Dates, quarrels, and exotic lifestyles define the lifestyle of the Love Island villa residents. Saying so, it’s not surprising to see them with a drink in their hand, sipping Prosecco and expensive champagne now and then. This, coupled with the show’s reputation for entertaining some of the heated arguments and fights, has raised curiosity about the drinking protocols (if any) that the contestants are required to follow.
That is, if drinking is allowed at all, or if we have been witnessing so far is just a pretense. The answer is yes. The contestants are allowed to drink, but not in excess, and this is indeed a rule the residents are expected and required to follow. The show’s producer, however, confirmed that the constant fights have nothing to do with boozing.
Various former contestants spilled their beans on the topic. In 2016, Liana Isadora Van-Riel spoke on the subject of drinking regulation to The Sun. “You’re allowed one or two drinks a night, either wine or beer, no spirits,” adding that some of the islanders had only one drink the whole day.
The same year, a source revealed the prohibition on excessive drinking when they said, “We provide our islanders with all of the necessary precautionary measures, and all alcohol consumption is strictly monitored by our production team.”
However, it was 2018 contestant Dr. Alex George who talked briefly talked about the rules on the social platform Tyla.
“The contestants were allowed four small cans of beers and that was it. That was the maximum allowance of alcohol, which wasn’t a lot. I mean you certainly weren’t getting drunk off that – but they were very, very strict on that.”
Various new responses to the question kept popping up, like when former contestant Amy Hart discussed the subject with The Sun.
“So it’s definitely one drink in the night and you have to order it in the afternoon. You can have like white wine, red wine, beer. I think for every one glass of wine you can get two two beers because they are little cans. That was it. There was no spirits or anything. You could have a glass of prosecco actually. But it’s like Spanish prosecco. It’s one drink and if it’s a particularly long night you get a second drink.”
Not only have there been no changes to the rule since the show started, but the sources also approached The Sun in 2021 to confirm that the one-drink policy is still intact, and there was absolutely no alteration to this rule. In fact, they said that the production team strictly monitored the contestants’ alcohol consumption.
They are giving these islanders more than two drinks I swear! #LoveIsland
— Ambs (@AmberRoseGill) July 15, 2021
The comment seemingly negated 2019 alum Amber Gill’s tweet that claimed from 2021 onward, islanders were allowed more than two drinks, thus scrapping the rule.
Drinking or not, Love Island does its best to entertain the audience with interesting episodes and twists, and we’re definitely looking forward to the latest edition.