What Is Love Island's Casa Amor And How Does It Work?

It’s been a few weeks since Love Island series eight aired for the first time on Monday 6th June, and this year’s couples are already being put to the test.

Over the past few days, this season’s most stable couples have been divided, and secret confessions are starting to unravel.

However, any die-hard Love Island fan knows that the real relationship test isn’t just the shake-up caused by the occasional entrance of a new islander. It’s Casa Amor.

What Is Casa Amor?

Casa Amor, meaning “The House of Love” in Spanish, is an alternate villa which puts the main villa, in all its newly refurbished glory, to shame.

At a random point during the show’s 8 weeks, a secret text message is sent to only the male contestants, and within the hour, the female contestants find themselves in the villa alone. 

The male contestants may have to face the challenge of sneaking out of the villa without being noticed, but they are quickly rewarded.

An often more glamorous sandstone replica of the main villa, Casa Amor has its own plethora of bright neon signs, comfy sun-beds and a pool which rivals the villa’s own infinity pool.

But most importantly of all, Casa Amor is filled with all new girls.

How Does Casa Amor Work?

Designed to put relationships to the ultimate test, Casa Amor challenges just how much the female contestants trust their partners while they’re away from the villa surrounded by a whole lot of new eye candy.

However, that’s not to say the girls are left to their own devices, as they are also joined by a lineup of new boys in the main villa.

During Casa Amor, the boys and girls face new challenges which lead them into dangerous territory fuelled by temptation for the new contestants.

I mean, what happens in Casa Amor stays in Casa Amor, right?

Wrong. Big Brother style, someone is always watching. In previous years, the original female contestants in the main villa receive a telling postcard of photos depicting their partners in often compromising situations. And just like that, both trust and loyalty start to waver.

In the past, ITV has Casa Amor in place for around three to four days. 

At the end of the Casa Amor challenge, a huge recoupling takes place, in which the original female contestants choose whether to stick or twist, choosing between the new boys they’ve gotten to know and their old partners. 

In a tense reveal after each girl’s decision, fans get to watch the drama unfold when the original boys return to the villa from Casa Amor, sometimes with a new girl on their arm, and other times empty handed.

Sometimes the decision to choose a new partner is worth it, as is the case with 2020’s contestants Molly Smith and Callum Jones, who are still together today. 

But more often than not, it ends in complete heartbreak as contestants’ dirty laundry is finally aired.