First Look At Love Island 2023’s £1.2 Million Villa With A Zip Wire And Running Track

30 December 2022, 12:53

Love Island returns to South Africa in 2023
Love Island returns to South Africa in 2023. Picture: Alamy / Ludus Magnus/Instagram

By Kathryn Knight

The Love Island villa just got a mega upgrade.

Love Island is back in 2023 for series nine, with a brand new batch of contestants – and new host Maya Jama – making their way to South Africa for the ‘winter’ version of the ITV2 series.

With a new location, Love Island bosses have splashed out a reported £1.2 million on a luxury villa complete with a running track, Olympic training pool and zip wire.

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The new villa is the Ludus Magnus estate in Franschhoek, a 25-acre estate near Cape Town, South Africa.

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Maya Jama will host Love Island series 9
Maya Jama will host Love Island series 9. Picture: Getty

The estate, which is apparently solar-powered, is ideal for the fitness-enthusiast singletons as it boasts a swimming pool, a 400-metre running track, a football pitch and a rugby pitch according to the tabloids.

It reportedly includes 17 bedrooms, a treehouse and a freshwater dam with ‘Olympic length’ swimming lanes.

Luxury villas are located nearby the main property – could one of these be the new hideaway perhaps?

For the couples sent on romantic dates, there’s a ‘mini island’ and river deck nearby.

The publication reports it cost £8,000 a day to rent and that ITV are hiring it for five months for £1.2 million.

Work is currently underway at the property to give it a Love Island makeover, ready for the January start date – which is rumoured to be 16th January.

This will be the second winter series of the show after ITV2 was forced to cancel the season due to air in 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The show will air for its usual run of eight weeks, with the final rumoured to be on 13th March.

Maya takes over hosting from Laura Whitmore, who stepped down after the summer 2022.

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