Love Island: Are the islanders told breaking news while in the villa?

An investigation.

The islanders have been couped up away in the life of glamour and oblivion for the past four weeks on Love Island, and of course, the world still turns. While many of us (me) think there isn't much more to life than sitting down each evening to see what drama unfolded in a random villa in Spain, it appears that day to day life still goes on. Of course, over the last few weeks there have been some major news stories, but as the islanders are completely cut off from the outside world, they don't even know the real time let alone the political landscape. On Thursday news broke that UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson was set to resign from his role as leader of the Conservative Party, making it a hugely significant moment in British politics. While the rest of the world instantly knew he had stepped down, the cast of Love Island will have to wait until they leave the villa before they find out the big news. The only way they could possibly know about it would be when the parents come to visit and they spill the beans.

But why aren't they told this, seeing at it is such a defining moment in the UK right now? The producers of the show want to ensure that they have "no contact" with anyone outside of the villa, but when a new bombshell walks through the doors, there is always the risk that they will report the ongoings of the outside world. A spokesperson for the show recently told the Metro: “They won’t be told – they have no contact with the outside world as always.” We've seen from previous years that while everything is expected to remain tight lipped, it doesn't always work out that way. Former Love Island star Adam Collard, who was on season four of the show revealed that bombshells used to give news to the islanders as they entered the villa and keep them up to date with what was happening in the world. Through this, he and other islanders learned about the results of the 2018 World Cup, telling Heart: “The only information you get is when there is a new bombshell or a new islander coming into the house and then you start quizzing them.

“We’re not supposed to ask, but when Sam Bird came into the house we pestered the life out of him and then he told us the England score for the first game, and then the girls in Casa Amor told us the second score.” When Covid first came onto our radar back in 2020, the winter series of Love Island was well and truly underway.

The series finished in February 2020 and a month later everyone was in a full lockdown. While it wasn't as bad when they arrived out of the villa, cases had already hit the UK, Italy was going through the worst of it and South Africa was about to get bad, which was where they were based. As the last four couples in the villa left after the final in 2020, they were briefed by producers as to what had been going on in the world, breaking the news of the pandemic. Speaking to Grazia, winner Paige Turley said: "So like when we were coming out we were debriefed with what's been happening in the world, but [we were told] there is this virus and we don’t think it’s going to be a big deal, and literally two weeks later Boris Johnson was like, “Right, lockdown”. Adding that they had never heard the word coronavirus before, her boyfriend Finn Tapp added: "Yeah, [the producers] pull you into a room and they just sort of sit you down and it's almost like a debrief of just preparing you for what's gone on since you've been in there and stuff like that. "Wacky things like, there's been this article, there's been this article, and then the last one they just threw in was like, “Oh and this like this virus spreading around the world” and we’re like what?" So it seems no matter how life altering the news is, they won't be finding out.

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Love Island: Are the islanders told breaking news while in the villa?

An investigation.