Love Island Hierarchy: A-Z of Contestants from New Stacey Dooley to Bafta Ban!

Bronzed, buffed and bikini-clad, they are parading their romances, feuds and friendships – along with their impossibly perfect bodies – nightly on ITV as the tenth anniversary series of Love Island explodes on our screens.

For the next seven weeks every flirty exchange, bitchy aside and declaration of love uttered by this year’s wannabe celebrities will be broadcast for the nation’s delight.

But what happens to the contestants when the cameras stop rolling, the winners are announced and they returned from Majorca? With just 12 months to ‘make it’ before a whole new batch of beauties are shipped in, departing islanders have to charm TV execs, build huge social media followings and ensure they create just enough drama to stay in the headlines.

So who made it on to the celebrity A list and who left the island and disappeared into obscurity…

THE A LIST

When 2019 runners-up MOLLY-MAE HAGUE and her beau TOMMY FURY split last year, youngsters flocked to TikTok in mourning, declaring them Gen Z’s Charles and Di – and the fallout made front-page news. Fast forward ten months and the pair are back together to the delight of their 14million Instagram followers and firmly at the top of the Love Island A list.

‘The question now is whether they can keep the interest in them. They have plans to be the next Beckhams, and Molly-Mae knows their brand is stronger together than apart,’ my insider tells me. 

Dubbed ‘Money-Mae’ after boosting her net worth to a staggering £6million with her own clothing line Maebe, her self-tanning business Filter and a host of brand deals, 26-year-old influencer Molly-Mae is the business brains behind the partnership. 

While many questioned whether the split was genuine, Molly-Mae fanned public interest in a will-they/won’t they reunion drama with a TV series on Amazon Prime which showed her navigating life as a single mum to their daughter Bambi, two. It was far from being the tell-all documentary that was promised, but still pulled in enough viewers for Amazon to commission a second series.

The split also proved lucrative for professional boxer Tommy, 26 (half-brother of Gypsy King Tyson Fury), who has been snapped up by the BBC for his own series on getting back in the ring after he confessed to having problems with alcohol.

Hot on their heels is 2018 contestant and former civil servant ZARA MCDERMOTT, 28, who ended her five-year relationship with Made In Chelsea’s Sam Thompson last year then bagged herself a much more high-profile love interest in One Direction singer Louis Tomlinson.

 

‘Meeting Louis came at a perfect time for Zara, she did everything she could to make it work with Sam. But Louis has put a smile back on her face,’ says a source close to the star.

A quick glance at her bank balance and celebrity profile might cause that smile to widen as Zara has been championed by the BBC, competing in Strictly in 2023 and fronting six well-received documentaries, with two more in the pipeline. Move over Stacey Dooley!

CHRIS HUGHES, 32, appeared in the 2017 series, but despite an initially promising post-villa career things had gone quiet for the reality star-turned ITV horse racing pundit.

That was until he entered this year’s Celebrity Big Brother house, charming the British public, reaching the final, and winning the heart of American singer JoJo Siwa, and her 11.3million Instagram following.

While some have suggested the relationship is all for show, at least on Chris’s part, it has undoubtedly got everyone talking.

His Love Island pairing OLIVIA ATTWOOD, 34, also makes our A list. She has amassed 2.4million Instagram followers and fronts two ITV reality shows – Olivia Attwood: The Price of Perfection and dating show Bad Boyfriends, which has been such a success it has already been recommissioned.

‘ITV execs want to turn her into the new Holly Willoughby,’ my snitch tells me.

But she’d better be careful. I’m told that her ‘glam squad’ of hairstylists and make-up artists, which she demands for all of her TV work, drive her co-stars green with envy.

THE B LIST

Since her 2019 villa stint Irishwoman and former model-cum-boxing ‘ring girl’ MAURA HIGGINS, 34, has cornered the market in noteworthy red carpet appearances thanks to a penchant for skimpy outfits.

