Sara Baalla

The summer of love has officially begun!

After wrapping up the winter series in South Africa back in March, Love Island has packed up and moved back to Mallorca for its tenth series. Here’s all the action you may have missed from the first week.

Let’s be honest, week one of Love Island isn’t always the most exciting affair. The public seem to agree, with only 1.3 million people tuning in to watch the launch episode on 5 June – over a million down on last year’s figures.

It’s early days. The first couples are formed. The islanders are starting to get to know each other, leaving us patiently waiting to suss out our favourite characters. There’s still a long way to go.

Having said that, this year’s first week hasn’t been disappointing. We’ve seen no shortage of twists, shocking confessions, and a lot of flirty chat. So, in true Love Island fashion, let’s crack on!

A Bombshell Entrance

Multiple “oh my Gods!”, establishing common ground over their dislike for white skinny jeans and describing their type on paper. . . Yep, you guessed it, the first islanders have entered the villa. And, in a Love Island first, the boys and girls entered together.

The show’s host Maya Jama came in to reveal that the public had already voted for the season’s first couples: Jess and George, Catherine and André, Molly and Mitchel, Ruchee and Mehdi, and Ella and Tyrique.

“the islanders broke the ice with a sexy game of alcohol-free beer pong”

After a couple of awkward introductions – or reintroductions for Ella and Tyrique who have supposedly met before on a night out – the islanders broke the ice with a sexy game of alcohol-free beer pong.

Shock soon rippled through the villa when Maya made an unheard-of second appearance on day one. She introduced the first bombshell Zachariah, before revealing that he would be stealing one girl the following night.

Confessions And Sparks Fly

The rest of the boys got grafting as Zachariah began chatting his way around the villa. He sparked an immediate connection with estate agent Catherine, and ultimately chose her to couple up with, leaving André single and quite frankly, gutted. The new couple was whisked off to the terrace for a cheeky date of seductively feeding each other chocolate-covered strawberries. We haven’t seen much of them together since.

“the revelatory game revealed that their significant others have controversial dating histories”

The first challenge sparked concerns for Molly and Ella, who were left shocked after the revelatory game revealed that their significant others have controversial dating histories. The girls looked on in disgust as we found out that Mitchel saw three girls at the same time and Tyrique’s body count totals over 100.

But the revelations didn’t affect the couples too much, as they both shared their first kisses shortly after.

Fans have gone wild for straight-talking new bombshell Whitney who brought André, still pining for Catherine, out of his shell on a romantic cliff-top date. Sadly, though, the sparks ended there for these two, when Whitney set her sights on French railway worker Mehdi.

Twitter’s never-ending stream of Love Island-related comments have seen Whitney compared to previous outspoken and well-loved islanders Maura Higgins and 2022 Love Island winner Ekin-Su Cülcüloǧlu. Her fearless energy is likely to take her far.

After a couple of flirty chats between aesthetics practitioner Jess and semi-pro footballer Tyrique, Jess soon found herself stuck in the friend zone after being bluntly told it was going nowhere. It seemed he only had eyes for Ella after sharing a kiss on the third night – though the self-confessed flirter could find his flirtatious nature landing him in hot water as his connection with Ella gets stronger.

Trouble In Paradise

The initial week had all eyes fixed on 21-year-old Molly, who has already landed a six-figure collaboration just four days into the show. The musical theatre performer finds herself not short of options.

“eight weeks is a long time in the land of love”

There’s 25-year-old gas engineer Mitchel who, since being coupled up with Molly by the public on day one, has fallen pretty hard. He’s already proclaimed himself closed off from getting to know anyone else: an arguably drastic decision for week one. Drama ensued when Molly revealed she was not yet closed off and still wanted to explore her options this early in the game. We can’t blame her really: eight weeks is a long time in the land of love.

The options mentioned: bombshell number one, Zachariah, and the newest arrival Sammy. After a couple of heartfelt chats with Zachariah, and a banter-filled poolside first date with Sammy, it was obvious Molly had connections with all three.

At the end of the week, she made the ultimate decision in the first recoupling of the series – despite the tears and miscommunications, she chose Mitchel. Zachariah remained with Catherine and Sammy was chosen by Jess. Don’t fret, we’ve definitely not heard the last of this love square.

After not being chosen by any of the girls in the recoupling, 24-year-old business executive George was the first to be sent home. The new couple to watch is Ruchee and André. After being recoupled on Friday, it’s clear there’s a connection there, with viewers calling for the pair to have more screen time.

With certainly more twists in this tale, check back in next week for more Love Island updates.

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Featured image courtesy of Vicko Mozara on Unsplash. No changes have been made to this image. Image licence can be found here. 

Sara is a Sports Editor at Empoword and an entertainment news reporter based in London. An avid knitter and bookworm, in her spare time you'll almost always find her curled up in front of the telly rewatching New Girl or Brooklyn 99.

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