Love Island dealt huge ratings blow as new summer launch loses a million viewers | TV & Radio | Showbiz & TV

During the second episode of season 10 last night, bombshell Zachariah Noble was forced to couple up with one of the girls.

After getting to know the girls throughout the day, he decided his strongest connection had been with Catherine Agbaje, leaving Andre Furtado single and vulnerable.

However, despite the drama ensuing within 24 hours of the islanders arriving in the villa, the series saw a considerable decline in viewers.

The return of the summer series was watched live on ITV2 by 1.3 million viewers on Monday, June 5 which was a one million decline from the year before.

Love Island was the second most-watched programme in its time slot and attracted the biggest audience of the day among 16 to 34-year-old viewers.

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In 2022, the summer series opening series had an average TV audience of 2.4 million, while four years ago the launch episode attracted 3.3 million.

The decline of viewers comes after many viewers felt the show had lost some of its appeal and the contestants were a “copy” of previous islanders.

One of the major changes this year saw three of the girls and two of the boys enter the villa together and were then paired up after the public had voted for who they wanted to be together.

As the first show kicked off and the Islanders were introduced, several viewers took to their Twitter accounts to express their annoyance at the show.

@tintad49 stated: “ITV really just said copy and paste #LoveIsland.”

@LukesPrivv penned: “Literally carbon copies of each other #LoveIsland.”

@_beccacallaghan commented: “Swear they just copy and paste every season #loveIsland.”

@LxPetz1 added: “You can copy my homework just change it up a bit #LoveIsland.”

@wvincero quipped: “I need a copy of the love island scouting files, the Irish melanin section to be exact, I wanna see the other candidates.”

@newstronhub fumed: “Love Island review: It’s all dry copy and paste drama so far.” (sic)

However, not all viewers were left disappointed with the new series as Chloe Harris said: “Have been waiting for this! Bring me all the drama as I am back in my Love Island era.”

@BubblesBATH tweeted: “Despite the contestants reminding me of others I am living for the bombshells already! People get territorial so quickly!” (sic)

Love Island airs weeknights from 9pm on ITV2.