Nearly a month into its fifth series, Love Island 2019 is now well under way. With several coupling ups, break ups (sort of), arguments and fall outs already, you can’t deny that the dating show makes an excellent bit of television. Although it might be hard to believe that not everyone in the country sits down at 9pm every night to watch it, here is everything you need to know about the series so far.
The couples
Hopefully the reason everyone goes on the show is to find love, and maybe an Instagram brand deal along the way. This year, there has been a lot of love in the villa from quite an early stage.
Curtis Pritchard and Amy Hart
First up there’s Curtis Pritchard and Amy Hart. Arguably the Mum and Dad of the group, the pair coupled up at the earliest opportunity and have been joined at the hip ever since. Amy and Curtis, who is the brother of Strictly Come Dancing star Aj Pritchard, have had a reasonably smooth ride so far and have even declared themselves as half boyfriend and girlfriend (whatever that means).
Michael Griffiths and Amber Gill
Michael Griffiths and Amber Gill are also becoming quite the power couple. After originally coupling up with different people, the Northern beauty’s eventually joined forces a couple of weeks ago and are going from strength to strength in the villa. Before her exit last weekend, Yewande was definitely the third person in the relationship with the three forming a strong bond.
Tommy Fury and Molly-Mae Hague
The heart throb of the villa, also known as Tommy Fury, is happily coupled up with Instagram star Molly-Mae Hague. After a bit of a rocky start and many a love triangle involving the other islanders, Tommy seems to have finally found his ‘one’ in the stunning Molly. However, will his head be turned again?
Anna Vakili and Jordan Hames
Anna Vakili, who is one of the original contestants, is quickly becoming a favourite amongst Love Island fans. After first coupling up with axed islander Sherif Lanre, it seems that she’s become smitten with new comer Jordan Hames. The pair hit it off instantly from their first date, which took place straight after Anna thought she had been dumped from the villa in a tense recoupling last week.
Maura Higgins and Tom Walker
When Maura Higgins entered the villa a couple of weeks ago, the Irish bombshell certainly created waves and the drama that viewers had craved from the beginning. The controversial 28-year-old had her eyes on the popular Tommy Fury when she first appeared on the show, but now has eyes for new hunk Tom Walker.
Danny Williams and Arabella Chi
The newest couple to form has been ASOS models Danny Williams and Arabella Chi. Stunning Arabella shook up the villa last week when she took Danny on a date, who was coupled up with viewers favourite Yewande Biala at the time. Despite telling Yewande that he didn’t want to get to know anyone else just a few days before Arabella came in, Danny quickly turned his back on his word and coupled up with Arabella at the last recoupling.
Anton Danyluk and Lucie Donlan
Anton Danyluk and Lucie Donlan are currently the only friendship couple on the show. Anton has so far been unlucky in love, with the Scotsman only previously finding a spark with ex islander Elma Pazar. Lucie, on the other hand, found her match in Joe Garratt but decided not to leave with him when he was removed after a public vote.
The drama
Love island just wouldn’t be love island without the drama. Here’s a roundup of all of the best arguments and fallouts so far.
The love triangle between Maura, Tommy and Molly-Mae was the first bit of drama we saw on the show this series. After a nail-biting week of will he won’t he, Tommy decided to couple up with Molly-Mae at the recoupling. However, before this, it seemed nothing would stop confident Maura trying to sway Tommy’s attention, even trying to kiss him multiple times one evening. Even though he dodged it like the pro boxer he is, the attempted kiss sparked criticism on social media, with some suggesting that if it had been the other way around, it would have been classed as a sexual assault.
Despite appearing close in the first week, Amy and Lucie’s friendship has soured in recent episodes after Amy accused her of not spending enough time with the girls. Amy and the other original girls didn’t seem understand when Lucie said she preferred hanging out with the guys, creating a divide in the villa. Although the drama seems to have calmed down, the girls are quite obviously split in two friendship groups with Lucie and the new girls in one and Amy and the original girls in the other.
Arguably one of the pettiest arguments so far happened between sweethearts Curtis and Amy when Curtis rated Arabella a 10/10 in a kissing challenge this week. The boys were given blindfolds and noise cancelling headphones before each of the girls kissed them and then they were asked to give the kiss a rating out of 10. Curtis ‘mistook’ newcomer Arabella’s smooch for Amy’s and the couple had their first argument when they got back to the villa, making up rather swiftly afterwards.
Earlier this week, Love Island gave smitten Maura and Tom an opportunity to spend a night together in the hideaway (a bedroom away from the other islanders). However, Tom got over excited at the prospect of being alone with Maura and made a rather insulting comment to the other boys about her. Fortunately, Maura overheard this and consequently refused to go into the hideaway with him.
This series of Love Island has so far been one of love triangles and the past week hasn’t disappointed. The tension between Danny, Yewande and Arabella has been stifling and came to a head on Monday when Danny picked Arabella at the recoupling. The aftermath of the much loved Yewande leaving the villa has left her friends devasted and has left Danny and Arabella the most disliked couple in the competition at the moment.
The dumped islanders
Welsh aircraft engineer Callum Macleod was the first to leave the villa at the beginning of June. Although he seems like a lovely guy, Callum unfortunately got lost in the drama of the first week and got sent home by Amber at the recoupling.
Londoner Sherif Lanre was next in a shock exit, being forced to leave after breaking the rules of the show. After much speculation on Twitter, it was later revealed that Sherif had been ‘play-fighting’ with Molly-Mae when the situation went wrong, and he was asked to leave by the production staff.
Joe and Elma were dumped from the island after a twist forced the islanders to pick who was the most compatible couple. Joe and Lucie and Anton and Elma received the most votes from their fellow contestants, however the public had the final vote and picked Joe and Elma to leave.
Much to the sadness of Twitter users, Yewande was dumped from the Island by Danny at the beginning of this week after he picked Arabella at the recoupling. This came as a shock to most of the Islanders and the public, with most believing that Yewande deserved to be treated better.
What next?
It’s guaranteed that there are many surprises and twists still in store for this series of Love Island.
This week, it’s rumoured that there will be another good-looking guy going into the villa, supposedly to steal Amy from Curtis. Also, the infamous Casa Amour will soon be back; Casa Amour is a separate villa away from the main one where in the past they have sent the boys away to test the relationships. However, it has been said that they’re going to do something different with it this year in light of the increased focus on the mental health of the contestants after the sad death of series three star Mike Thalassitis.