And she would have been a shoo-in for the A list if she hadn’t hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons after this year’s Brit Awards when she was caught on camera drunkenly snogging her married I’m A Celeb co-star Danny Jones.

She was accused of being a homewrecker and flew to the US days later while her management desperately tried to put out the fire.

I saw her sneak out early before the boozy after-party began when she attended the TV Baftas last month – perhaps anxious not to repeat the gaffe.

Only time will tell whether the Love Island USA presenter can recover her reputation, and maintain her multi-million-pound empire which includes a swanky £1.5million house in Essex.

But a friend tells me: ‘Underestimate her at your peril, if there is one person who knows how to bounce back it’s Maura.’

Deaf star TASHA GHOURI, 26, left Love Island in 2022 with Jersey estate agent Andrew Le Page and the pair boosted their Insta followings with loved-up posts. But Tasha really hit the big time when she made it to the final of Strictly last year with Aljaž Škorjanec. Her relationship however didn’t survive and a month later she split from Andrew and is now dating CBBC presenter Cam Whitnall.

When DANI DYER, 28, won the 2018 series of the show with partner Jack Fincham everyone hoped it would be happily ever after. But after six months the pair split, and Dani, daughter of Rivals and Eastenders actor Danny Dyer, threw herself into work bagging a lucrative deal as the face of Surf washing powder and wall-to-wall appearances on the celebrity TV circuit.

She found her Mr Right in 2021 with West Ham captain Jarrod Bowen, who she wed at a lavish ceremony at the Langley Hotel in Buckinghamshire last month.

‘She seems to have lost her drive in recent years,’ a TV source says. ‘But that’s easy when your husband earns £150,000 a week.’

 Someone who definitely isn’t dialling down his work output is fellow 2018 contestant JOSH DENZEL, 33, who has become one of the best known sports presenters in the country.

The Primark model has made a name for himself as the England football team’s in-house presenter and has built up such a rapport with the players that he has been pictured holidaying with Jack Grealish in Mykonos.

I can reveal the BBC and ITV have been eyeing him up to join their presenting line-ups. ‘He could be the next Jermaine Jenas if he plays his cards right,’ a TV source tells me.

She was brutally dumped after just 12 days in the Love Island villa in 2017, but it is what GEORGIA HARRISON, 30, has endured since that has earned her place on this list.

Following her stint she met and began dating Celebrity Big Brother winner Stephen Bear in 2019, and when they split he uploaded CCTV footage of the pair having sex to his OnlyFans account, filmed without Georgia’s consent.

She took him to court in a landmark revenge porn case which saw him convicted of sex offences and sentenced to 21 months in prison. Georgia was awarded damages of £207,900 and told her story in an ITV documentary. She made history this month as the first Love Islander to receive an MBE.

He didn’t find love in the villa in 2018 but WES NELSON, 27, has certainly made his mark on the music industry. He’s written hundreds of songs, performed countless shows and has even duetted with superstar Craig David on their summer banger Abracadabra last year. He recently launched his own record label Foot Down Records backed by music giant Sony, and has postponed his tour to concentrate on new music.

THE C LIST

One bite of the Love Island cherry in 2016 wasn’t good enough for SCOTT THOMAS, 36, so he returned for a second time, entering Love Island All Stars last year.

The former party boy who is now a sobriety guru failed to find love in the villa – instead he rowed with his co-stars, walked out and rather petulantly refused to appear on the reunion show. I’m told he is now focusing on his business The Social, which is a management and PR firm for other influencers.

His podcast with his much more famous brothers – former Coronation Street star Ryan, and former Waterloo Road actor Adam – is undoubtedly a huge hit, but you can’t help but feel that he is living in their shadow. 

Welsh A&E doctor ALEX GEORGE, 34, was unlucky in love while in the villa in 2018, but his repeated rejections garnered him sympathy from the audience.

He used his new-found fame and medical background to challenge ITV to improve their mental health services on the show and succeeded. His activism caught the eye of then prime minister Boris Johnson, who made him the UK’s Youth Mental Health ambassador.

