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Your support makes all the difference.There’s a bit of a bizarre love pentangle situation on episode two of ITV2’s heat ’n heartache blockbuster. Twins Jess and Eve have parachuted into Love Island under strict instructions to cruelly wrench two of the boys from their doting partners. From the outset it’s clear they’ll pick Callum and Mike – and that Callum and Mike are very much up for being cruelly wrenched from their doting partners.
But Callum’s other half, Shaughna, is massively unimpressed and signals her disquiet by sucking the lips off her squeeze in the run-up to the big decision. Her demonstration of affection is loud, off-putting if you’re trying to snaffle a sneaky bowl of cereal and reminiscent of one of those face-huggers from Aliens. And it doesn’t do her any good anyway, as he’s all about Eve almost straight afterwards. Here are the other major talking points.
1: Love Island is in a bit of a rut
Banter, a kiss-and-tell game show, and a big choice at the end of the hour. Such is the formula to which Love Island has rigorously adhered across previous seasons and here we go again in South Africa.
The problem is that, as yet, the series has yet to cough up a break-out personality to make us ignore how predictable it all is. Mike, the likeliest of lads, is the closest to a star so far. But even he is essentially thoughtful and sensible. Good for him – not great for ITV ratings you suspect.
2: Do half the contestants even want to be on Love Island?
Leanne woke from her trance long enough to snog Mike during the tea-based kiss-and-tell competition (yes that is a thing). Otherwise she seemed perfectly happy in the background. Ditto Sophie, Paige, Cheatin’ Ollie, Connor of the wonder-teeth…. All are clearly appreciative of the free winter break in South Africa. But none is visibly burning up with desire to win Love Island.
3: Will Jess and Eve turn on one another?
Flickers of tension broke out between the twins as they weighed up which of the boys they wanted to pick (both fancied Mike). Obviously nobody in the real world would want to see sisters falling out. But unless a wedge of some sort is driven through their alliance it’s hard to see where the contrived conflict that is the lifeblood of reality TV will come from. Shaughna looks properly annoyed with Callum – but he had no say in whether or not he was chosen so a split there hardly yields oodles of dramatic potential. Winter Love Island is in danger of freezing over slightly.
The liveblog is now closed
Love Island continues every night on ITV2 at 9pm
Now Callum has been called for his second interview with the twins. Shaughna offers to give him a "parting kiss", just in case he's picked. She describes this as "doing what the dogs do with the lamp post". There is so much slurping.
Eve and Jess are rowing. "Honestly Jess, sometimes you baffle me,'' steams Eve. See...just like Game of Thrones.
So here's the big moment. How are you feeling? Just remember there are more important things – such as the eliminations later on in the series.
Jess is giving a speech. "You've got to be selfish in this situation," she says. And then she picks Magic Mike. This is the least surprising thing in the entire episode. Even less surprising than the fact they put in a rubbish kiss-and-tell game earlier.
And now Eve has picked Callum. Sorry but there's no tension here. It was perfectly obvious within minutes of the twins arrival that they were going to chose Mike and Callum. The excitement it seems flows from the fact that Shaughna is furious.
And we're done. The fall-out will continue tomorrow night as the twins face the fury of Shaughna and Leanne. ITV will hope it hasn't shed another 800,000 viewers in the meantime.
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