''Love Island Australia'' is an Australian

dating Dating is a stage of romantic relationships in which two individuals engage in an activity together, most often with the intention of evaluating each other's suitability as a partner in a future intimate relationship. It falls into the categor ...

reality show based on the international '' Love Island'' franchise. Following the premise of other versions of the ''Love Island'' format, the show features a group of single contestants, known as "islanders" who live together in a luxury villa that is isolated from the outside world, in an attempt to find love. Throughout the series, the contestants "couple up" to avoid being dumped from the villa. Additionally, Australia will vote for their favourite islanders to stay in the villa. As old islanders are dumped, new islanders will enter the villa. At the end, Australia will vote one final time to determine the winning couple. The series is presented by

Sophie Monk Sophie Charlene Akland Monk (born 14 December 1979) is an Australian singer, actress, model, and television personality. She was a member of the pop girl group Bardot, winners of the first season of '' Popstars Australia'' in 2000, and later r ...

and narrated by

Eoghan McDermott Eoghan McDermott (born 15 April 1983) is an Irish television and radio presenter. He most recently presented ''The RTÉ 2fm Breakfast Show'' on radio and has hosted ''The Voice of Ireland'' and Ireland's Junior Eurovision Song Contest selectio ...

from seasons 1 to 2 and Stephen Mullan from season 3 onwards. The first season aired on Nine's secondary channel

9Go! 9Go! is an Australian free-to-air digital television multichannel, which was launched by the Nine Network on 9 August 2009, replacing Nine Guide. It is a youthful channel that offers a mix of comedy, reality, general entertainment, movies, anim ...

and on Nine's free ad-supported

video on demand Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos without a traditional video playback device and the constraints of a typical static broadcasting schedule. In the 20th century, broadcasting in the form of o ...

streaming service

9Now 9Now is a video on demand, catch-up TV service run by the Nine Network in Australia. The service launched on 27 January 2016, replacing Nine's previous service 9Jumpin. 9Now offers online live streaming of Channel 9, 9Gem, 9Go!, 9Life and 9Rus ...

in mid 2018. With subsequent seasons airing on

Nine Network The Nine Network (stylised 9Network, commonly known as Channel Nine or simply Nine) is an Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by parent company Nine Entertainment and is one of five main free-to-air television netw ...

's main channel, with the second season airing in late 2019. with production being relocated to a villa in

Fiji Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...

. Following a hiatus in 2020, Nine announced the series will return for a third season in 2021, with production originally being relocated to a villa on the

Gold Coast Gold Coast may refer to: Places Africa * Gold Coast (region), in West Africa, which was made up of the following colonies, before being established as the independent nation of Ghana: ** Portuguese Gold Coast (Portuguese, 1482–1642) ** Dutch G ...

. In July 2021, Nine confirmed the series will be filmed in

Port Douglas Port Douglas is a coastal town and locality in the Shire of Douglas, Queensland, Australia, approximately 60 km north of Cairns. In the , Port Douglas had a population of 3,504 people. The town's population can often double, however, with the in ...

. However, in August 2021 production was relocated due to border closures to Northern NSW. It was confirmed during Nine’s 2022 upfronts that the series will film in

Byron Bay Byron Bay ( Minjungbal: ''Cavvanbah)'' is a beachside town located in the far-northeastern corner of the state of New South Wales, Australia on Bundjalung Country. It is located north of Sydney and south of Brisbane. Cape Byron, a hea ...

. The fourth season premiered on 31 October 2022.

