Love Island
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Love Island (formerly Celebrity Love Island) was a British television programme. It was originally presented by Patrick Kielty and Kelly Brook, with Fearne Cotton taking over as female host in the second series. It is aired in the UK on ITV1. The first series aired in the summer of 2005, and it was won by Jayne Middlemiss and Fran Cosgrave. The second series began in July 2006, dropping Celebrity from its name. It was won by Bianca Gascoigne and Calum Best. The theme tune for the first series was "Wish I", performed by Jem. A summer theme was used for the second series.
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[edit] Series One (2005)
The first series was broadcast during the summer of 2005. All celebrities was included at this series.
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The show attracted controversy from the moment it was announced by ITV. It was marketed as a rival for Channel 4's popular reality show, Big Brother, which returned for a sixth series soon after the show's launch. Many commentators felt that the format of the show provided low quality television as an excuse to attract high ratings.
Following the launch of the show, the celebrities were criticised by viewers for being boring, and the celebrity status of some of the participants was questioned. There was some suspicion that the contestants were simply using the programme as a free holiday, and the tabloids claimed that producers held crisis meetings to figure out how to keep things interesting. <ref>Kelly Telly Helly Daily Mirror 21 May 2005</ref>
Soon afterwards, tabloid reports claimed that the show's presenters, Kelly Brook and Patrick Kielty, were engaged in a bitter feud. The problems between the pair allegedly started after Kielty told viewers on the live show that Brook had previously been involved in a relationship with one of the contestants, Paul Danan. <ref>Kelly V Kielty Sunday Mirror 22 May 2005</ref> However, even the promise of fireworks between the two hosts wasn't enough to keep viewers interested, and one episode of the show only attracted less than 2 million viewers. Producers later hired model Nikki Ziering to spice up the show.
The show was also resented by fans of long-running ITV soap Coronation Street. ITV decided to move its flagship programme from 19.30 to 20.30 on Monday nights, to provide a successful lead-in for Love Island, in the hope of increasing ratings. Writers John Fay and Daran Little complained to the press about the treatment of the show. ITV argued that it took the decision to move the soap very seriously and only did so when absolutely necessary. A meeting was requested with ITV programming director Nigel Pickard to discuss the issue. <ref>Corrie At War Over ITV Flops Sunday Mirror 10 June 2005</ref>
On Friday, June 10th 2005, although ratings were beginning to pick up, with the show close to overtaking Big Brother in popularity, a strong storm over the islands of Fiji disrupted the programme. A live eviction show had to be cancelled as 6 foot waves made it impossible for crew-members to cross over to where the celebrities were staying. Instead, ITV was forced to repeat the episode from the previous night with unseen footage.
The show was so badly received by viewers and critics that the word 'Celebrity' is now seen as tainted by UK television companies. An interesting example was Sky TV's celebrity golf tournament, broadcast on Sky One on the August Bank Holiday weekend 2005, was called All*Star Cup and Sky were careful not to use the C-word in programme trailers, and the show will air on ITV1 this year. Also, the 'celebrity' version of The X Factor was called "Battle of the Stars".
[edit] Series Two (2006)
The second series first aired on Monday 10 July, and will run for seven weeks, a little longer than last year's series. It was announced in late May 2006 that Fearne Cotton would be Kielty's new co-host with Series 1 winner Jayne Middlemiss presenting Aftersun with Matt Brown on ITV2. It also has a new sponsor, popular chocolate bar Bounty.
On 6 July the list of contestants was announced, with the news that the word "Celebrity" would be dropped from the show title [1].
