Courtesy of NBCUniversal When Liv Walker first heard from the “Love Island USA” casting team, she thought it might be a scam. After all, she had never even seen the show.
Originally scouted for Season 5 of the reality dating show, Walker turned down the initial offer. But when the casting team reached out again for the sixth season a year later in 2024, she decided to give the show a shot.
That decision changed her life.
Season 6 went on to transform the U.S. installment of “Love Island,” distinguishing itself from the U.K. version that had popularized the idea of dropping a group of young, ready-to-mingle strangers together into a private villa cut off from the outside world.
“Love Island USA” originally aired on CBS when the show launched in 2019, with comedian Arielle Vandenberg hosting. The series switched to Peacock for its fourth season, replacing Vandenberg with Sarah Hyland — before Ariana Madix officially took over as host in Season 6. Following her dramatic break-up with Tom Sandoval, the “Vanderpump Rules” star brought the Bravo audience over to Peacock, and the dynamic cast kept them watching.
“When I first got kicked off the show, I remember one of the talent managers was like, ‘Hi! Just a head’s up, the show did better than ‘Bridgerton,’” Walker tells Variety. “I was like, ‘What do you mean, better?’”
Season 6 of “Love Island USA,” which is produced by ITV America and airs on Peacock every summer, saw its viewership double compared to that of previous seasons, according to NBCUniversal. Those numbers have only continued to grow in the two years since. This past summer, Season 8 drew 19 billion minutes watched, translating to 7.9 million views, according to data from Peacock.
The newly Bravo-fied “Aftersun” spinoff, now co-hosted by “Summer House” star Ciara Miller, saw a 135% increase in viewership from last season. And with other spinoff series such as “Beyond the Villa” and “Love Island Games,” many Islanders continue their journey far beyond their original seasons.
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For Walker, Season 6 was the beginning of what she calls “the catapult.” For the franchise, it was the beginning of a transformation from a reality dating series into something much larger — one that would transform its contestants into global celebrities and content creators in the process.
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