Love Island has officially started as new photos show first coupling up

3 June 2019, 07:09 | Updated: 3 June 2019, 07:12

The new Love Island photos are in. Picture: ITV2

By Naomi Bartram

The Love Island girls can be seen preparing to face the boys in a sneak preview of tonight's show.

In case you didn’t realise, Love Island is back on Monday evening and there’s a whole new bunch of singletons ready to find 'The One'.

Ahead of the big launch show on ITV2, now bosses have given fans a glimpse of the girls entering the Majorcan villa before coupling up for the first time.

In the first-look photos, the likes of Amy Hart, 26, Amber Gill, 21, Yewande Biala, 23, Anna Vakili, 28, and Lucie Donlan, 21, can be seen lined up in their bikinis by the pool as they wait for the men to arrive.

The Love Island girls were ready to meet the men. Picture: ITV

Judging by the photos, beauty therapist Amber and former Miss United Kingdom Amy were the first women into the luxury pad as they cheer from Range Rovers before strutting into their new home.

Host Caroline Flack can also be seen arriving as she greets the newbies around the fire pit with a big smile on her face.

Wearing a denim mini-skirt, the 39-year-old completed her summer look with a pair of sunglasses.

Amber and Amy were the first Islanders into the villa. Picture: ITV

Caroline Flack introduced the girls to their potential partners. Picture: ITV

Caroline Flack joined the ladies by the fire pit. Picture: ITV

The Love Island girls awaited the men. Picture: ITV

Soon joining them for three months of drama will be Curtis Pritchard, Tommy Fury, Joe Garratt, Michael Griffiths, Anton Danyluk, Sherif Lanre, and Callum Macleod.

The exciting new photos come after creative director and executive producer Richard Cowles defended claims that the new cast is lacking body diversity, insisting the show is as 'representative as possible'.

Following former star Alexandra Kane’s criticism, he told the Radio Times: “First and foremost, it's an entertainment show and it's about people wanting to watch who you've got on screen falling in love with one another.

“Yes, we want to be as representative as possible but we also want them to be attracted to one another.

“Also, we're not saying that everyone that's in there is how you're supposed to look.

“We're saying here's a group of people that we want to watch for eight weeks, and we want to watch them fall in love."

Presenter Caroline has also defended the programme, as she told The Sun: “You can only cast a show on who’s right for it, in a relationship sense.

“It’s a dating show. You can only choose out of the people that apply. They’ve just got to be right in that moment, they don’t cast it because of what they look like, it’s who’s in the right moment.”