Format

''Love Island'' involves a group of contestants, referred to as Islanders, living in isolation from the outside world in a villa, and constantly under video surveillance. They are allowed to use their phones for the sole reason of receiving texts from producers, alerting them of upcoming dates and activities. To survive in the villa the Islanders must be coupled up with another Islander, whether it be for love, friendship, survival or money, as the overall winning couple receives $50,000. On the first day, the Islanders couple up for the first time based on first impressions, but over the duration of the series, they are forced to "re-couple" where they can choose to remain in their current couple or swap and change. It is common for Islanders to strategically choose their partner not based on love but as a pact for the two to stay on the island as long as possible, waiting for their ideal match. Any Islander who remains single after the coupling is eliminated and dumped from the island. Islanders can also be eliminated via public vote, as during the series the Australian public will be instructed to vote through the ''Love Island'' app available on

smartphones A smartphone is a portable computer device that combines mobile telephone and computing functions into one unit. They are distinguished from feature phones by their stronger hardware capabilities and extensive mobile operating systems, which ...

for their favourite islanders, or who they think is the most compatible. Couples who receive the fewest votes risk being eliminated. Additionally, at points in the series, the dumpings will be determined by the Islanders, as they are forced to vote one of their own off the island. During the final week, the public vote for which couple they want to win the series and therefore take home $50,000.

Villas

Mallorca, Spain

Like the UK version, during season one, the Islanders lived in a villa located in

Mallorca, Spain Mallorca, or Majorca, is the largest island in the Balearic Islands, which are part of Spain and located in the Mediterranean. The capital of the island, Palma, is also the capital of the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands. The Bale ...

. It includes open-plan living, with one large bedroom for the Islanders to sleep, however there are also day beds outside if un-coupled partners chose to sleep together, and also a Hideaway bedroom for couples to spend the night away from the others as a reward. The villa also comes with a pool, hot tub and all important fire pit. Every moment was captured by one of the 65 cameras and 55 microphones.

Fiji

Season Two was filmed in Fiji, which is closer to Australia. It is reported that the move was made so new cast members could be added at short notice, meaning plenty of twists and turns for fans.

Byron Bay

Season Three was initially to be filmed in

, in

Far North Queensland Far North Queensland (FNQ) is the northernmost part of the Australian state of Queensland. Its largest city is Cairns and it is dominated geographically by Cape York Peninsula, which stretches north to the Torres Strait, and west to the Gulf C ...

. However, due to border restrictions during the

COVID-19 pandemic in Australia The COVID-19 pandemic in Australia is part of the ongoing worldwide pandemic of the coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). The first confirmed case in Australia was identified on 25 Januar ...

, filming was relocated to Northern New South Wales in late-August 2021.

Series overview

Reception

''Love Island Australia'' averaged around 200,000 viewers for its linear broadcasts in overnight

OzTAM OzTAM is an Australian audience measurement research firm that collects and markets television ratings data. It is jointly owned by the Seven Network, the Nine Network and Network Ten, and is the official source of television ratings data for al ...

ratings, increasing to an average of 511,000 when adding viewers from Nine's streaming service,

. The series performed strongest in the youngest key demographic band (16 to 39 year olds), but ranked low amongst total viewers.

International syndication

The series also airs in the United Kingdom on

ITV2 ITV2 is a British free-to-air television channel owned by ITV Digital Channels, a division of ITV plc. It was launched on 7 December 1998. For a number of years, it had the largest audience share after the five analogue terrestrial stations, a ...

along with UK and US versions of the show and in the Republic of Ireland on

Virgin Media Three Virgin Media Three, also called Virgin Three, is an Republic of Ireland, Irish free-to-air television channel owned by Virgin Media Ireland, Virgin Media Television. The channel was first launched by Northern Irish broadcaster UTV Media on 1 ...

, has also been made available on streaming service on

Hulu Hulu () is an American subscription streaming service majority-owned by The Walt Disney Company, with Comcast's NBCUniversal holding a minority stake. It was launched on October 29, 2007 and it offers a library of films and television serie ...

References

{{Nine Network programming 2010s Australian reality television series 2018 Australian television series debuts 2020s Australian reality television series 9Go! original programming Australian dating and relationship reality television series Australian television series based on British television series

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

Nine Network original programming Television series by ITV Studios