July 10–August 28, seven weeks, 17 contestants and 3 houseguests:
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Contestant
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[edit] Contestants In Eviction Order
- Bianca Gascoigne and Calum Best - golden couple, winners - final
- Kéllé Bryan and Brendan Cole - runners up final
- Kate Lawler - final
- Chris Brosnan - day before final
- Sophie Anderton - week seven
- Lee Otway - week seven
- Colleen Shannon - week seven
- Shane Lynch - walked week five
- Paul Danan - week five
- Emma and Eve Ryan - ejected week four by producers for unexplained reasons
- Leo Ihenacho - week four
- Emily Scott -week three
- Lady Victoria Hervey - week two
- Alicia Douvall - week one
[edit] Houseguests on Love Island
- Steve-O from Jackass- week two (walked after 2 days of his contracted 7 days due to lack of medication)
- Dennis Rodman former NBA champion and Celebrity Big Brother UK 2006 contestant - week three (stayed for 4 out of 7 contracted days before walking due to friction involving Lee and Paul)
- Abs Breen, former member of boyband Five - week four (stayed for five days before leaving)
[edit] Returns
- In week two, in a bid to boost the ratings, the producers decided series one contestant Paul Danan would be put on Love Island as a regualar contestant hoping he would provide the rating winning actions of the previous year. Paul was known by most on the Island especially friend Lee Otway and Lady Victoria Hervey whose sister Isabelle was involved with him in the first series and for a short period afterwards.
- On 7 August series one finalist Calum Best entered Love Island for the second time, where he attracted a lot of female attention, especially from Bianca Gascoigne, who he struck up a romance with.
- After Sophie Anderton and Chris Brosnan were seen getting closer, evicted Lady Victoria Hervey returned to the Island for a day hiding in the secret suite where she confronted friend Sophie and poured a bottle of wine over her head, for moving in on her man.
- On August 20 Leo Ihenacho made a surprise return by jumping out of a cake, to the resort for just night only to sort out the reletionship between Calumn and Bianca he left the next day.
[edit] Notes
On July 18, 2006, Steve-O was added to the show in an effort to boost ratings. Despite stating he has stopped drinking he asked for beer while on the show. On July 19, 2006, he abruptly left Love Island because he was not allowed enough alcohol or chocolate <ref>Jackass star departs Love IslandBBC News 21 May 2005</ref>
Lady Victoria Hervey was voted off the show on Friday 21st July although her chosen man Chris Brosnan had been the favourite to leave. Hervey told hosts Patrick Kielty and Fearne Cotton that she hoped the relationship would continue in the real world but then had second thoughts when she was shown footage of Brosnan saying that he also liked Colleen.
Basketball legend Dennis Rodman entered the show on the third week on 27 July as a Houseguest to boost the ratings. he flirted with Colleen Shannon, and created friction with Lee Otway before walking in the midst of an argument between Lee and Paul Danan, on his fourth day on 30 July out of the seven contracted until August 3, 2006.
Identical twins Emma and Eve Ryan joined the Love Island on 31 July, but were ejected from the show by producers on 4 August. No explanation was given to the public.
It was announced on 6 August that Calum Best would enter Love Island next day. Also on 6 August, it was confirmed on the Love Island website that Shane Lynch had left the island to make up with a woman back home.
On 14 August, Big Brother (UK series 3) winner Kate Lawler entered Love Island.
On August 20, 2006, Leo Ihenacho made a surprise return to the resort for just night only before leaving the next day.
On final night, 28 August 2006, Kate Lawler was the last girl to be evicted before the final showdown.
The winners were Bianca Gascoigne and Calum Best, with Kéllé Bryan and Brendan Cole runners-up.
An average of 3.8 million people tuned in to watch the final, peaking at 4.4m, down from last year's peak figure of 5.9 million.
[edit] Head to Head with Big Brother
The show did not always go head to head with Channel 4's Big Brother, as Big Brother aired at 9pm on Tuesdays, Saturdays and Sundays and only clashed on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays with Love Island at 10pm. However, many terrestrial viewers in Wales could only watch Big Brother at a fixed 10.00pm slot every night on S4C which also broadcast the show due to many Welsh terrestrial televisions failing to receive Channel 4. Love Island's audience was about half the size of that for Big Brother. [2]
[edit] Cancellation
On the 24th of November 2006, ITV revealed that a third series would not be made and that it was axing Love Island. [3]
[edit] References
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