Love Island Postponed Until Summer 2021

ITV2's Love Island will not run in 2020 as previously hoped, with the reality dating show pushed back until summer 2021.

The show's bosses have decided to postpone this year's UK offering, which was previously going to run in the winter, to next year.

A spokesperson for ITV told LADbible: "Love Island UK will return bigger and better than ever with an extended run in summer 2021."

Twitter/ITV

ITV confirmed that the coronavirus pandemic is one of the main reasons for the postponement of the show, with producers instead bringing Love Island back for one huge season, rather than two.

And although Winter Love Island gave ITV2 its best ever January and February ratings, the risk has been deemed too high.

Fans of the show, and we know there are loads of you, will be well aware that the lack of summer Love Island is leaving a bit of a void in your life, but to try and ease your pain, ITV2 is repeating the first series of Love Island Australia, which first aired in 2018.

Although January seems a long way off, at this stage of the year, producers would be approaching the point when pre-production for a Winter series would begin, which is why they've made this decision now.

The decision to cancel the summer instalment was made in May, with bosses saying they wanted to guarantee the safety of contestants, which couldn't have been done had it gone ahead.

ITV had looked at various ways to go ahead with filming this year, which reportedly included testing all contestants for coronavirus or by moving the dates to later in the year.

ITV

It was found that the upcoming series simply couldn't go ahead.

Kevin Lygo, Director of Television at ITV, explained in a statement: "We have tried every which way to make Love Island this summer, but logistically it's just not possible to produce it in a way that safeguards the wellbeing of everyone involved and that for us is the priority.

"In normal circumstances we would be preparing very soon to travel out to the location in Mallorca to get the villa ready but clearly that's now out of the question.

"We are very sorry for fans of the show but making it safely is our prime concern and Love Island will be back stronger than ever in 2021. In the meantime Love Island fans can still enjoy all six series of Love Island on BritBox."

Topics: UK Entertainment

Amelia Ward

Amelia is a journalist at LADbible. After studying journalism at Liverpool John Moores and Salford Uni (don't ask), she went into PR and then the world of music. She spent a few years working on festivals and events before joining LADbible. In her spare time, Amelia likes music and spending good, quality time with her cat, Paul. You can contact Amelia at [email protected].

@ameliasward