Just Gonna Say It: Love Island Winners Splitting The Prize Money Is TV’s Most Tired Moment

Every time a Love Island finale rolls around I’m reminded of the dumbest element of the entire show — where the winners are asked to choose between money (taking the full $50,000 prize money) or love (splitting the cash prize with their partner).

No one in the history of Love Island Australia’s four seasons has ever taken the entire prize kitty for themselves. So why the hell are we still entertaining it? The winners of every season are chosen by the public, and it’s common sense for viewers to pick a strong couple; a couple that’s already declared their love for each other, committed to a relationship or at least shown promise for the future outside of the villa. It’s literally what the whole show is about.  That alone torpedoes the likelihood of the winning couple doing anything other than splitting the money. If they’ve shown enough respect for one another to be chosen by the public as winners, are they really going to disrespect each other the moment their names are announced? Not to mention — they’ve basically been validated by the general public as likeable people, something that would be immediately reversed should they choose to publicly humiliate their partner with greed. Considering the almost-guaranteed influx of Instagram followers on the horizon for the crowned couple, let’s not pretend that any winner — who likely went on the show for the prospect of a social media career — would jeopardise that for the sake of an extra $25,000. They can make that money and more in #sponsored Instagram posts once they’re reunited with their social media accounts. The prize pool is bigger for the UK version at £50,000 (just over $91,000 AUD) but either way, both the winners and popular contestants stand to earn more than that figure in the 12 months following their stint on the show. Interestingly, Love Island UK scrapped the ‘split or steal’ choice in Season 8 after the previous seven winners all decided to split the money. It’s been just under six months since Davide Sanclimenti and Ekin–Su Cülcüloğlu won Love Island UK Season 8 and, according to Irish Mirror, they have an earning potential of $13,000 and $20,00 AUD per Instagram post respectively. A joint sponsored Instagram post? They’re looking at more than $34,000 AUD. Obviously Love Island UK is a totally different ballgame when it comes to global exposure. According to So Dramatic, Love Island Australia Season 3 winners Tina Provis and Mitch Hibberd had the earning potential of $682 and $501 respectively per Instagram post (before they returned for Season 4).Domenica CalarcoOlivia FrazerSo DramaticLove Island AustraliaVanessa SierraLove IslandLove IslandLove Island AustraliaGrant CrappTayla Damirherhe went on another (extremely unsuccessful) showLove IslandSophie MonkLove Island AustraliaClaudiaBonifazioAustenBugeja They’ll always choose money secretly by choosing love publicly.Chantelle Schmidt is a freelance writer. You can follow her here. 

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