Love Island: Does The Cast Of The Reality Dating Series Get Paid?

Can you put a price on love? More to the point, can you put a price on lazing around in a thong, steamy PDAs and laying your life bare for the TV-watching public? Well, that's a question to ask "Love Island" producers. Do they pay the cast of the reality dating series?

When you look at all of the most controversial moments from 'Love Island," you must ask, is it worth any amount of money? The Things reports that over the seasons, there has been gaslighting, bullying, cyber trolling, assaults, cheating scandals, and outrageous sexism. All can be difficult enough to deal with in everyday life. Still, adding lights, camera, action, and millions of people watching your every move can make it unbearable. Despite the many accusations that "Love Island" is fake, two of the show's cast, Sophie Gradon and Mike Thalassitis, have died by suicide, in addition to its original host, Caroline Flack, per Vanity Fair. That's a tragedy that's only too real and impossible to compensate.

However, every year, around 100,000 new hopefuls vie for a shot at love—and some sun, sea, and sex—at the luxurious Mallorcan villa that hosts the annual public popularity contest. It's like high school but on steroids. For some Islanders, it's a springboard to success. For others, like Coco Lodge, whose messy exit from the show sparked an online hate campaign, it can be a mentally damaging experience. So, does the "Love Island" cast get paid?

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How much money would you want for spending a couple of months lounging around in the hot Spanish sun at the "Love Island" luxurious summer house—or its sinful second villa, Casa Amor—with a bunch of gorgeous, tanned and toned twenty-somethings who are all desperate to crack on? The Economic Times reports that the lucky couple who wins the dating show split the cash prize of £50,000 ($64,000) between them. That's not too shabby for eight weeks of hard grafting. Still, what about the rest of the cast?

"Love Island" producers like to keep their secrets secret, especially when it comes to filthy lucre. However, Demi Jones, who appeared in Season 6 of the series, spilled the financial Factor 50 tea. "Yes, you do get paid to go on the show. I personally got paid £250 ($318) a week. This is obviously to cover all your bills at home because you could have a flat, you could have a car to pay, all the things like that," she revealed on TikTok (via Planet Radio). "So obviously 'Love Island' wants to make sure that's all covered for you so you don't get into any financial difficulties while you're like away on holiday."

So, that equates to approximately £2,000 ($2,500) in total—depending on how many weeks you stay in the villa. Jones noted that more money can be made post-Island thanks to branding, sponsorship deals, and special appearances.

Forget the measly £250 a week or the £50,000 prize money. Some of the "Love Island" cast make serious bank once they wave goodbye to the Spanish sun and return home to gray and dreary blighty. And they don't even need to have won the show. Like "American Idol," sometimes it's the runner-ups that really clean up in the long run—Jennifer Hudson, anyone?

Per BBC, Molly-Mae Hague and her boxing sort, Tommy Fury, were odds-on favorites to win Season 5 of "Love Island." However, Amber Gill and Greg O'Shea took home the golden heart. Still, Molly-Mae and Tommy ultimately became the show's stars. Capital FM reports that, unlike Amber and Greg, who split just five weeks after leaving the villa, the social media influencer and athlete are still going strong. In fact, they purchased a home in 2022, welcomed a baby girl, Bambi Fury, in January 2023, and became engaged six months later. "Forever," Molly-Mae captioned a black and white video of Tommy popping the question.

Thanks to their post-Islander success, the couple is now worth a whopping £9 million ($11.5 million). But Molly-Mae is the biggest breadwinner of the two. According to the Daily Record, the 24-year-old became the creative director of the women's fashion line, Pretty Little Things. She's since quit full-time work but has an estimated £6 million ($7.6 million) to her name and a super hot fiancé to crack on with. It's hard out here for a loser.