As Love Island hits our TV screens again this summer, a new parade of hopeful contestants are preparing for love, limelight and the luxury designer items they’d buy with their future brand deals.
While only the winners receive a handsome £50,000 prize, every contestant has the opportunity for great exposure, recognition and fame on the back of the nail-biting reality TV hit.
From brand deals, book deals, acting contracts and much more, Love Islanders have seen a lot of success after the show. However, looking back from when Love Island first aired in 2015, to the most recent season in January 2023, success hasn’t been equal for all those who have left the villa.
To mark the start of the latest series, Creditfix has analysed 10 key data points across all Love Island contestants to ever enter into the villa to determine who has been the most successful since they aired and why.
The study looked at factors such as Instagram follower count, engagement rate, average likes per post, amount earnt per sponsored post, number of brand deals over the past two months, number of own brands, and number of own TV shows, podcasts or books and compared against the 100 most followed islanders on Instagram.
Maybe future Islanders could learn a lesson from their predecessors on how to manage fame and success following season 10?
The most successful Love Islanders of all time
| Most successful Love Island contestants (S1-S9) | |||||
| Rank | Name | Season | Engagement rate | Avg. likes per Instagram post | Amount earnt per sponsored post |
| 1 | Molly-Mae Hague | 5 | 7.56% | 569,383 | £24,000 |
| 2 | Tommy Fury | 5 | 11.60% | 593,566 | £17,800 |
| 3 | Dani Dyer | 4 | 1.32% | 48,575 | £13,800 |
| 4 | Olivia Buckland | 2 | 0.81% | 27,792 | £12,100 |
| 5 | Scott Thomas | 2 | 0.47% | 4,610 | £5,000 |
| 6 | Alex Bowen | 2 | 0.87% | 13,869 | £7,300 |
| 7 | Alex George | 4 | 0.74% | 14,272 | £8,600 |
| 8 | Gemma Owen | 8 | 5.12% | 101,840 | £8,600 |
| 9 | Indiyah Polack | 8 | 9.05% | 94,801 | £5,300 |
| 10 | Chloe Burrows | 7 | 2.49% | 41,834 | £7,600 |
The three most successful Love Island contestants ever were revealed as Molly Mae Hague, Tommy Fury and Dani Dyer
All those in the top ten were either winners, runners-up, or third place on the show, with the exception of Alex George who was the only one to be dumped; suggesting that to make it big after Love Island, you’ve got to do the same in the villa… no pressure on the cast of summer 2023!
1. Molly-Mae Hague
With over 7.5M Instagram followers, bagging £24k per sponsored post and over 500k average likes, Molly Mae stands as the most successful Love Islander ever and undoubtedly the most well known.
After leaving the villa in 2019 with new boyfriend Tommy Fury, Molly Mae launched her own tanning brand, Filter by Molly Mae, before being appointed as the Creative Director at Pretty Little Thing – her biggest deal since appearing on the ITV show.
2. Tommy Fury
Following close behind, Tommy Fury was the second most successful Islander, also ranking second for the highest Instagram follower count (over 5M) and earnings per sponsored post (£17,800).
In 2022, Tommy entered the limelight again, appearing on TV alongside his family on their own show “At Home with The Fury’s”.
3. Dani Dyer
In third place and a triple threat, is Dani Dyer, who has signed contracts for four of her own TV shows, hosts her own podcast and has also written a book all since leaving the villa in 2018.
Dani Dyer and season 3 islander Chris Hughes have both had four of their own TV shows since leaving the villa, more than any other contestant.
All Dani’s career ventures after the villa have kept her cemented in the limelight, evident by an 82% Google search increase for her name over the past three months. Clearly an attractive name for brands as well, Dani earns around £13,800 per sponsored post, the fourth highest of all contestants.
4. Olivia Buckland
Olivia has also seen a lot of success since the villa, both in her career and in love, still going strong with her Love Island bae, turned husband and baby daddy, Alex Bowen.
Since leaving the villa Olivia has become the sixth most popular Islander on Instagram with over 3M followers, also earning the sixth highest per sponsored post at £12,100.
Olivia has taken to the the screen for three of her own TV shows since her 2016 debut, two of which were shared with husband Alex, alongside hosting their own podcast ‘Double Dating’.
5. Scott Thomas
Scott Thomas, who has two well-known brothers in the public eye, has made a name of his own since leaving the villa in 2016, now amassing almost 1M Instagram followers and earning £5,000 per sponsored post – which he does more of than any other islander at a hefty 19 sponsored posts in the past two months alone.
From Love Islander to entrepreneur, Scott has founded two businesses since leaving the villa, as well as starting his own podcast ‘Learning as I go’.
6. Alex Bowen
Alex Bowen, husband of fellow Islander Olivia Bowen, has shared success with his wife since leaving the villa, appearing together in two of their own TV shows and starting their own podcast since their Love Island debut in 2016.
With a large Instagram following of over 1.5M, earning £7,300 per sponsored post, Alex has used the success of his platform as a springboard to start an online fitness coaching brand, ABX coaching, which has over 50k followers on its own.