But Dr Alex’s squeaky clean image was damaged when he angered the Pembrokeshire community by buying a number of homes to turn into holiday rental properties at a time when locals were becoming increasingly priced out of the market. His regular appearances as a resident doctor on This Morning and Good Morning Britain seem to have dried up.

Runners-up in 2016, OLIVIA BUCKLAND and ALEX BOWEN proved that you really can find love on reality TV, going on to marry and have a son and daughter with a third child on the way.

With 4.5million Instagram followers and millions in the bank they invested in a Spanish property empire and now lead a quieter life.

‘They were the original golden couple, but they have been eclipsed by bigger stars that have followed with their friends blaming their poor management,’ my snitch said.

Her name has been in lights so many times in London’s West End, that it’s easy to forget that 2017 winner AMBER DAVIES, 28, began her career on Love Island. The Welsh pocket rocket has starred in a string of musicals including 9 to 5, Bring It On, Back to the Future and Pretty Woman, and is currently treading the boards in The Great Gatsby at Coliseum. She put in the hard work and it paid off.

While many have been able to shake off their Love Island history and forge a new path, 2019 contestant CURTIS PRITCHARD, 29, seems to be stuck in a reality TV recycling bin with his younger brother, former Strictly pro AJ. The dancer has also been unlucky in love, most recently splitting with Turkish actress Ekin-Su Culculoglu after being coupled up on Love Island All Stars where they failed to charm fans.

His CV includes panto, ballroom dancing, a cringe-inducing Hollyoaks cameo, and he has recently added boxing.

‘It all feels a bit midlife crisis,’ says my source.

The Z LIST

EKIN-SU CULCULOGLU, 30, has seen her star fall even further, as has another one-time reality goldenboy JOEY ESSEX, 34.

The nice-but-dim Joey was a stalwart on television after initially finding fame on The Only Way Is Essex and I’m A Celebrity. Then last year he made the ill-fated decision to become the first celebrity to enter Love Island, where his likeable reputation was quickly lost as he jumped from girl to girl and was criticised for his aggressive behaviour. I’m told he thought Love Island would give him a career boost.

‘He had a tax bill to pay, but it was the worst decision he ever made,’ says my source.

Meanwhile, Ekin-Su’s first appearance on Love Island in 2022 couldn’t have gone better. Her fierce personality earned her an army of followers and she won the series with beau Davide Sanclimenti after creating a series of viral moments. She was in talks to become a Loose Women panellist, was on the catwalk at New York fashion week and competed on Dancing On Ice.

But last year she signed up for Celebrity Big Brother, where she was accused of being fake and criticised for refusing to discuss her time on Love Island. She came out of the house to a chorus of boos and was given a grilling by presenter AJ Odudu. 

Ekin-Su herself expressed regret about her appearance, saying: ‘It was a wrong choice for me, but I can’t blame anybody but myself. I carried a lot of baggage into that show, and I projected a lot of what I was feeling outside of the house inside too.’ 

Ironically, despite her eagerness to leave behind her Love Island past, she later appeared on All Stars where she had an unconvincing relationship with Curtis Pritchard which soon ended on leaving the villa.

Last month, I witnessed her sneak into the VIP dinner at the TV Baftas and endure the humiliation of being thrown out.

The English-Turkish model and actress is also seen as difficult among some TV executives. One insider tells me: ‘The way she carries on you would think she was Elizabeth Taylor. People are fed up with her diva antics.’ Ouch!

JACK FINCHAM, 34, had the world at its feet when he won the 2018 series with Dani Dyer, as part of the most popular pairing in the show’s history.

But after they split his life spiralled out of control thanks to a £150-a-day cocaine habit and numerous driving offences which left him penniless.

He’s now trying to rebuild his life away from the cameras with on-off girlfriend Chloe Brockett, who announced they were giving love another go this week after their sixth split.