These are the 40 most popular Love Island contestants of all time
The Covid-19 pandemic has put a spanner in the works for many things this year, and that includes the summer 2020 series of Love Island.
For safety reasons the dreamy Mallorca-based reality show has been postponed this year, so instead we have been reminiscing about some of the best seasons and moments of past series – from Dani and Jack’s hot air balloon date in season 4; to Stormzy’s cameo in season 3, and Michael’s Casa Amor recoupling shock in season 5. There’s also been plenty of updates in the Islanders lives outside the villa to be keeping on top of this summer, including Camilla and Jamie’s pregnancy announcement and Tommy and Molly-Mae’s house move.
In light of the nostalgia around the show’s past seasons we decided to conduct some research to find out the most popular Love Island contestants of all time. We analysed Google search data to find the average monthly search volume for the name of every Love Island contestant ever, to find which contestants we still can’t get enough of to this day.
Coming out in the top spot is Tommy Fury. The professional boxer already had a small level of notoriety before the show and with his successful post-show romance with Molly-Mae Hague he’s clearly remained a fan favourite.
In second place, and the most popular girl, it’s another season 5 Islander – Maura Higgins.
Some of the more surprising top rankers include Anna Vakili in 10th place, followed by Ovie Soko and India Reynolds – a trio who obviously grabbed fans attention with Anna and India both being a love interest of Ovie at one point.
Lucie Donlan who is now dating 2020 contestant Luke Mabbot remains popular in spite of not succeeding very far in her series, while another short lived contestant Zara McDermott remains popular – potentially due to her recent romance with Made in Chelesea’s Sam Thompson.
Other contestants remaining popular include beloved 2019 winner Amber Gill, Camilla Thurlow who this year announced her pregnancy with fellow contestant Jamie Jewitt, and Megan Barton Hanson who sparked headlines with her love triangle with Wes Nelson and Laura Anderson- both of whom also appear within the top 40 most popular contestants.
Read on below to find out more about the 5 most popular contestants.
1. Tommy Fury
Tommy Fury appeared in season 5 of Love Island which aired in 2019. The boxer was a hotly tipped contestant from the get-go, with a boxing career already underway and a famous older brother in Tyson Fury. Tommy entered the villa on Day 1 of the season but not in the initial set of opening contestants. When Molly-Mae Hague entered the villa on Day 4 they struck up an immediate connection and while they initially faced many ups and downs by the Casa Amor segment of the show the couple were going strong and had won over fans. They had been tipped to win but finished in second place. One year on the couple are still together, having recently moved into a £1.3 million apartment in Manchester together.
2. Maura Higgins
The most popular female contestant is another season 5 contestant, Maura Higgins. Maura entered the villa on Day 10 of the series. Initially viewers were cautious of Maura but she quickly won fans over with her Irish charm, straight-talking attitude and her underlying sweet and romantic nature. Maura had quite the journey in the house, coupling up with a variety of male Islanders who didn’t prove right for her before finally ending up with Curtis and placing in 4th place. The pair continued a relationship outside the show, but have now split, while Maura has continued to keep her fans entertained with appearances on Dancing on Ice and a performing stint on This Morning.
3. Curtis Pritchard
It follows that the third most popular contestant is Maura’s ex and Tommy’s bestie, Curtis Pritchard. Curtis entered the villa as a latecomer on Day 1 along with Tommy Fury, and like Tommy Curtis also had a famous brother – AJ from Strictly Come Dancing. Upon entering the villa Curtis seemed to strike up an immediate close connection with Amy Hart and it seemed the couple were a shoe-in for the prize and a successful relationship outside the villa. But Curtis shocked, and disappointed viewers when at Casa Amor he raised doubt about his relationship with Amy, leaving her heartbroken when he returned to the villa and told Amy about his doubts. After Amy left the villa Curtis recoupled with Maura and eventually started to win viewers over again, partly by being paired with their favourite Irish lass. He ultimately came 4th along with Maura and the pair continued their relationship outside the villa before splitting this year.
4. Amber Gill
Amber Gill once referred to herself as the only solo winner of Love Island. After a tumultuous time in the villa in season 5 fans rallied behind Amber, ultimately crowning her Queen of the Villa alongside Greg O’Shea who she had only been coupled up with for a few days before the final. No-one can deny that win was all about Amber. Upon first entry to the villa viewers weren’t sure about Amber’s feisty attitude but as she softened and fans got to know her they were all behind an Amber and Micheal romance. Which is why both Amber and viewers were shocked when Michael left Amber and recoupled with Joanna after Casa Amor. Viewers loved Amber’s girl power approach to handling the heartbreak and supported her all the way to winning the final cash prize and securing a successful career afterwards.
5. Megan Barton Hanson
Megan joined season 4 of Love Island on Day 8 of the series, and it wasn’t long before she took the villa by storm. Immediately catching the eye of all of the boys Megan considered couplings with both Alex and Eyal. But eventually Megan admitted it was Wes she wanted and she wasted no time in making her move on him in spite of him being coupled with Laura Anderson at the time. Fans didn’t love Megan at that point but once Laura found a new love and Megan and Wes showed they were really flourishing, viewers supported the pair who eventually placed in 4th place. Their relationship continued outside of the show, but they ultimately split in 2019. Since then fans have kept up with Megan’s love life, candid interviews, fashion sense and life since Love Island.
Methodology
To determine the most popular Love Island contestants of all time we analysed the average UK monthly search volume for every Love Island contestant. We then ranked by the search volume figure and selected the top 40.
Notes:
We did not include Love Island contestants who share a name with another prominent figure who the search figures may relate to.
Out of respect to their loved ones we did not include contestants who have sadly passed away since appearing on the show.
Full dataset available upon request.
