Love Island host on why the Australian version has fewer twists than the UK show
Sophie Monk also reveals what we can expect from the Islanders in our exclusive chat...
The summer has been saved - we're getting our dating fix after all, thanks to a lockdown present from Love Island: Australia. They are sending us season one of their version of the sunny romance show, filmed in 2018.
While the format is the same, and the show was filmed at a Mallorcan villa round the corner from the British Love Island digs, there is one big difference to the Aussie programme.
While UK producers enjoy naughtily throwing new people into the mix to stir trouble and test relationships, the Australian show isn't quite so mischievous.
Speaking exclusively to RadioTimes.com, Australian TV personality and Love Island host Sophie Monk explained that filming the show in Mallorca, more than 9,000 miles away from Australia, meant that they didn't have the opportunity to throw in last minute surprises.
"Because we did it in Spain, the turnaround for getting footage on air was about 12 hours, so they didn’t really have time to produce too many twists. It all just happened, you were lucky to get the show finished and edited, that’s what was amazing about it!"
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Don't be too disappointed though - Sophie says it's actually better without all the meddling. "We definitely upped the drama with more twists and turns in season two, when we moved filming to Fiji," she tells us. "A lot more Islanders came in and out that year and it was very different. I liked both series but I definitely felt like I had more loyalty to the contestants in series one, I wanted them to do well. Whereas the second one, I was less sucked in and I didn't feel as attached to them."
Sophie has also revealed more about the ten Love Island: Australia islanders we will meet when the Love Island series one repeat begins on Monday. "They’re huge personalities and you forget they’re quite young. They’re in there with no phones and everything just feels so much bigger than it is to them. They're very funny and all of them like a bit of attention."
But are they looking for true, lasting love? "If you’re entering a show where it’s the hottest people in Australia you kind of have the same interests: looking good, going to the gym, taking selfies, it kind of works even if they want more of a fling," says Sophie. "Some of them definitely fall in love, you can’t fail to in that environment really, they were pretty genuine."
Love Island Australia begins on ITV2 on Monday 15th June, and airs nightly. To find out what else is on, check out our TV Guide.
