Love Island Contestants Ranked After the Episode Premiere

The famous Love Island villa returned to our screens on June 6th. Love it or hate it, this TV show truly has a hold on people! Not only does the show help some people find love, but it also takes ‘normal’ people and turns them into influencers almost overnight, with many ex-contestants earning upwards of £1 million thanks to the business opportunities they gained from the show. 

We wanted to look at just how quickly these contestants can grow within one episode, so our Digital PR team analysed the social media following of each Love Islander before and after the season premiere… 

The data revealed there was a total growth of 1,050.6% across all contestants’ Instagram followers. Brighton based fish monger Luca Bish saw the biggest increase in followers – he had 11.5k before the premiere and 29.7k the morning after the premiere. 

Gemma Owen had the most followers before entering the show with 78.1k (perhaps due to her famous father!). Although Gemma hasn’t seen the biggest growth, she still has the highest number of followers, which now stands at 138k. 

Tasha Ghouri saw the least growth, with an increase of 48.4%.

graph showing growth of love islander social following

As well as looking at the contestants’ Instagram follower growth, we wanted to see who was the initial favourite and least favourite based on positive and negative sentiments on social media. 

Based on this data, Amber Beckford was the favourite islander on the first show, with 90.2% of social media posts having positive sentiment, with 0% negative! Dami Hope appeared to be the second favourite, also receiving no negative comments. 

Unfortunately, Nottingham-based Ikenna Ekwonna appeared to be the least favourite contestant after the season premiere, receiving the highest percentage of negative sentiments on social media (11.2%). Perhaps it was the crocs?

graphic showing how much love islanders social followings have grown in percentages

It’s surprising just how popular these young people can become after just one episode of Love Island 2022! We’re looking forward to seeing how this data changes as the show continues.

Who is the favourite after week one?

Our Digital PR team decided to look at the data after a week of Love Island airing to see how each contestant’s popularity has grown whilst we’ve been getting to know them better, and who is the current favourite… 

There was a total growth of over 6,766% across all contestant’s (including the latest additions) Instagram accounts since the season started. After the premiere, Luca Bish saw the biggest follow increase (158.3%) However Liam Llewellyn, who actually quit the series and left the villa five days in, overtook Luca for the most growth on Instagram since the start with an increase of 1256.64% – he entered the villa with 31k followers and currently has 194k. 

Newbie bombshell Ekin-Su saw the lowest growth of just 9.43%, although she had a huge following before entering the villa (350k) and remains the most followed Islander with a current total of 383k Instagram followers.

Love IslanderNumber of Instagram followers before entering the villaCurrent number of Instagram followersTotal change (%)
Liam Llewellyn14.3k194k1256.64%
Luca Bish11.5k153k1230.43%
Paige Thorne13.7k129k841.61%
Davide Sanclimenti9.5k81.1k761.05%
Ikenna Okwanna7.2k39.1k443.06%
Andrew Le Page8.4k41.4k411.11%
Amber Beckford9.9k44.3k347.475%
Tasha Ghouri32.6k135k314.11%
Gemma Owen78.1k300k310.397%
Dami Hope11.2k43.5k288.393%
Indiyah Polock30.5k109k257.377%
Afia Tonkmor2.5k8.5k257.377%
Jacques O’Neill31.9k49.6k55.48%
Ekin-Su Cülcüloglu350k383k9.43%

We also wanted to look at each contestant’s positive and negative sentiments on social media to see who is the most (and least) liked by the public after the first week… 

After the premiere, Amber received the lowest amount of negative sentiment on social media and the most positive – during week one, she still received the lowest number of negative sentiment at 1% but is no longer seeing the most positive sentiment. 

New boy and Gemma’s ex Jacques saw the most positive sentiment (42.3%) despite only being in the villa for a day! Speaking of Gemma, it appears that she is a ‘love/hate’ character as she receives the second-highest percentage of positive comments on social media (39.9%) but also receives the most negative comments too (12.4%) 

Love IslanderPositive Sentiment (%)Negative Sentiment (%)
Jacques O’Neill42.3%1.6%
Gemma Owen39.9%12.4%
Dami Hope36.8%2%
Tasha Ghouri34.7%2.11%
Paige Thorne34.2%2.7%
Amber Beckford33.5%1.4%
Afia32.5%1.1%
Luca Bish32.5%3.2%
Liam Llewellyn32.3%4.9%
Davide31.7%2.9%
Indiyah Polock30.7%1.7%
Ikenna Okwanna29.6%2.2%
Ekin-Su29.5%1.3%
Andrew Le Page25.9%2.7%

We’re excited for the next seven weeks and to see how each contestant stands in terms of followers and favourites throughout the season!

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