The Love Island train keeps chugging, and despite this being a relatively tame year, there will always be something that causes an outcry.

While the days of actual blue-collar workers getting drunk in the villa and getting up to no good are gone, in favor of influencers who are using the show as a ‘launching pad’ for a more glamorous career/Boohoo deal, that doesn’t mean they’re media-trained. And they do screw up, in one way or another.

With that, we at Extra.ie have decided to take a trip down memory lane, from the most controversial departures, to bust ups that led to thousands of complaints throughout the years of Love Island.

George Knight’s mysterious departure – 2026

Islanders leave the villa all the time — namely, if they’re voted off by their fellow contestants or the viewing public, or if they’ve just decided they’ve had enough of the show. However, the departures are usually broadcast, or at least mentioned in passing.

That wasn’t the case for George Knight, however. The bombshell arrived as a late entrant on day one of the 2026 summer series, before mysteriously disappearing. No speech in front of the islanders, no mention from narrator Iain Sterling, nothing.

While the official narrative is that a member of George’s family fell ill and he left the villa immediately, another report suggests that George was actually warned by show bosses for using ‘unacceptable language’ before being removed.

While it also emerged that he learned of his sick family member around the same time as his warning, George’s unceremonious exit surprised many — with the lack of an explanation only muddying the waters even further.

Initial thoughts on Maura Higgins – 2019

While many of us consider Maura Higgins a national treasure nowadays, there was a time when the Longford beauty’s *ahem* ‘forwardness’ caused the ire of the British public.

From uttering the now iconic ‘fanny flutters’ line to telling Tom Walker where to go after he wondered if Maura was ‘all talk’ ahead of a hideaway dalliance, Maura actually drew official Ofcom complaints when she tried to kiss boxer Tommy Fury despite his protests.

Despite receiving 709 complaints, viewers eventually changed their tune about Maura, who’s since carved out a nice little career for herself — including breaking America after she was a breakout contestant on The Traitors.

Movie Night in general

While Movie Night is one of the most popular parts of Love Island (outside of Casa Amor), the reactions have sometimes been explosive.

The second-ever Movie Night in 2022 (then-titled Mad Movies) saw fishmonger Luca Bish and Michael Owen’s daughter Gemma’s relationship hit the rocks, after a seemingly innocuous clip of Gemma ‘flirting’ with new boy Billy — which, Luca said, had Gemma make him ‘look like a f**king w**ker.’

Just six months later, during the winter series of Love Island, Shaq and Tanya caught the worst of the Movie Night when they were shown ‘Catch Me If you Tan,’ which saw Tanya flirting with Irishman Martin in Casa Amor — with Tanya standing her ground, and Shaq leaving the villa’s entrance in tears.

Faye and Teddy’s row – 2021

Hoo boy, if you remember this one…

The inaugural Movie Night/Mad Movies saw Teddy Soares, who was coupled up with Faye Winter, admit during Casa Amor to bombshell Clarisse Juliette that he found her attractive — before not acting on said attraction, and sleeping on the sun chairs. Fair enough.

However, due to the way the clip was shown, an absolutely incensed Faye — who was already under the assumption that Teddy was cheating on her as he kissed Clarisse during a challenge — proceeded to curse out Teddy, as well as islanders Matthew McNaab and Dale Mehmet.

The clip saw a record-breaking 25,000 complaints lodged with Ofcom, but, bizarrely enough, Faye and Teddy made up, reached the final, and somehow finished third.

Sex in the villa costs Zara her crown – 2016

Well before the villa was filled with wannabe influencers trying to kick start their career, the first few series of Love Island were filled with regular Joe (and Josephine) Soaps — who, sometimes, gave in to their throbbing biological urges.

While the rule for intimacy is that Islanders shouldn’t be filmed engaging in such behavior nowadays, back in 2016, such a rule didn’t exist—case in point: when then-Miss Britain Zara Holland got caught in the act with Alex Bowen.

Both of them were consenting adults, of course, but the problem came with Zara’s Miss Britain crown, a title she was stripped of as a result.

Most felt that Zara was unfairly punished, but former winner Gemma Garrett felt the move was justified, pointing out that the pageant had gotten bad press in previous years, and the last thing they needed was a person having sex while on a television show.

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