7. Alex George
After leaving the villa in 2018, Dr Alex was appointed as a UK youth mental health ambassador and has since written three books on the topic, more than any other contestant.
All of this exposure has led people to search for Alex’s name 26% more over the past three months and ranked him as the seventh most successful Islander. Clearly an attractive name for brands as well, Dr Alex earns around £8,600 per sponsored post thanks to his near 2M Instagram following.
In addition to books and brand deals, Alex has found success in starting his own podcast ‘The Stompcast’ in 2021, also recently branching into a TV presenter role on ‘Naked Education’.
8. Gemma Owen
In just a year since leaving the villa in 2022, Gemma Owen has amassed almost 2M Instagram followers, earning over 100k average likes and £8,600 per sponsored post – which she’s done 13 of in the past two months… you do the math!
Before entering the villa, Gemma also founded her own swimwear brand, OG Beachwear, which has now accumulated over 60k followers in its own right.
9. Indiyah Polack
With over 1M Instagram followers, earning almost 100k average likes and £5,300 per sponsored post, Indiyah is the second 2022 Love Island contestant to make it big over the past year.
Similar to her fellow 2022 Islander Gemma Owen, Indiyah has raked in the brand deals since leaving the villa, reaching a total of 12 over the past two months.
Still in the limelight of the show, Indiyah also hosts the ‘Love Island: The Morning After’ podcast alongside 2017 contestant Kem Cenitay.
10. Chloe Burrows
Since walking into the villa in 2021, Chloe has amassed over 1.5M followers, earning 42k average likes and £7,600 per sponsored post.
While Chloe has remained a well-known name since the show, her fame has picked up even more over the past three months since the start of her new podcast, ‘Chloe vs The World’, which has resulted in a 508% spike in Google searches for her name, more than any other contestant.
Lessons from the islanders
As demonstrated by the most successful islanders, it seems as though posting on Instagram alone isn’t enough to sustain financial success after the villa.
Building a personal brand and ensuring socials stay relevant – whether that be having an own TV show, podcast, or book – is essential to increase engagement, average likes, follower count, and amount earnt per sponsored post; which Molly Mae and Tommy Fury are a shining example of.
Speaking of the importance of staying relevant after appearing on the show, former contestant Jay Younger said: “It’s all well and good being on Love Island, you get exposure and recognition, but if you do nothing with that when you leave then people will just be like ‘so what?’”
Cast wages
Love Islanders actually get a small wage while in the villa from ITV. In 2018, the islanders got paid around £10 an hour which works out to £375 per week.
All the contestants also get paid ad-hoc for any advertisement they do in the villa, like carrying a branded bottle or wearing sponsored clothes.
However, as said by season 8 islander Jay Younger on The Big Jim Show podcast, when you’re in the villa: “It’s not about the money it’s about the exposure that it’s meant to give you after” – with Islanders being invited to events by ITV straight after leaving the villa which they get paid around £1,200 for, like ITV commercial events.
While secret sponsorships could be seen as promoting an unsustainable lifestyle, newer seasons of Love Island sponsored by the likes of eBay have resulted in a big rise in some of the latest influencers from the show promoting more affordable and sustainable fashion.
Life after the villa
After Love Island, 29 of the 100 most followed Islanders went on to create their own brands, with some starting more than one, 26 went on to host their own podcast, 17 appeared on their own TV show, and 13 published their own book.
The most common career move for contestants was to create their own brand; the most popular being fitness inspired brands including personal nutrition, fitness apps and coaching.
Money lessons from the islanders
While it may seem like the islanders in the limelight of the villa have it all, they aren’t necessarily guaranteed financial success, or a celebrity status that will stick.
While the famous Mallorca villa can be a playground for romance, drama, and much more, it can also set unrealistic financial expectations – not only for contestants but fans too.
Learning from previous seasons, ITV now offers contestants financial management training to help them better deal with their money after they leave the villa – highlighting the importance of having a handle on your purse strings.
If you’re struggling with your finances and are worried about falling into debt, you’re not alone. Get in touch with the team at Creditfix where we can discuss the options available to take back control over your debt, including an IVA.
Methodology
Creditfix gathered Instagram follower count data for all the Love Island contestants to ever appear on the show from season 1 to season 9, and analysed the top 100 most followed using 10 key data points:
- Instagram follower count
- Instagram engagement rate, according to Social Blade
- Average likes per Instagram post, according to Social Blade
- Money earnt per sponsored post, according to inzpire.me
- Number of own brands listed in their Instagram bio
- Number of brand deals in Instagram posts over the last two months
- YOY% increase in Google searches for their name, according to Google Keyword Planner,
- Number of own TV shows, according to IMDB
- Number of podcasts they host, according to Spotify and YouTube
- Number of books they have written, according to Amazon: Books
To determine the success of each contestant, an index was used to collate the totals of each data set, whereby those with the highest score were the most successful and vice versa.
Data is correct as of May 2023.
