Love Island star lifts lid on what really happens in the villa and secret rules behind the cameras

Love Island fever began on Monday night when the second winter series began.

New presenter Maya Jama has added to the intrigue ahead of a searing eight weeks in South Africa, where the islanders hope to find love and grow their Instagram following at the same time.

But aside from the grafts, the partners, and the aftermath, what is life in the villa really like?

MailOnline asked former contestant Coco Lodge, 28, who starred in the most recent summer series, to reveal a few secrets, lifting the lid on particular settings viewers never see.

MailOnline asked former contestant Coco Lodge, who starred in the most recent summer series, to spill some secrets, lifting the lid on particular settings viewers never see.

In fact, one of the main questions fans ask is when do the islanders eat? We only see them eat breakfast, usually toast or iced coffee, but what about lunch and dinner?

Coco explained how it all works, revealing that boys and girls never share the same table.

She said: ‘All the time they are apart, the girls eat at one table and the boys at the other, every lunch and dinner.

“And if you sat next to a guy at dinner, the producers would scold you.”

Coco revealed that the male and female islanders are forced to eat lunch and dinner separately so that none of the couples action is missed in the main show.

On where the food is served, he continued: “The tables are set up in the kitchen of the villa and the catering is brought in and there is no filming.

‘You still have your microphones on so they can hear you and tell you off, but you can’t have conversations about what’s going on in the story.

‘You have to save the chats for the camera. The producers, who stand there as supervisors, come for lunch and dinner and they’re at separate tables, but for breakfast it’s whatever because that’s when you first wake up.

“Producers also send you on assignments at lunch, like your Beach Hut talks and interviews or a chat with the therapist, that kind of thing.”

And what’s on the menu? You won’t be surprised to learn that super healthy islanders are offered a wide variety of nutritious foods.

The influencer told MailOnline that islanders are questioned by suspected producers whether intimate acts are ‘consensual’, as they are questioned after the morning after the night before.

Coco, who joined the main village after starting island life at rival house Casa Amor, said: ‘The catering is super healthy.

‘They come and give you a selection of food, there will be pasta, salad, a meat and vegetable option, one night there was pizza, another night kebabs.

“It’s very different every day, but the same type of setup. We also had a roast dinner every Sunday so that was good.

Many of us did not want to eat too much. By the time they were serving lunch we had only been up an hour or so, most of the time for lunch we would choose chocolate or cereal. There were plenty of snacks and snacks at midnight.

Drinking is certainly not something you would associate with Love Island.

Coco explained that while the islanders bring their own clothes to the villa, they are provided pieces to wear upon entering and during romantic dates.

If the drink flowed like the dinner parties on the rival dating series Married At First Sight UK, the bosses would risk all sorts of trouble.

So what exactly are they allowed to consume as far as alcohol?

Coco explained: ‘During Casa Amor there is an allowance of two drinks, but the rest of the time you only have one. I remember my roommate telling me after she realized from seeing him that she was drunk the first night, she really was.

I hadn’t really eaten all day and two glasses of wine went straight to my head. It was the first night, so they probably wanted us to relax a bit.

And how and when do the contestants place their orders?

‘When we’re getting ready, the producers ask for your drink order and they go, say your name and ask for your drink order.

The contestants order their drinks through a producer whose voice is projected into the villa, dubbed “The Voice of God” by the islanders of the 2022 series.

‘This is a voice that is projected in the villa, we call it ‘The Voice of God’, they ask ‘what do you want to drink tonight?’, you give your order, you go downstairs and all the drinks are there. Ready.

‘It is measured, it is not a full glass, it is a flute of wine.

‘You can only have white, red or rosé wine, Prosecco or cider, those are the only options. You can’t have a vodka, lime and soda, for example.

Singles always dress up in glamorous outfits for their dates and night scenes.

They take some of their own clothes with them, but the producers also have a wardrobe to raid if they want to wear something different.

Coco explained, “They don’t have much say in what you wear while in the villa, but they do say that for dates they give you a selection of dresses from eBay.”

The producers are interested in having the bombs use different colors so that they look visually appealing on camera.

“But when we entered they told us that they wanted everyone in different colors and that they wanted us all in bikinis. Visually they want it to look colorful and sexy.’

As the islanders get closer, inevitably intimacy becomes a factor.

The bosses are very interested in this and want to know exactly what is going on, simply so they can monitor the well-being of the islanders.

Coco, who had a brief fling with co-star Andrew Le Page during her hiatus from Tasha Ghouri, knows firsthand how much they are on the subject.

She said: ‘The producers must have known that something had happened between Andrew and I because we were saying some things to each other that weren’t PG.

They would have listened into the microphone on the bed because there is a microphone between you in bed, a small one, they would have picked up what we were saying.

ITV bosses keep an eye on intimate moments between the sheets thanks to small microphones that are carefully placed on top of the beds

Coco explained that Tasha and Andrew from the summer 2022 series were just one of the couples questioned by the producers after they were “active” together during their time on the show.

“The producer kept telling us that we had to go to sleep because we had been up for hours doing things, literally sucking on tits and groping each other.

‘The next day they called me and asked me ‘was everything agreed?’ If they think you’ve done something, they ask you.

Andrew said they asked him and Tasha because they were also quite active.

Since the stars are filmed 24/7, most of the show’s footage is not TV-worthy.

But when producers hit the gold, they have to get the shot right, with no obstructions or lighting issues.

Therefore, to record the perfect shot, the islanders are sometimes asked to re-shoot scenes or cameras will be set up for hookups pre-arranged by the singles.

Coco said: ‘They would ask us to sit in certain places, which would look better for the cameras.

“There were sun loungers by the pool and they would often ask people to sit on them to make it look beautiful.

They listen to everything we say. The pool scene with Andrew and I, where we kiss, I told Andrew earlier that I wanted to go swimming with him later that day and then after lunch, suddenly there was a giant camera by the pool.