THREE months ago, I shared my fears that reality TV’s bubble had burst as a succession of shows failed to deliver for viewers.
None of us could’ve predicted it would be Love Island that saved the day.
Surely it would be new kid on the block The Traitors, Davina McCall’s wholesome My Mum, Your Dad or one of Channel 4’s many inventive new formats that boosted the genre back to the top of the tree.
Surely it wouldn’t be Maya Jama’s – whisper it – sometimes problematic ITV2 show, now on its eleventh series and losing its lustre?
Surely there’s no way it could ever regain the kind of audience it last enjoyed in 2022, when Ekin-Su was crawling on the terrace to seek a secret snog?
We should never have counted the old dog out, because it’s learnt new tricks and is back with more bite than ever before.
The seven-day figures have landed and it seems Britain has fallen for Love Island once more, with the series streamed 20.9million times so far.
They are the ITV dating show’s best viewing figures since Ekin Su and Davide’s long hot summer.
They mark a 30 per cent increase on last summer’s series, with 4.8million more streams.
It’s helped ITVX achieve 73million streams over the past seven days – its best week since February, and up by +30% on the same week last year.
And last night’s episode was the tenth most-watched show (aside from the news and weather), with 1.2m live viewers.
For Love Island to have achieved nearly 21million in the UK alone feels worthy of this, a recoupling speech as I renew my vows to reality telly.
With glorious irony, Love Island has an old school reality TV star to thank.
Towie original Joey Essex arrived on night one as a celebrity bombshell and has proven to be the shot in the arm Love Island needed.
His good looks, fan base and – let’s face it – intricate knowledge of creating a reality TV storyline has already produced some of the best episodes we’ve seen for a while.
We’ve got Joey’s lass Samantha – a Scouse make-up artist – unashamedly fangirling her famous new fella, quoting famous Towie moments at him as he cringes in the corner.
There’s Harriett, a posh theatre girl who has potential to be our best reality TV villain for a while.
The scene where she performed a West End chorus girl-style dance for Joey in The Hideaway – when he was clearly expecting something a little sexier – was picture perfect.
And as she wades into her third love triangle in as many days, she’ll continue to have us cackling well into July.
The casting of the girls, particularly, this year is spot on – they are packed with personality.
When I visited the villa in May, show boss Mike Spencer told me this year’s main characters are the bombshells – and so far, he has delivered.
Each new arrival has been more attractive than the last and a show source has told me there are bonafide supermodel lookers to come.
It’s perhaps too early to tell whether Britain’s seven-day fling with Love Island will become anything more meaningful.
But as our summer has been and gone, I’m prepared to consider a holiday romance at least.
