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Only 6 Love Islanders Auditioned For Show As ITV Admits It Head Hunted Majority Of Cast
1 August 2019, 11:40
It's emerged the vast majority of Love Islanders were hand picked by the ITV casting team with only six contestants actually applying to be on the show.
It has emerged that hardly any of the Love Island cast auditioned for this year's show and were found by the ITV casting team through talent agents and social media, with only six of this year's 36 contestants being picked from the general public.
The statistics came to light when ITV's chief executive, Dame Carolyn McCall, was partaking in a Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee's inquiry into reality television following the deaths of two former contestants, Sophie Gradon and Mike Thalassitis.
She revealed 98,000 people had applied to be on the show, but 2/3 of this year's islanders had been approached by ITV, with both Curtis Pritchard and Tommy Fury already having agents before entering the villa.
Neither of this year's winners, Greg O'Shea or Amber Gill applied to be on the show, however, professional basketball player Ovie Soko did fill out the form himself and go through the audition process.
The show has faced criticism from viewers in the past for casting social media influencers that already have sizeable followings to go on the show, and the latest figures definitely prove that the show's bosses are picking 'talent' from that demographic.
Islanders who leave the villa often go on to have successful and lucrative business deals that see them earn a whole lot of money- however, many of the people, including Molly-Mae Hague, who are spotted by the show's bosses were already taking part in such endorsement deals before joining the show.
I think @LoveIsland should stop casting Instagram ‘famous’ people and people with ties to famous people and actually cast people that actually apply
— Iz (@izzi_ann_) August 1, 2019
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