Love Island: over 2 million see Millie and Liam crowned 2021 winners

Almost three million people tuned in live to watch Millie Court and Liam Reardon be crowned winners of this year’s Love Island on Monday.

The pair beat three other couples to the hit ITV2 show’s £50,000 prize. The dating show’s finale attracted an average live audience of 2.8 million. That’s a 22% drop from the 3.6 million who tuned in to the climax of the last summer series in 2019, but an improvement on the figures for last year’s inaugural winter series.

This year’s series – the first since the programme made its winter debut just before Covid hit in early 2020 – has been broadcast from its Spanish villa for the past eight weeks.

Millie, a fashion buyer’s assistant from Essex, had considered splitting from Welsh bricklayer Liam after he was unfaithful during Casa Amor week, but the pair reunited to become exclusive.

The broadcaster said a further 400,000 viewers had watched the final episode on the ITV Hub by late morning on 24th August.

ITV boss Kevin Lygo said: “We’re delighted that the final ended on a ratings high, rounding off a series that is on track to be the most popular yet, in terms of viewing on ITV Hub, and averaging over four million per episode across all devices.”

The other couples to make it to the final were Chloe Burrows and Toby Aromolaran; Faye Winter and Teddy Soares; and Kaz Kamwi and Tyler Cruickshank.

They will be offered “comprehensive psychological support” and a “proactive aftercare package” on their return from Majorca as part of ITV’s revised duty-of-care protocols.

However, some of Love Island’s staple dramatic twists have proved highly controversial this year.

The sight of Faye aggressively confronting Teddy after being shown footage of him from flirting during Casa Amor week prompted record audience complaints to broadcast regulator Ofcom.

That followed thousands of complaints that July’s Casa Amor postcard episode was manipulative toward the female islanders.

TV commentator Scott Bryan said the rise in complaints, while in part down to social media communities knowing “who to complain to”, suggested audiences were now expecting kinder reality television.

“It’s that balance between having that form of entertainment whilst also trying to cause a bit of controversy and create storylines,” he told BBC Radio 5 Live on 24th August.

Viewers are also beginning to question the authenticity of contestants. Craig Phillips, winner of the first season of Big Brother in 2000, told 5 Live that the cast went into the villa with “an agenda and commercial direction they want to go in” and that producers had far more input than during his time as a contestant.

Bryan said the cooling of Love Island fever suggested the start of a “downward trend of ‘constructed reality’, which is what Love Island is”. In her review, The Guardian’s Lauren O’Neill said the show was “tired” and this series had “ended with the whimper of predictability in its ears”.

Despite that, the show has remained a significant commercial asset for ITV with its predominantly young and female audience particularly valuable to advertisers. Kevin Lygo said it had been the most popular programme with 16- to 34-year-olds for 44 nights during its latest run.

Source: bbc.com