‘Fancy a long hot summer?’ Love Island bosses open applications for series seven amid hopes the show will return in 2021
- The show has not aired since February of 2020 after plans to air the programme twice a year were cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic
- ITV are now on the hunt for a new crop of islanders and have invited singletons to apply for a place in the villa
- Applicants must upload a short video of themselves explaining why they would make a good Islander and send a headshot and full length photos of themselves
Love Island bosses have announced they are casting for series seven, sparking hopes it will return in 2021.
The show has not aired since February of 2020 after plans to air the programme twice a year were cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
ITV are now on the hunt for a new crop of islanders and have invited singletons to apply for a place in the villa, with host Laura Whitmore sharing an ad for the application on her Instagram Stories.
It’s back! Love Island bosses have announced they are casting for series seven, sparking hopes it will return in 2021
The ad reads: ‘Calling all new islanders, fancy a long hot summer?’
The casting website has now sprung to life and reads: ‘ITV2 are looking for vibrant singles from across the UK who are searching for love!
‘Our Islanders spend time in a luxury villa in the hope of finding love, but to remain in paradise they must win the hearts of the public and their fellow Islanders, who ultimately decide their fate on Love Island.
‘If you think you’ve got what it takes, then we want to hear from you!’
Applications: ITV are now on the hunt for a new crop of islanders and have invited singletons to apply for a place in the villa
The eligibility requirements for the show are broad with applicants having to be over 18 and not related to anyone working for ITV.
They must also hold a valid passport and be available for a minimum of 10 consecutive weeks to film the show.
Applicants must then upload a short video of themselves explaining why they would make a good islander and send a headshot and full length photos of themselves.
Hopefuls will have their work cut out for them if they want to make it to the villa as it was previously revealed only six Islanders on the 2019 series actually applied to be on the show.
Despite 85,000 people applying for a spot, people only had a 0.007% chance of getting onto the show through the application process.
Delay: The show has not aired since February of 2020 after plans to air the programme twice a year were cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic
According to The Mirror, Amy Hart, Michael Griffiths, Ovie Soko, 28 and Joe Garratt, all applied via these channels.
Meanwhile, Curtis Pritchard and Tommy Fury both had agents who helped to get them on the show.
Winners Amber Gill and Greg O’Shea did not apply for the show and were instead scouting by producers.
In written evidence for the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee report, ITV chief executive Dame Carolyn McCall said: ‘On series five of Love Island to date (15 July), there have been 36 contributors.
Oh dear: Love Island 2019 winners Amber and Greg DIDN’T apply to be on the show as it was revealed only six of the Islanders were chosen through the general application process
’24 were found and cast by the programme’s casting team, six were put forward by professional agents, and six came through the general application.’
Dame Carolyn previously told MPs ITV receives approximately 98,000 applications for Love Island and has denied casting directors are given instructions about physical appearance when searching for contestants.
She said: ‘There’s a very rigorous application and casting process.
‘We get about 98,000 applications for Love Island, they then take that down to about 90 to 100 as soon as they get a call back – at that stage they go through medical questionnaires, psychological questionnaires, assessments, that then goes down to about 30 or 40 who get selected to appear on Love Island.
‘It’s a very rigorous process of screening that goes on before they actually get on to Love Island.’
Love Island: A DCMS eport has found that only 16% of 36 Islanders on series five were chosen through the application process… (the rest were cast by the team or professional agents)