Here’s *Exactly* How to Get Cast on Love Island USA, According to a Producer
Jason Pham
With more than a billion minutes watched, there’s no doubt Love Island USA has made a name for itself as one of the best shows in the Love Island franchise. But what are casting producers looking for in the next batch of islanders? Well, we did the research to find out.
How to apply for Love Island USA
Fans can apply for Love Island USA on the casting website for City Media Entertainment, the official audition and casting company for the series. The application includes 70 questions about the applicant’s personal life, family, and dating history, such as whether they’ve been unfaithful in a relationship and if they’ve ever been in love, as well as areas to upload photos and videos of themselves. If your application impresses the team, the next step will be follow-up interviews on camera.
Related: All the Love Island USA couples still together
Love Island USA casting tips
The official casting company for Love Island USA listed several tips to get your application noticed, including showing your personality, highlighting your love life goals, being camera-ready, being honest and unique, staying positive and open, and having a social media presence.
What Love Island USA casting producers are looking for
In an interview with Today, ITV Entertainment executive producer Simon Thomas, who cast Love Island USA Season 6, explained the types of personalities he was looking for in the series.
“We’ve always [preferred] the ability to have a conversation. And when I say that, I mean banter — like actual funny conversation. We’ve always [preferred] people that you might want to be friends with, or at least the cast will be friends with each other. [That’s] always been, since Season 1, a priority for us,” he said. “Looking for people with a sense of humor, people with the ability to talk — we set our bar as high as it’s ever been. And I think also, it’s magic. It’s not a science. It’s not even an art necessarily. It’s magic. Which is to say, you get the right things together and suddenly something happens that you never would have thought of.”
He also noted that how personalities mesh with other cast members also play a part in casting decisions. “I think you look at people like Rob, who was in [Casa Amor in Season 5], and then out of Casa last year. We cast him well before we ever did “Games,” and he has been a highlight of this season,” he said. “So it’s just about the positioning and the other people they’re in there with and the mix. So you kind of plan for it and hope for it, and you think you know what you’re doing, and then you see what happens.”
Lewis Evans, a casting producer for Love Island UK, also told Cosmopolitan that, in addition to applications, many islanders are found via their social media profiles and street castings.
“We also cast our net far and wide by looking at social media profiles as it’s always quite easy to gauge on there people who are popular, aren’t afraid to show themselves off and have a big following,” he said. “We also attend events and hold street castings for prospective Islanders.”
He also noted two key qualities he was looking for. “The key is that they are over 18, single and looking for love,” he said, adding that applicants also need to “stand out from the crowd”.
“One of the main questions we ask, from the outset, is if they would choose love or money,” Evans continued. “It’s always important to us that anyone coming onto the show is open to finding the girl or guy of their dreams.” He added, “It’s all about having a great mix of desirable, aspirational singletons who have interesting and engaging personalities to keep our viewers glued and entertained by what’s going on in the villa.”
Tom Gould, an executive producer for Love Island UK also told Radio Times, that an important quality for applicants is someone who will “command” a room just from walking in it. “You just have to look at people who, when they come into that room, engage us. Because we’re seeing so many people it’s actually quite hard to have that impact,” he said. “So you want someone who’s going to come into the room and just command it, own it, make us want to ask them loads of questions and get to know more about them and their stories. We need to feel like ‘I want to see these guys in the villa.’”
What to wear to a Love Island USA audition
As for what to wear to an audition, Montana Brown, who starred on Love Island UK Season 2, encouraged contestants to dress to impress. “Dress up glam, ladies and gentlemen. Get your winged eyeliner on point because you will be on camera and they’ll be showing the execs so it’s best to look your best on that special day,” she told Capital FM.
She also recommended telling producers specific stories to make yourself memorable. “Don’t just say ‘Oh I’m really fun’. Yeah, but why are you fun? Like what makes you fun, what makes you different?” she said.
Love Island USA streams on Peacock.
