Love Island USAhas taken the country by storm, sparking curiosity about the logistics of shooting the show and the things that go on behind the scenes.Love Island USAseason 7is nearly midway through to the end, but couples are still exploring connections and no clear frontrunner has emerged. With new episodes airing almost every night,the show’s filming schedule is brutal.
Love Island USAepisodes air after a short delay, giving viewers a detailed, up-to-the-minute look at the lives of the Islanders while they’re in Fiji. And while fans might think they know everything about the show,there are so many things happening behind-the-scenes that tell the full storyof being onLove Island.
6Music Is Added Later In Love Island USA Post-Production
Islanders Often Dance And Party With No Music
Music plays a key role onLove Island USA. The show’s music supervisors painstakingly set the soundtrack of the show to pop hits and covers, which add to the drama unfolding on the show. But a little-known fact about the music featured onLove Island USAis that themusic is often added later in post-production.
In scenes where the Islanders are dancing or participating in a challenge,there is no music when it’s being filmed, or it’s filmed with another song that’s different from what actually ends up on camera.
In 2022, it was reported thatLove Island South Africastar Shaughna Phillips revealed that shooting parties or dance sequences wasn’t as fun as it looked. According toYahoo!, Shaughna said, “The music they play on the TV edit is completely different to what they actually play in the villa. They just play instrumental songs with no lyrics.”
“For some of the dance scenes, they don’t play music at all. So all you can hear is everyone’s feet on the floor. It is so awkward,” said Shaughna.
It’s hard to imagine certain scenes, likeLove Island USAseason 7’s infamoustwerk contest with Megan Thee Stallion, being shot without music. Perhaps producers played stand-in music while the contest was being filmed, and later added in Megan’s hit music. For the contestants' sake,here’s hoping they weren’t twerking in silence.
5Love Island USA Contestants Are Quarantined Before Filming
Producers Want To Keep Contestants' Identities Secret
Production wants to ensure that none of the contestants' identities are leaked prior to the show airing, so when Islanders first arrive in Fiji,their phones are confiscated, and they are put into a quarantine of sorts. The quarantine is to keep Islanders away from fellow cast members, and to remove them from their real lives, which is why phones are taken.
Glamourreported that producers fly in the contestants on different days and they stay in different parts of the island.Glamouralso reported that contestants are given a chaperon to monitor them before filming begins.
4There Are No Clocks In Love Island USA
Islanders Never Know What Time It Is
Time doesn’t exist onLove Island. Well, it doesn’t exist for the contestants, asthe villa doesn’t have any clocks and Islanders aren’t allowed to know what time it is.
Big Brotheralso employs this measure, which is used to keep participants isolated from the outside world. Kady McDermott, who appeared onLove Island UKseasons 2 and 10, shared withCosmopolitanthat there are no clocks in the villa.
“You don’t even know what time it is! You’re not allowed clocks. You’re in your own secluded world, you know nothing - you don’t even know what day it is really.”
The exclusion of clocks in the villa serves multiple purposes: it helps create the sensation of the island being fully removed from the real world, and it keeps Islanders from guessing things like when new Bombshells will be introduced or when eliminations might take place.
Islanders are told when to go to bed and when to wake up, and it might not be at normal hours. This helps in creating an environment that feels very much like their own little world.
3Meals Are Eaten Off Camera In Love Island USA
Aside From Breakfast, Meals Are Cooked For Islanders
As fans know,breakfast is the most important meal of the day onLove Island, and the ritual of the boys making breakfast for the girls adds to the plot. Getting breakfast from a boy is a sign that the couple is strong, and it’s an important indicator for the contestants. Of course, breakfast is the only meal shown onLove Island.
For other meals, Kady shared that lunch and dinner were provided, and it was used as a time to take care of technical issues.
“We would have food cooked for us at dinner, and producers would come to change our mic batteries. That’s why dinner is never filmed or you don’t see anyone eating hot food. They used to give us a dessert after every lunch and every dinner … and we could request food if we wanted.”
Callum Jones, who appeared onLove Island UK, shared withMobthat the Islanders were sometimes even treated to takeout. “Once a week, we got the choice of ordering a takeaway from the local area which we looked forward to,” he said. Snacks are also stocked in the villa’s kitchen, sonobody’s going hungry onLove Island.
2Back-Up Contestants Wait In Hotels In Love Island USA
Back-Ups Are Brought In For Various Reasons
Love Islandcasts a group of “back-up” contestants each season. During the pandemic, executive producer Simon Thomas toldThe Hollywood Reporterthat they had a back-up cast in place in case anyone tested positive for Covid, but thatthey always have a back-up cast, even during regular seasons. Those back-ups are waiting to replace cast members for any reason, or potentially to be used as Bombshells.
“For the entire duration that we were there, we had multiple islanders—this isn’t that different from what we do normally on the show. Like last year in Fiji, we had a group of people and then some backups in case whatever happens, and then we would ultimately consult with those people. When I say backups, I mean people that we’re planning to use on the show.”
In many cases, a back-up Islander who isn’t used on the show is flown out to Fiji to wait until they might be needed. Several people have spoken up about flying out to Fiji,only to never make it to the house.
A TikTok content creator nameddawnkeyy69shared a video recently where she claimed to have been casted forLove Island USAseason 6, flown to Fiji, and then stayed isolated in her hotel room for 30 days without ever making it on the show.
1The Love Island Cast Is Constantly Being Monitored (Except In Bathrooms)
There Are Over 70 Cameras Outfitting The Villa
In addition to camera people,there are approximately 74 cameras around the villato capture every moment on the island. The cast is under constant surveillance with very little privacy. According toGlamour, the cameras are mostly hidden to help the Islanders forget they’re being recorded.
And while there areLove Island USAcameras in the bathrooms, that footage is never monitored or used but is just there for “health and safety” purposes, according to multiple sources.
Love Island USAairs new episodes daily at 9 p.m. EDT on Peacock, except Wednesdays.
