Love Island fans call for series to go back to old first coupling tactic

Please, not again.

Love Island fans are calling for the series to go back to its old roots ahead of the show airing next week. After fans got a glimpse at the new batch of islanders for the upcoming winter series, they pleaded with the showrunner to ditch the coupling twist that was introduced last year. Fans took to social media to urge the show to return to the old way of bringing the couples together - letting them choose for themselves rather than a public vote. For the first time in the show's history, the islanders last summer did not get to pick who they wanted to couple up with but instead it was left in the hands of the public who voted for who they wanted to see be paired up. Sharing the tweet that introduced Shaq as a contestant, one user wrote: I am PRAYING that Love Island won't do what they did last season by allowing the public to match up the first batch of contestants, let's not force BLM love again!" Another wrote: "@LoveIsland I don’t appreciate how you guys pair couples now." While a third said: "I think boys should be stepping forward this time. Let's see something." 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 have been announced. This year's series includes one well known TikTok star, a PrettyLittleThing model and the show's first partially blind contestant. Love Island returns to our screens on Monday 16th January at 9pm on Virgin Media Two and Virgin Media Player.