Love Island Winners' Prize Money Retained by a Surprising Number of Them Revealed
Love Island USA, the popular reality TV show, has seen a consistent trend among its winners when it comes to the prize money. Each season, the winning couple is presented with an envelope, one empty and the other containing the cash prize. Unlike some international versions of the show, no winner in Love Island USA has ever kept the prize money solely for themselves.
In the sixth season, Serena Page and Kordell Beckham took home the win. Like their predecessors, they decided to split their winnings, a common trend among Love Island winners across various seasons. Kordell plans to save and invest his share into his career and business opportunities, while Serena intends to treat her share as a rainy day fund and put it in her savings.
Season 7 winners, Amaya Espinal and Bryan Arenales, also chose to split their winnings. They have plans to invest some of it and donate to charity, with a focus on mental health awareness. Bryan, who had personal struggles with mental health growing up, wants to help kids face their emotions and deal with them.
This tradition of sharing the prize money likely stems from the romantic relationships formed during the show. Many couples, however, do not last long after the show, yet they still choose to split the money. For instance, Justine Ndiba and Caleb Corprew from Season 2, and Zac Mirabelli and Elizabeth Wheeler from Season 1, both shared their winnings despite their relationships not lasting post-show.
Interestingly, this trend is not exclusive to Love Island USA. Across all major iterations of the show, no winning couple has ever kept the prize money solely for themselves. In Love Island UK, for example, the decision to split or keep the money has been removed, and the couple automatically shares the prize money.
In Season 8 of Love Island UK, the show underwent a format change, removing the option for couples to do each other dirty; they'd have to split the £50,000. Similarly, the contestant that ends up with the prize fund envelope in Love Island USA can decide to keep the money for themselves or split it with their partner.
The goal of the show, as always, is for singles to find love and win a cash prize. As the show continues, it will be interesting to see if this trend of sharing the prize money continues among future winners.
In the realm of Love Island, the sharing trend of the prize money among winners, such as Serena Page and Kordell Beckham from Season 6 or Amaya Espinal and Bryan Arenales from Season 7, extends to various seasons and global iterations. This practice seems to be rooted in the romantic relationships formed during the show, as even couples whose relationships do not last post-show continue to share their winnings, such as Justine Ndiba and Caleb Corprew from Season 2 and Zac Mirabelli and Elizabeth Wheeler from Season 1. Furthermore, other versions of the show, like Love Island UK, have rules in place that encourage the sharing of the prize money.
