Love Island is back! ITV confirm launch date for new summer series with a sizzling snap of host Maya Jama

Love Island will return to screens for the new series on Monday, June 3, it has been confirmed.

ITV announced on Wednesday that the eleventh season of the reality dating competition will return within weeks.

Maya Jama will once again host the show after taking over from former host Laura Whitmore, who left the show in 2022.

The Love Island Instagram account shared a stunning photo of Maya standing in front of a love heart that went up in flames.

They captioned the photo: ‘We’re coming in hot! Love Island returns on Monday June 3.

ITV will launch the dating show simultaneously on ITV1, ITV2 and ITVX for the first time. It will continue for the remainder of the series on ITV2 and ITVX.

The channel used a similar launch strategy for Big Brother when it rebooted last October, which attracted an impressive 2.5 million viewers.

A source said The sun of the change to launch night: ‘ITV wants to get behind Love Island and make sure it has a big, flashy moment when the 11th series kicks off next month.

“If you show it on every channel, you’re creating something that they hope will be a big TV moment. It shows that even nine years later there is still a real commitment to the format.

‘Harnessing the full power of ITV means reaching every demographic, including the crucial 16-34 year olds.’

Meanwhile, Love Island: Aftersun will also return live from London every Sunday on ITV2 and ITVX, hosted by Maya, along with a host of regular panellists.

Sam Thompson and Indiyah Polack will reprise their roles, alongside new panellists Amy Hart, Chris Taylor and Jordan Stephens, as they join celebrity guests to discuss goings-on at the Villa this summer.

It comes as Love Island has found its first contestant ahead of the new series.

Welsh rugby hunk Ciaran Davies has been in talks with ITV bosses for weeks, according to him The sunand will fly to Mallorca in the coming days.

Once in Spain, Ciaran and the other contestants will spend a few weeks in isolation before returning host Maya opens the doors to the villa.

A source has spilled that Ciaran is a perfect fit for the matchmaking show. “Ciaran immediately caught the attention of Love Island bosses,” an insider revealed.

‘He’s gorgeous and has a fit, athletic build that will drive the girls in the villa wild, but he’s also a lovely boy next door from Wales.’

“He’s the kind of guy you’d love to take home to your mom.”

“It’s unclear at this point if he’s part of the OG lineup or a top performer, but he’s a favorite with the casting team and is sure to make a big impression with viewers.”

The ITV2 dating show will see a new crop of singletons looking for love in Mallorca, with teasers featuring Maya unveiled last month.

Show bosses will no doubt be hoping the program is a bigger hit with viewers than the spin-off Love Island: All Stars which aired earlier this year.

Although the series was the biggest digital program of the year so far, it failed to regain the ratings of its glory days.

After a dramatic series, Molly Smith and Tom Clare were crowned winners of the first ever Love Island All Stars in February.

The ITV reality show received the lowest ever viewing figures for a Love Island final, with just one million viewers tuning in live to watch the grand finale, making it the least watched final since series one in 2015.

Including viewing figures from streaming platform ITVX, 1.3 million fans watched the final, in line with last year’s final of the winter series.

According to Super TV, ITV2 ratings made up just 8.4 percent of viewing figures, while Overnight TV statistics showed they made up just 7.6 percent.

Of these, 0.4 million viewers were between 16 and 34 years old, an increase from last year’s winter finale.

In 2018, 3.6 million people tuned in as Dani Dyer and Jack Fincham scooped the £50,000, followed by Amber Gill and Greg O’Shea who achieved the highest ever rating for a final with 3.7 million.

Viewing figures for the finale have fallen to around one million in recent years after the dramatic conclusion of Davide Sanclimenti & Ekin-Su Cülcüloğlu’s series, which was watched by three million.

Commenting on the declining figure, one fan wrote: ‘I hope they don’t do a January series next year and they leave it alone. Just focus on the summer and give people a break.”

The reigning regular series champions are Jess Harding and Sammy Root, who won season 10 in July 2023.

However, it wasn’t a match made in Heaven as the lovebirds split just two months after winning the £50,000 prize, MailOnline exclusively revealed.

A source close to the couple told MailOnline that they mutually decided they were ‘better off as friends’ after struggling to make their romance work outside the show.

Their win came as a shock as fans did not predict they would beat favorites Whitney Adebayo and Lochan Nowacki to the title. Whitney and Lochan are still together.