Love Island insider announces major 'never-been-done-before' twist for week one

6 June 2025, 11:48 | Updated: 6 June 2025, 15:15

By Abbie Reynolds

Love Island's creative director Mike Spencer has teased a major twist for week one of season 12.

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On Monday 9th June, summer begins for reality TV lovers as Love Island returns to our screens for its 12th series. We're just days away from the gorgeous cast of hopeful singles strutting into the iconic Majorcan villa for a summer of romance.

This summer marks the tenth anniversary of Love Island after the world famous dating show premiered in 2015. With 12 series and several spin-offs under its belt, creative director Mike Spencer has said it's time to "rip up the rule book" in a bid to keep the show feeling fresh. "You can’t rest… we have to keep it exciting," he said.

The new series has a tough act to follow after ITV introduced their first-ever celebrity bombshell on day one last summer with Joey Essex storming into the villa and shaking up the newly matched couples. But Mike has told Capital that a twist as big as Joey's entrance is coming in week one.

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Mike said: “Last year, I knew about Joey Essex and I said, ‘Trust me in week one something big is coming'... something big is coming in week one."

When quizzed if Joey was going to a make a return, he clearly stated: "It's not Joey Essex."

The creative director also shut down rumours that TOWIE and CBB star Ella Rae Wise was entering the villa. Similarly, he confirmed that ITV have not been in talks with Katie Price and Peter Andre's daughter Princess, despite multiple reports they had.

On when we can expect the big twist, Mike said it will happen in the first week and also revealed the way the islanders are coupled up on day one has been changed again.

He said: "The way the islanders are coupled up is completely different. There will be things happening the first couple of days that we’ve not done before.

"And certainly [in] week one there’s something incredibly big coming that we’ve never done before, hopefully we can pull it off."

Last year, for the first time, the islanders were coupled up on day one after ranking themselves from most to least boyfriend/girlfriend material.

Usually the public vote to match the islanders once the cast has been revealed by ITV but this isn't returning as a format on the show for now.

While Mike said he couldn't reveal more without spoiling the twist, it's likely it will involve bombshells as he confirmed this year a lot more bombshells will be entering the villa than they did last year.

Keep those islanders on their toes!

Love Island returns Monday 9th June at 9pm on ITV2 and ITVX.