It's here!!

Love Island is returning next week for its ninth season and as we get a glimpse into the winter series for the first time in three years, the first of the islanders has been announced. Love Island returns to our screens on Monday 16th January at 9pm on Virgin Media Two and Virgin Media Player. As the official Instagram will be announcing each of the hopeful romancers throughout the morning, we'll be keeping you up to date on just who is heading to South Africa for the upcoming season. And drum roll please... First up is 22 year old Tanya Manhenga from Liverpool! Currently studying biomedical science and doing some influencer work on the side, Tanya was the first person this year to be rumoured to be heading onto the show and the rumours were completely true. While she has the brains to back her up, Tanya is very easy to look at as she has previously done some modelling on the side (you might recognise her from Boohoo...) Boasting more than 11,000 followers on Instagram, she has already nabbed huge brand deals with the likes of Simmi shoes and Ego footwear, not to mention former islander Indiyah Polack being one of her online pals. So why is she heading into the villa? She said: "I’m looking for a boyfriend and I think being in a Villa with lots of different people will help me work out who it is I may want." But when it comes to speaking about the infamous "ick", Tanya said hers was: "Guys that don’t wear socks in the house. Why are your feet flapping all around the house? Guys have huge feet too, yuck. Also, guys in the bathtub with no bubbles, such an ick, no." Tanya also opened up about her own battles, speaking about her skin condition vitiligo, saying: "I have Vitiligo, which is a skin pigmentation, you may not even notice it. It's on my lip and I have a stripe on my hair. Not many people know that but I think it’s quite cute. I don’t care about covering it up all the time, I think it’s a vibe."