Love Island USA is returning to its roots for Season 5. Filmed at four different locations across its first four seasons, the Peacock reality dating competition features a new group of sexy singles searching for love at a luxury villa in Fiji, the same island nation where CBS kicked off Love Island USA in 2019. (Season 2 production moved to Las Vegas amid pandemic-related restrictions, followed by installments in Ninole, Hawaii, and California.) Boasting that the new Love Island villa — located on a stretch of white sandy beach with views of Fiji’s Mamanuca islands — is an “upgrade,” host Sarah Hyland gave viewers a sneak peek at the new digs in a virtual villa tour.
“More Islanders than ever before will be making their way through this hallway in hopes of finding ‘The One.’ Or two. Or three or four or five,” the Modern Family alum joked, crediting production designer Richard Jensen’s creativity. Among the house’s highlights she showed off were the classic beachfront Love Island heart shower, the kitchen “where the pot gets stirred,” the biggest hot tub to-date (in a completely private garden), extra fire pits, and a Sunset Nook, which Hyland noted is where she would spend all her time if she was an Islander.
The 45,000-square-foot villa, which took the production team seven weeks to build, is also equipped with more than 50 neon signs, not to mention 4 miles of neon lights and an additional 15 miles of fairy lights. The Hideaway is covered in floor-to-ceiling faux fur and comes with a “Press Here For a Good Time” button for “additional surprises.”
Sara Mally/Peacock
Also, for the first time ever, the Love Island USA villa features the “Vibe Check,” a lounge “for private chats” that also converts into a sleeping area “for when you’re in the doghouse,” Hyland revealed. The NBCUniversal-owned streamer also noted that the special area within the house also might come into play for two Islanders “who aren’t yet in a couple.”
Sara Mally/Peacock
In a new BuzzFeed interview, Hyland said that fans have no idea what goes on behind the scenes to construct the villa. “Our crew is so hard-working — and it's so hot outside, they're building all the things, they're painting the stuff, and the landscapers are about. It's such a beautiful thing,” she shared. “That's why I talk about the villa a lot, because just the crew, the art department, and everything that goes into making the villa is hundreds of people working nonstop to create it. And the villa this year is going to be epic. It is massive. We have new features in it and it is on the beach in Fiji.”
That’s not all Love Island fans have to look forward to either. “We have a very, very sexy season coming up,” Hyland explained to E! News ahead of the July 18 premiere, teasing a “surprising new way” bombshells enter the villa. “We have really fun beach challenges and there's going to be a new way of never-before-seen cuddling up this season. So hold onto your panties ladies, it’s going to be very interesting and I cannot wait for that drama.”
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