Love Island All Stars was meant to air this coming Monday, but now producers have released a statement that’s thrown everything into chaos.
In a statement posted to their Instagram account, Love Island producers wrote: “Further to a production evacuation owing to ongoing wildfires in the area, our assessment of the location site has concluded that filming will need to be postponed.
“Health and safety is our greatest priority and will always come first, and therefore the transmission of Love Island All Stars will be delayed until a date to be confirmed.” It comes after an earlier announcement in which the popular series, set to return for its third run, had to halt filming and evacuate the production site due to wildfires near the South African villa.
The reality dating show, which this season welcomes back Millie Court, Shaq Muhammad, and Whitney Adebayo, was supposed to commence filming on Saturday as the Islanders were due to move into the villa.
However, a wildfire causing road closures on the way to the South African villa has temporarily derailed the production plans. As a safety measure, the production site was cleared and filming for the debut episode has been delayed.
The launch show, presented by Maya Jama, was set to air on ITV2 on Monday (January 12) evening, and the delay has understandably sent the show’s team into a frenzy as they scramble to find alternative solutions to ensure a smooth broadcast.
A source has exclusively told the Mirror: “It’s a nightmare. It’s left the team scrambling to arrange alternative options on what’s the most difficult day in terms of logistics for the crew – it’s called the ‘get in’ day and they need to make sure everything is running on time and that the islanders don’t get a glimpse of each other before arriving at the villa.”, reports the Mirror.
“The filming for their arrivals/meetings take hours. Safety is priority though and they have plans in place for such situations. But not ideal given the show hasn’t even begun.”
They added: “The edit team will now have half the amount of time to put together Monday night’s episode because of the delay in filming.”
A spokesperson for Love Island told the Mirror: “Owing to an ongoing wild fire in the area, we have evacuated the Love Island production site as a precautionary measure.”
The devastating blazes have ravaged South Africa’s Western and Eastern Cape regions as fierce winds and soaring temperatures have intensified the infernos.
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