LOVE Island hosts its least loved-up final ever tonight – with no official couples up for the crown.
Three of the four contenders are “exclusively dating”, but none has said, “I love you” or officially become boyfriend and girlfriend.
It would seem, though, that this is exactly how viewers like it.
Our exclusive poll of readers found that just five per cent of you watch the show “for love” — and the rest tune in for the “drama”.
Some 51 per cent said they are drawn by explosive scenes, while 44 per cent said they want a mix.
And TV ratings suggest the show is enjoying a revival, with viewing figures surging back towards 2022 levels, when winners Ekin-Su Culculoglu and Davide Sanclimenti set our screens alight with drama.
An average 2.7million tune in to watch each Love Island episode, and the current series has reached 145million streams on ITVX.
So what drama has seen viewers fall back in love with the ITV2 dating show this series?
Explosive love triangles have kept fans on the edge of their seats, with gold trader and semi-pro footballer Harry Cooksley flip-flopping between two girls, Shakira Khan and Helena Ford.
Another footie star to play the field is Harrison Solomon, stringing along Toni Laites and Lauren Wood.
Meanwhile, personal trainer Dejon Williams continually pushed the boundaries with Meg Moore to flirt with other bombshells.
The girls were at it too, though, as Toni dabbled with Cach Mercer and Harrison, while Yasmin Pettet caught the attention of a number of the lads before she found Jamie Rhodes in Casa Amor.
And there was savage bullying among the girls, notably from Meg.
Some of the toxic behaviour prompted Women’s Aid to raise concerns over the men “lying, manipulating and covering for each other”, branding it misogyny.
Many viewers complained about the show to Ofcom, including eight per cent of readers in our poll.
Some 29 per cent said they wanted to log a concern but didn’t.
You exposed Harry as the villain of the series, with 32 per cent of the vote, followed by Meg on 22 and Harrison on 15 per cent.
An uptick in the amount of sex screened by producers also boosted the drama, with 22 per cent of readers saying the raunchy scenes made the show more interesting.
Tonight’s finalists are Yasmin and Jamie; Toni and Cach; Angel Swift and Ty Isherwood, who are all “exclusive”; and Harry and Shakira.
Sun readers have hailed Yasmin and Jamie their winners with 28 per cent of the vote, followed by Toni and Cach on 18.9 per cent and Shakira and Harry a whisker behind with 18.7 per cent.
‘Something real’
Some 27 per cent think Yasmin and Jamie will last on the outside.
Conor Phillips and Megan Clarke were axed during Friday’s episode, then Meg and Dejon left last night.
Our poll was done while all five couples were still in the villa.
During their final dates of this series, Yasmin told Jamie: “When I met you, the waters just seemed to calm”, while Jamie confessed: “I feel like this is something real.”
Toni told Cach she felt “taken care of”. He gifted her a necklace and asked her to be exclusive.
Ty gushed to Angel: “My feelings are growing for you every day”, while she admitted: “I’ve got feelings for you. I like it.”
And Harry gave Shakira a necklace and a turtle pendant, her favourite animal.
Maya Jama hosts tonight’s final live from the villa.
Some 60 per cent backed her as host, but 16 per cent felt she had “clocked out”.
- Love Island final tonight, 9pm, ITV2.
