‘Love Island’ contestants have secret conversations away from the cameras, a former Islander has claimed.
Chris Williamson has revealed the ITV2 show’s contestants are allowed to leave the villa one hour per week to get to know each other, without any cameras.
Speaking on his ‘Modern Wisdom’ podcast, Chris – who was in the show’s first season – said: "Once a week we were allowed to leave the villa and weren’t filmed so none of the viewers would ever know.
"There was a day every week when footage wasn’t needed, which was liberating as you could talk about anything."
Chris has also claimed that he knew ‘Love Island’ contestant Malin Andersson, before she appeared in the show’s second series.
He insists Malin, who he had met on ITV show ‘Take Me Out’, had already briefly featured in the first ‘Love Island’ season before entering as a contestant in the second series.
Chris said: "Long and short of it, the very, very first intro where I’m on the plane, there’s a girl that walks past and I say, ‘Hey.’ That was Malin.
"I was on ‘Take Me Out’ with her two years before."
Chris has also claimed that producers interact with the contestants to help the show move along quicker.
He said: "There is a person called a villa producer who comes in to capitalise on storylines.
"At the end of the day, ITV2 need an hour of good TV every night so they can’t really wait weeks for people in there to make a move or address certain things.
"That said, what you see on screen is an accurate portrayal of what goes on.
"People don’t watch ‘Love Island’ because of its great writing; they want to invest in people and their personalities."
However, ITV have said in a statement that Chris’ claims are not up to date with the latest series.
They said: "Occasionally in the past, some Islanders have been taken out of the villa – for example last year all of the girls were taken out for beauty treatments – but this is at the producers’ discretion and it is very much done on an ad hoc basis (as opposed to a set day each week).
"The majority of the dates, which are filmed, take place away from the villa."
Love Island contestants ‘allowed secret conversations’
