Love Island Games aired on Peacock on Wednesday night, and Irish fans can now access the new show exclusively on Virgin Media Player from 7am on Thursday.
The series brings together Islanders from international versions of the hit dating show for a second (and in one instance, third) shot at love.
In this cheeky new iteration, romance will meet reality as Islanders are faced with both team and couples’ challenges, all while navigating dating, eliminations, recoupling and dramatic new arrivals.
Fans took to X and praised the dramatic premiere of the brand new reality show.
The first episode saw Cely Vazquez from season two of Love Island USA and Toby Aromolaran from season seven of Love Island UK pair up in the first coupling of the series.
X users were the first to comment on the duo and gave divided reactions, with one fan tweeting: “Toby and Cely? I am here for it.”
Meanwhile, another said: “Idk Cely it’s givin’ Toby & Kaz again .. idk if it’s going to last.”
Toby and Cely are so cute omg ‘, hope they ended up together 😫#LoveIslandGames
— 🖤 (@Vanessakez76441) November 2, 2023
The show’s host Maya Jama revealed to the contestants later in the episode that two new bombshells were entering the Fiji villa, and that they’d each pick two people to kiss – however, all of the competitors would be blindfolded.
Blonde bombshell Megan Barton-Hanson chose Callum Hole and Steph Blackos to kiss, while Johnny Middlebrooks picked Imani Wheeler before kissing Cely, his ex, in a move that shocked viewers.
Fans took to X to revel in the show’s dramatic first episode.
One user said: “Love Island bringing in Jonny when Cely said he’s the one person she wishes didn’t show up, Johnny choosing to kiss Cely on purpose. The mess, the drama I already love it.”
oh i gagged.. producers knew what they were doing here omg #LoveIslandGames pic.twitter.com/srVlWfudkM
— alex. (@reality_alexis) November 2, 2023
While another wrote: “The fact that @MayaJama was also shocked at what is happening 🙌🏽! Episode was 🔥#LoveIslandGames.”
X users continued to praise the shocking first episode by tweeting: “That ending omg. That’s how you do a first episode #LoveIslandGames.”
Love Island Games is available now on Virgin Media Player – with episodes streaming six days a week.
According to The Independent, Love Island Games will air on ITV and ITX at a later date.
