The Impacts of Favouritism and the Bare Minimum on Love Island

Has Love Island lost the spark it once had by becoming a popularity contest that can only be

won with the perfect strategy?

On Monday night, the winners of Love Island UK 2026 were announced to be Julia Majchrzak

and Lorenzo Alessi.

The pair had met during ‘Casa Amor’, where the boys go to another villa for a couple days.

Lorenzo had coupled up with Julia whilst his previous partner Yasmin Hadlow coupled up with

Tommy Stagg.

Viewers share their excitement at the win, with one user on X saying “LORENZO AND JULIA

WON. SO HAPPY.”

Ex Islanders also congratulate the pair, with Sher Suarez from All Stars Season 3 commenting

on Instagram: “Well deserved.”

But was this a deserved win?

Some viewers are upset due to the favoritism leading to their win, while others believe Lorenzo

did not deserve to win because he gave the bare minimum and sometimes acted uninterested.

@pri.lah on TikTok said “I thought y’all were supposed to vote for the strongest couple not your favourite boy and girl.”

@nazster12 on TikTok said, "Jasmine the entire season.” “Lorenzo can’t pronounce Julia’s name and has been obsessing over her.”

Over the last couple years the show has lost its factor being about strong couples and it has

become more about who has caused the most drama and created the most entertainment.

When you look away from the islanders who have been the most entertaining the show is about

love more than favoritism and it is apparent that viewers forget this.

We could argue that Julia and Lorenzo do like each other but there were couples that were

arguably shown to be stronger than them.

A lot of fans believed that Simba and Angelista deserved the win because they were the most

‘in-love’ out of the final threeThis was reinforced when Mara Pirez, the Casa girl that Simba brought back to the villa, admitted that production made Simba bring her back and that he was going to come back single.

Yasmin Pettet, one of the hosts of the Love Island Debrief, mentioned to Julia and Lorenzo at

the final that they did not say I love you while on the show.

However, lauralou1999 on TikTok said: “The fact they didn’t just say it for the sake of getting to the final/ winning speaks volumes to how natural they are together.”

It wouldn’t be fair to say they are not strong because they haven’t said I love you, especially as

Lorenzo said he does stuff in a particular order and is learning, as he has never had a girlfriend.

But regardless, this season has been an entertaining one for those who have watched it, with

many points of discussion all over social media for the past eight weeks.

Applications for Season 14 of Love Island UK are out now and will be airing on ITV in June

2027.

Written by, Hannah Gyabaah