With the Love Island villa doors set to fly open on Monday, new research reveals that girls should look for a toyboy and hold out until week two before finding their perfect match if they want to win the show. And boys should try to enter in the second week.
Research undertaken by Paddy Power Games looked at all nine series of the main and celebrity editions of Love Island and tried to work out the recipe for winning in Mallorca. The Irish gaming brand looked at variables such as average age and profession of previous winners, as well as the number of recouplings and Casa Amor betrayals to work out what type of contestant – on paper or otherwise – is most likely to win.
The Love Island girl with the best chance of winning:
Age |
24 |
Occupation |
Fashion and beauty |
Hair colour |
Brunette |
Enter the villa |
Week 1 |
Number of villa partners |
2 |
Casa Amor |
Stay with partner |
The Love Island boy with the best chance of winning:
Age |
23 |
Occupation |
Sport or manual labour |
Hair colour |
Brunette |
Enter the villa |
Week 2 |
Number of villa partners |
1 |
Casa Amor |
Stay with partner |
When looking at this year’s line-up, none of them are a perfect match to the typical winner, according to the research.
But to stand the best chance of winning, 24-year-old brunette, Paige Thorne, could pack in her paramedic career to work in fashion and beauty, as the research reveals that four previous female winners have worked in this profession, including last year’s winner, Millie Court.
Paige might also fancy mixing up her partner at least once, and that would set her up perfectly to win with her second partner on the show – just like her namesake Paige Turley, who won with second squeeze Finn Tapp in the 2020 winter edition.
Have fans seen the winner from the male side yet? Unlikely, according to the research. With Calum Best and Greg O’Shea’s late storms to victory shifting the average in favour of a later entrance, the typical male champ does not join the villa until the second week – as 2015 victor Max Morley did.
With Paddy Power Games always looking to provide more chances, its helpful tips also suggest that recoupling during Casa Amor is a bad idea – just two past winners (Kem Cetinay and Amber Gill) found a new partner during the dreaded relationship test.
Despite featuring a predominantly English cast each year, a third of all winners have come from elsewhere in the UK, or beyond – such as Liam Reardon’s hometown of Merthyr in Wales, and Paige Turley’s Scottish home of West Lothian.
Calum Best was born in California, which gives hope to international islanders, such as this year’s Italian stallion Davide Sanclimenti.
Paddy Power Games spokesman, Paddy Power, said: “Looking back at previous seasons, there are some clear patterns for how to win the show, and the guys set to join in week two have a really strong chance.
“While the islanders can’t change factors like their age or hometown, staying loyal to their original partners – particularly during Casa Amor – is an easy way to win the public’s affection.
“So, when it comes to picking a winner for the 2022 series, all my eggs are going firmly in the basket of Paige Thorne (and some unknown bloke we haven’t seen yet).”
