Love Island is casting more influencers than ever before, but new analysis by influencer marketing platform Kolsquare suggests viewers still want to discover the next big star.
The TV series attracted a peak audience of around 3.7 million viewers during the 2019 final, while this year’s final drew around 700,000, prompting criticism that the show has become too reliant on contestants with established social media followings.
Kolsquare’s analysis suggests that when it comes to building creators, audiences continue to support contestants who enter the villa as relative unknowns.
The influencer marketing platform analysed contestants’ follower counts before entering the villa, their current Instagram and TikTok audiences, and their creator value to understand whether viewers still reward contestants who start with little or no online profile.
The findings were striking. Contestants who entered the villa with just a few hundred or thousand followers experienced audience growth of up to 450,000% – those who already had established audiences generally saw more modest gains.
The stratospheric rise of Camilla Thurlow
Camilla Thurlow entered the villa in 2017 with just 200-300 Instagram followers. Today, she has more than 1.4 million Instagram followers – an increase of well over 450,000%.
Dr Alex George entered the show as an NHS doctor with around 6,000 Instagram followers. He has since built an audience of more than 2.2 million Instagram followers – growth of more than 36,500%.
Whitney Adebayo entered the villa in 2023 with around 1,700 Instagram followers. Today, she has more than 760,000 Instagram followers and 556,000 TikTok followers – an increase of approximately 44,600% on Instagram.
Chloe Burrows entered Love Island with around 11,500 Instagram followers. Today, she has 1.79 million Instagram followers and 1.4 million TikTok followers, making her one of the programme’s biggest creator success stories.
Joey Essex had minimal follower growth
Joey Essex joined Love Island in 2024 with around 1.8 million Instagram followers. Today, he has around 1.89 million – a growth of approximately 5%. The lowest growth rate of the 10 influencers analysed.
Other contestants also entered with substantial audiences already in place, including Ekin-Su Cülcüloğlu (around 350,000 Instagram followers) – her Instagram audience grew by 1,109%, Tommy Fury (173,000) whose Instagram grew by 2900%, Gemma Owen, whose Instagram following grew by 3807% and Molly Marsh, who already had 26,000 Instagram followers and 650,000 TikTok followers before entering the villa. Her Instagram following grew by 2147%.
The analysis suggests that arriving with an established audience does not automatically translate into greater creator influence.
Tommy Fury is the most valuable Love Island influencer
Kolsquare’s Earned Media Value (EMV) data, measuring creator impact between 01 June and 30 July 2026, found that several contestants who entered the villa as relative unknowns have since become some of Love Island’s most commercially valuable creators.
Chloe Burrows, who entered the villa with just 11,500 Instagram followers, generated approximately £3.23 million in Instagram EMV and around £176,000 in TikTok EMV during the study period.
Whitney Adebayo, who entered with around 1,700 Instagram followers, generated almost £1 million in Instagram EMV and around £370,000 in TikTok EMV.
The highest EMV was generated by Tommy Fury with £14.8M on Instagram and £126,000 on TikTok.
Despite entering the villa with the largest existing audience of any contestant in the study, Joey Essex’s EMV is £21.2K, and he ranks 7th among the 10 contestants who already had a strong following when they entered the villa in terms of EMV. Eight of the ‘unknown’ contestants currently have a higher EMV than Joey Essex.
Alicia Van Der Meer, UK Marketing Lead at Kolsquare, says:
“There has been a lot of debate this year about whether Love Island has become too focused on casting influencers. While our research can’t explain the fall in viewing figures, it does suggest something fascinating: that the contestants who experience the biggest audience growth are the people viewers discover for themselves.
“Some of Love Island’s biggest creator success stories started with just a few hundred followers before entering the villa. Audiences don’t just want to follow already famous people; they enjoy being part of someone’s journey and helping create the next big star.”
“For brands, it’s another reminder that follower numbers only tell part of the story. Creator value comes from authentic audience connections and engagement, not arriving with the biggest platform.”
