This year's Love Island summer series has been described by many as the horniest series of the dating reality TV show in years. While no one has done the deed yet at time of writing, we've had a pretty steamy conversation between Dejon, Toni and Yasmin about threesomes, Megan and Conor's extensive make out sessions and both Helena and Harry are getting closer and closer to doing it – and keep talking about it too.
Before this year's instalment even started, the show's bosses revealed plans to ramp up the raunchy time on screen, with little tweaks being made when it comes to access to the go-to venue for hanky panky, the villa's Hideaway.
“If sex happens, we'll show it. The Hideaway will be open 24 hours,” Mike Spencer, Love Island's creative director said in an interview before the 2025 summer series began. “We need to keep the show fresh and exciting. After 10 years, the stats speak for themselves. The show will continue to thrive.”
He added that the Love Island team have had to “tear up the rule book” this year due to dwindling viewing figures, which have primarily been put down to “tamer” storylines and less explicitly sexual activity between contestants.
Particularly in the earlier seasons, we got a load of steamy Love Island scenes. In the second season, Emma and Terry did the deed on top of the covers, and it was shown on screen. Zara Holland and Alex Bowen also slept together before he coupled up with Olivia, leading to the reigning Miss Great Britain being stripped of her title. One year on, Amber and Kem had sex in broad daylight in Amber's bed while being coupled up with other people. They also went on to win the show, with Amber now having built a career on the West End.
Interestingly, Alex Bowen went on to win Love Island after coupling up with his now-wife and mother of his children Olivia, and even Emma and Terry made it to the final – maybe sex on screen is a recipe for success on Love Island?
This year, the villa's Hideaway – which boasts a bed and hot tub for naughty activities – is now open 24 hours a day. But it's only available to those that aren’t coupled up, adding more intrigue and spice to proceedings and arguably encouraging contestants to cheat on their partners.
Which begs the question, what exactly are the rules around showing sex on Love Island?
First of all, one rule that dictates this is the watershed – 9pm, which is when Love Island episodes begin. No coincidences there, we reckon. Love Island airing after the watershed means that more explicit sexual content can be shown without violating broadcasting code, which is in place to prevent children from seeing anything too explicit. Ofcom also deal with any complaints that are made by audiences after the content is aired. These rules apply to nudity as well as sexual images. Both also need to be “justified by the context” of the show.
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As well as the watershed, Ofcom also has to consider whether these sex scenes will cause “harm and offence” to those watching and once again must be justified by the context. This ruling also applies to a material that includes offensive language, sexual violence, discriminatory treatment towards groups such as disabled people and queer people as well as racist attitudes.
When GLAMOUR approached ITV for comment, they responded: "We broadcast what we consider relevant to the overall narrative of the show, and significant to the islanders' stories, obviously working within compliance and editorial guidelines.” They also added that showing consenting adults who are over 18 years old engaging intimately on Love Island has been a part of those islander’s specific journeys and is generally contextualised with music, dialogue and some commentary.
It has also been reported that there is “an outright ban on masturbating in the villa”, to which ITV offered no comment. Full nudity is also reportedly not allowed, even in the shower.
Previous reports have said that there are 200 Love Island branded condoms placed around the villa to encourage safe sex, with the Hideaway being stocked with lube, role play outfits and sex toys. In terms of post-sex wellness, mental health is also reportedly taken into account, with all contestants given mandatory therapy and provided with emergency contraception when needed.
Here's to the sexiest Love Island series yet.
