The 5 Best Love Island UK Seasons, Ranked

It's not hard to understand why "Love Island UK" took the world by storm. By distilling the "Big Brother" formula of fly-on-the-wall reality TV down to a low-stakes affair, adding in a bunch of fun window dressing, and never taking it all too seriously, the ITV series has become a massive hit over the past decade. Sure, the original version may have flamed out back in 2006, but some things just need a few tweaks to go from undercooked reality program to international sensation.

So many parts of the show have become iconic in pop culture since the revival in 2015. The villa itself, Casa Amor, the dramatic fire pit climaxes, "I got a text," and the irreplaceable Matthew Hoffman narrating every episode, just to name a few. That's without getting into the way that "Love Island U.K." has brought numerous British slang phrases and isms into the global vernacular. Never put all your eggs in one basket, even if he keeps pulling you for chats.

As with any reality TV show, though, there are better and worse seasons of "Love Island U.K." that you can watch. The quality of any given run depends largely on the folks chosen to participate, as well as the specific drama that emerges and the yearly twists ITV2 makes to the core format. Fans will never all agree on which season or islander is the best, but we're here to try to get as close as we can to the truth. These are the 5 best "Love Island U.K." seasons, ranked.

It's not a proper list without at least one hot take, right? Look, we know — the early seasons were iconic; the later seasons figured out the formula. Somewhere in the middle, a lot of fans would say, the show took a dip in quality. If you want to talk about how great Season 8 was or bathe in the nostalgia of Season 1, there are many reasons to do so. But once, just once, we're going to give "Love Island U.K." Season 6 the credit it deserves.

It may not be the flashiest, the messiest, or the most dramatic, but it delivered something that many "Love Island" seasons struggle with — consistency. From start to finish, this season never takes a dip, with authentic islanders like Siânnise Fudge and Luke Mabbott delivering great moments throughout. Too often, shows like "Love Island" get the most credit for their most extreme seasons, and if that's your thing, you're in good company. But there's something equally (if very differently) appealing about the slow burn — the group that just (mostly) gets along. The relationships in "Love Island" Season 6 develop naturally, and there are enough dramatic turns and accusations of snakery to keep the momentum up.

If you skipped out on this one because you heard it wasn't worth the watch, give it a try. Set your expectations for a less explosive season, and you'll have a fantastic time.

"Love Island U.K." Season 10 has a stronger reputation among the general fanbase than Season 6, but there are still some who would argue its placement over other fan favorite seasons. However, even with recency bias working against it in some ways (as nostalgia always has a way of buffing up a season in the eyes of fans), Season 10 has already worked its way pretty high onto the lists of many viewers, and it's not hard to understand why.

The drama some missed in Season 6 is on full display here, with Tyrique Hyde and Ella Thomas' relationship generating particular entertainment throughout the season. It's not often you see real-time growth on "Love Island," but Season 10 delivers, and it has one of the best Casa Amor segments of the entire show, with the women going to Casa instead of the guys this time around.

There are plenty of other highlights worth shouting out, like the rollercoaster of Zachariah Noble and Molly Marsh's relationship, Whitney Adebayo's constant hilarity, or the return of Season 2 fan favorite Kady McDermott. This may not be the greatest "Love Island" season, but it delivers everything you want from the show, and at a high level — except for when the public vote sent Montel and Leah home after one of the cutest couple moments ever. Don't listen to what anybody else says; they should have won, and Sammy should have been out of the Villa before we ever even got to the finale.

Now we start to get into the real fan favorite seasons, starting with "Love Island" Season 3. It's a season that's probably most famous for introducing Casa Amor, which has since become one of the primary events of every season and a huge cornerstone of the show's core structure. Season 3 also added the studio spin-off show, "Love Island: Aftersun."

In addition to introducing some staples of the franchise, Season 3 featured plenty of drama, from islanders returning after being booted off the island to all the relationship hijinks you could ask for. There were wholesome friendships, like the bond between Kem Cetinay and Chris Hughes that led to a one-hit wonder, and some genuine romantic connections as well. While winners Cetinay and Amber Davies split up a few months after the season ended, runners-up Camilla Thurlow and Jamie Jewitt got married and are still together. They now have three children.

Both trailblazing and standard-setting, "Love Island U.K." Season 3 remains one of the most beloved in the eyes of fans, and it's still a good watch all these years later if you've never had a chance to check it out.

Most fans would agree that this is where the famous "Love Island" Season 2 belongs — very near the top of the list, but not quite in the gold medal position. It's still early days, as the islanders would say, and because ITV was in the process of sorting out the formula back when Season 2 aired, it benefits from a kind of unfiltered authenticity that later seasons have lacked. It's messy, and contestants seemed more interested in the drama itself than in the guaranteed online fame, but it's also held back in some ways by its status as a prototype season. Some of the polish that came later simply isn't here, which is why Season 2 is only in second place.

Story-wise, Season 2 introduced some islanders who remain fan favorites, like Kady McDermott and former Miss Great Britain winner Zara Holland, whose title was controversially stripped due to the sexual nature of the show. "Love Island U.K." Season 2 also featured the franchise's first queer couple — a highlight that unfortunately has not become much more common on the show in the years since.

For fans of a less filtered reality TV experience, "Love Island" Season 2 could be argued for the top spot on this list. But our choice for the gold medal is a season that combines high drama with the production value and winning formula that came later on.

"Love Island U.K." Season 5 has everything: high drama, good production value, an eclectic cast of islanders, and a strong momentum that carries through the whole season. It features some of the biggest "Love Island" bombshells of all time, including runner-up Mollie-Mae Hague, who entered the villa early in the show and struck up a season-long relationship with boxer Tommy Fury. Other islanders, like Amber Gill, Greg O'Shea, Maura Higgins, and Ovie Soko, also became quite popular with viewers.

Season 5 was a peak moment for the show in terms of viewership, which may be due in part to how much it had grown over the preceding years. After small adjustments and additions every season, "Love Island" finally found its winning format, and the show honestly hasn't changed all that much on the U.K. side in the years since Season 5.

While the relationship drama takes center stage, Season 5 won't wear you down if you're sensitive to too much bickering on reality TV. It stays light and entertaining, with the tweaks to the structure leading to some really funny editing and writing moments. If you've never watched "Love Island U.K." and are trying to get a sense of it, this, the show's best season, is a great place to start.