ITV bosses have spoken out to confirm the fate of Love Island’s winter series.
Following the success of the ITV2 reality show’s first five series, producers announced they’d be airing two a year moving forward, with a new January run taking place in a new villa in South Africa.
This aired for the first time in January 2020, but due to the coronavirus pandemic, plans for a second in 2021 were axed.
Earlier this week, a report in the Daily Mail suggested that ITV had decided to put plans for a future winter series on ice permanently, to focus on making Love Island’s summer return as strong as possible.
A spokesperson has since confirmed this to be the case, telling Digital Spy: “We are currently focusing on the forthcoming summer series.”
There’s no confirmed start date for Love Island’s return, but the Daily Mail also claimed in their report that ITV was aiming to have the show back on the air in July, slightly later in the year than usual, owing to the pandemic.
Love Island is set to return to its usual location in Mallorca, although it’s repeatedly been reported bosses are eyeing Jersey as an alternative if international travel is not allowed at the time they’re hoping to film.
The show will once again be hosted by Laura Whitmore, who took over presenting duties from Caroline Flack in early 2020.
It was announced that Laura and her husband – Love Island narrator Iain Stirling – had welcomed their first child, a daughter, last week.