Love it or hate it, Love Island is taking over our screens – and social media feeds – once again. Contestants still proclaim finding love is their ultimate goal. But with fast fashion brand sponsorship deals and millions of Instagram followers up for grabs, the money might be more inviting.
Let’s explore the kind of money the new reality stars can make after only one week in the Love Island villa.
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How do Love Island contestants make money?
There’s a £50,000 prize for the winning couple in Love Island, but this barely scratches the surface of an islander’s future earning potential. It is rumoured the contestants also receive £250 for every week they are on the show. However, this is just a drop in the ocean compared to what they can make after appearing on the show.
Collaborations with brands
Fashion and makeup brands like to collaborate with Love Island stars to help promote their brands. This might be via their own collection with a brand or products that are branded with their name.
This is more common with the most popular contestants who are on our screens for a long time, as this involves a large investment from the brand.
Social media advertising
Companies will pay influencers to advertise their products or services on their social media profiles.
Former Love Island contestants can make significant sums doing this, particularly if they have an engaged following who will make purchases based on their recommendations.
VIP appearances
If Covid-19 restrictions allow, the islanders will be booked to appear at nightclubs, shopping centres, and even Christmas lights events. These are most lucrative for islanders as soon as they’ve left the villa. They’ll likely attract the most fan attention at this point.
Other reality shows
Love Island contestants aren’t known for being camera shy. So, it’s not surprising that you’ll often see them on your screens again. Celebs Go Dating, Ex on the Beach and Dancing on Ice are all popular with ex-islanders and these shows will pay the influencers to take part.
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How much can they get paid for a social media post?
This will largely depend on their social media following, but there are a lot of ways to make money on Instagram.
PR agency 10 Yetis Digital have a Love Island Growth Index where you can track the contestants’ Instagram followings and discover how much they could earn per post.
Currently, Shannon Singh – who was the first eliminated contestant, surviving just two days – is topping the rankings. With 363,670 followers at the time of writing, she could charge £8,604.43 for just one post on her profile.
Social media marketing isn’t just for the women either. Brad McClelland has 162,545 followers at the time of writing. This means he could charge £3,845.81 per Instagram post.
The newest contestant, Rachel Finni, has around 17,300 followers at the time of writing. Using similar calculations to 10 Yetis’ index, she could charge about £410 per Instagram post.
There are also opportunities to make money on one of the newest social media platforms – TikTok. Being a newer platform, the sums on offer are typically lower than on Instagram. But, this could all change as the platform grows.
Through a combination of the Creator Fund – TikTok’s way of rewarding popular influencers for creating engaging content – and paid partnerships, influencers estimate they can earn between £1,000 and £2,000 a week per million followers.
How much can Love Island stars make?
In general, the longer islanders stay in the villa, the more money they can make. However, even staying on the reality show for one week can offer big opportunities.
The first eliminated contestant in the last series was Eve Gale. She now has 715,000 followers on Instagram. She has partnered – alongside twin sister Jess – with fashion brand Missy Empire, advertised for dating app Tinder, and worked with lingerie company Wolf and Whistle, among others, all in the past few months.
This all suggests she’s bringing in a decent amount of cash.
The richest contestants to date are thought to be Olivia and Alex Bowen who appeared on series 2 of the reality show and subsequently married. They are estimated to have a joint fortune of £4.5 million now.
Meanwhile, Dani Dyer, who won series 4 of Love Island with now ex-boyfriend Jack Fincham, is thought to have a net worth of £2.2 million.