The ninth series of Love Island has kicked off on ITV2, with a fresh crop of contestants entering a brand new villa in South Africa.
It is the first time the winter version of the show has aired since before the coronavirus pandemic and with Maya Jama taking over hosting duties from Laura Whitmore, who stepped down last year.
This year’s line-up includes Lana Jenkins, the former girlfriend of I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out Of Here! runner up Owen Warner, and Ron Hall, who lost his sight in one eye while playing football as a child and is the show’s first visually-impaired contestant.
Following the arrival of the ten new contestants, the first bombshell of the series will be selected by a public vote.
After the ten new islanders entered the villa in South Africa, host Maya Jama introduced the male and female islanders to each other as the first coupling began.
Kicking off the coupling was biomedical student Tanya Manhenga, who chose airport security officer Shaq Muhammad.
Lana Jenkins, a make-up artist from Luton, chose to couple up with the show’s first visually-impaired contestant Ron Hall.
After coupling and recoupling a number of times, Kai Fagan, a PE and science teacher from Manchester, ended up with Tanyel Revan, a hair stylist from North London, while Anna-May Robey, a payroll administrator from Swansea, was ultimately coupled with TV salesman Haris Namani from Doncaster.
As the two remaining islanders, actress Olivia Hawkins and farmer Will Young formed the final couple.
This year contestants will also have their social media disabled during the airing of the series, in a bid to crackdown on online abuse.
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