ITV’s hit reality show, Love Island is poised to go stateside with an American version on the verge of getting the green light.
The series has captivated British audiences this summer, drawing in an overnight audience of 3.6m and a peak of 4.1m for last night’s finale, which crowned a winning couple in the form of big-hearted sweethearts, Dani Dyer and Jack Fincham.
Each series of Love Island sees a revolving door of British singletons jet out to a Mallorca villa in an attempt to find love and walk away with a £50,000 cash prize. Recouplings happen weekly and challenges, ranging from comedy assault courses to lie detector tests, attempt to push each couple to their limits before one emerge victorious.
ITV CEO Carolyn McCall spoke about the show branching out and recently said, “it’s a very strong franchise and we’re about to sign something else that would be another market and that would be a decent, a really good market”.
That deal seems to be manifesting in the form of a U.S. remake. ITV America, the people responsible for Netflix’s acclaimed Queer Eye reboot, are eyeing up their own version of Love Island, it’s been reported.
Mike Beale, Managing Director of Global Creative Network and Nordics, ITV Studios, and the man responsible for outsourcing the show said,
“For us, it’s about finding the right place. It’s very different offering to anything else America has done before, even in this dating environment. We talk about the key elements being the event, the stripped nature and multiple platforms so getting that right is important and that’s tricky. We’re definitely working on it.”
This isn’t the first Love Island has almost hit the U.S. as MTV previously ordered a 20-episode first season of the show. However, the deal fell through after an admin overhaul and this suggests that ITV Studios could potentially obtain a more lucrative deal this time around.
The UK edition of Love Island will return for a fifth series next summer and we’ll keep you updated on any news regarding a U.S. remake.