?' but I'm glad I did it."
Samira Mighty
Samira was already performing on the West End before she entered the villa in season four, and she was asked to go on the show after a producer saw her in Dreamgirls.
"I was meant to go on last year as a bombshell and it just didn't work out," she said. "Then I got Dreamgirls and one of the producers watched it and I was just chatting to him and then I went in [to audition] a couple of times and then got on Love Island."
Ikenna Ekwonna
Ikenna's time in the villa was cut short when he was dumped from the Island by the public, leaving his villa-bestie Dami Hope to couple up with his partner Indiyah Polack.
Ikenna, who was working as a pharmaceutical salesman in Nottingham before he went on the show, revealed that he was approached by a casting director while partying in London for a friend's birthday.
He told OK! Magazine: "I didn't sign up. I was approached. It was quite funny actually as it was the first time I was in London for like six months, it was one of my friend's birthdays. We were in Boxpark Shoreditch and I was approached by one of the casting team."
Faye Winter
Faye Winter told Grazia that she was asked to appear on season seven via Instagram, though she had been thinking about applying before.
"So I actually was approached," she said. "But I think I'm Mystic Meg because I was thinking to myself, during lockdown, that I'm going to be on Love Island.
"I thought, I'm going to find the man, and the only way I'm going to find a man is through something like Love Island. And then it happened, if f I hadn't been approached, I would have applied."
Faye finished the 2021 series in third place Teddy Soares.
Chloe Burrows
Similarly, Faye's season-seven co-star Chloe Burrows applied for the show before she was eventually scouted.
"I applied [for season six], but I cancelled my application because I thought it wasn't going to happen," Chloe said.
"And then I got asked about a different show on ITV – and it was the one where there's ten men in a house, some are single, some are not [Ready to Mingle], but I didn't want to do that one, so she said to me 'you'd be good for Love Island' and then the next day I got a call."
Chloe finished season seven in second place with Toby Aromolaran (an iconic couple), behind winners Millie Court and Liam Reardon.
Montana Brown
Season three contestant Montana Brown was asked to appear on the show not once, but twice!
Montana told Digital Spy that she was originally approached by ITV to be on season two alongside the likes of Kady McDermott and Cara Delahoyde, but she had to turn down the offer because filming clashed with her university deadlines.
"I got approached in a club, which was quite weird because I wasn't expecting [ITV] to be in there," she explained. "After I turned them down, we kept in touch and this year they asked me back and I thought, 'You know what, I'm going to do it!'"
Love Island airs nightly on ITV2, and is available via catch up on ITVX and BritBox.
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