It has now been 10 years since Love Island first debuted and while some have gone on to find “the one”, the show hasn’t been without its controversies.
It’s not hard to see the appeal. As well as spending time in a luxurious villa with a group of gorgeous people, there is the lure of an increased social media following, fame and money thanks to lucrative brand deals.
While that has been the reality for some former islanders, others have faced struggles including brushes with the law and turning to drugs and alcohol to help cope with the pressure of their new celebrity status.
Following the sentencing of Jack Fincham earlier this week, The Standard takes a look back at some Love Island’s biggest controversies.
Jack Fincham
Jack Fincham was jailed for six weeks after his dog bit a runner. He has now been released on bail pending an appeal.
The 32-year-old - who won the 2018 series of the ITV2 show with Dani Dyer - has previously been charged with drug driving.
On January 29, Fincham pleaded guilty to two counts of being in charge of a dangerously out-of-control dog, with one of the incidents causing injury.
He was ordered to pay £3,680 in total, including a £2,000 contribution to kennelling costs, a fine of £961 and £200 compensation to the victim.
His court representative said the former pen salesman “has no savings” and it was agreed that he could pay in instalments, initially at £400 per month.
Kaz Crossley
Kaz Crossley, 30, appeared in the same series as Fincham where she reached the final and finished in third place with Josh Denzel.
She arrived as a Casa Amor bombshell and soon turned Denzel’s head away from his then-partner Georgia Steel.
The two continued to date for six months after leaving the villa and eventually called time on their romance in January 2019.
Of their break up at the time, Crossley said: ”Sometimes things don't go the way you planned, but you have to be grateful for the journey.”
She later got together with fellow Love Island alum Theo Campbell, but he revealed she had dumped him just shy of their one-year anniversary.
Crossley made a sensational return to the villa in 2025 when she competed in the All Stars series, but was dumped half-way through with partner Montel McKenzie.
It came two years after what she described as “the lowest point of her life” after she was arrested and held in a Dubai prison over drug charges.
In 2023, she was arrested at Abu Dhabi airport while in travelling to Thailand, and spent several nights in a jail cell, due to a leaked video from 2020 which showed her snorting a white substance in Dubai.
She was then moved to a Dubai prison, where she was reportedly refused a phone call to her family, but was permitted to send a single email.
Dubai has recently liberalised its drugs laws with first-time offenders given a minimum of three months in prison and a fine of between £4,559 and £22,799. Previously, offenders would have faced a minimum of four years in prison for any drug use.
After serving jail time, suspects are then deported to their home state - in Crossley’s case to the UK - and banned from returning to the UAE. Sentences for drug-trafficking can include the death penalty.
Speaking at a later date about the incident in a video posted to Instagram, Crossley said the video had been taken in secret by an ex-boyfriend, who had leaked it “maliciously” online with the intent of “ruining my career”.
She tearfully told how the experience had “destroyed her mental health and career”, admitting that she “didn't leave the house for three months due to crippling anxiety”.
Anna Vakili
Anna, 34, appeared on the show in 2019 and became known for her fiery temper.
In 2022, she told The Sun that police had arrested her for fighting with her sister Mandi outside of The Dorchester hotel - despite he fact she had called them over fears she would be kidnapped.
Both Anna and her sister were arrested on suspicion of common assault, but police took no further action and they were released from custody.
She told The Sun: “My sister and I sometimes have a bit too much to drink in central London, and we end up getting into arguments with each other.
"Not long ago we ended up spending the night in jail. We got arrested for fighting each other – it wasn’t even a physical fight. Mandi scratched my neck and it was bleeding a tiny bit.
"It was the tiniest little scratch, and the worst part of this is, that I called the police!”
Zara Holland
Zara Holland was fined £4,415 by a court in Barbados after breaching Covid quarantine rules in Christmas 2021, when the UK was in lockdown.
The 2016 Love Island contestant was apprehended at the airport on December 29 that year despite being told to isolate at her hotel.
Her lawyer, Andrew Pilgrim QC, told Cosmopolitan at the time that she accepted that her actions were "foolish," and that she accepted "full responsibility".
