The hugely popular winter Love Island series will not go ahead early next year, it has been announced.
ITV bosses said that they had made the executive decision to axe the series due to the coronavirus pandemic as they revealed their concerns for the health and safety of crew and cast.
However, they also said that while the winter series would not be going ahead, the show will return in summer 2021 for a longer series than usual.
“Love Island UK will return bigger and better than ever with an extended run in summer 2021″ a spokesperson revealed.
Pre-production for the winter show was set to begin in the upcoming weeks, but with the crisis far from over and many social distancing measures still in place, the crew felt that the work put into the series would not be what it should.
The winter series is only in its infancy with the first season hitting our screens earlier this year. The series was shot in sunny South Africa, with Bray native Laura Whitmore hosting.
Speaking with The Sun a source revealed the bosses thought-process behind the cancellation.
“ITV want Love Island to be a huge success so have decided to put all their energy into making next summer’s series a bumper run, and not trying to force a Winter version given the uncertainty in the television industry still at this point,” they said.
“January 2021 seems a long way off but the process would be starting imminently and with certain restrictions still in place they don’t want to approach anything half-baked.”