The official winners of Love Island‘s eighth season have been crowned, and viewers couldn’t be happier.
The most recent season of the popular British dating show polished off its 49-episode run with a rousing finale, which aired on Aug. 1. Viewers are already pining for more of the sought-after series, despite a range of controversies that have somewhat dampened enthusiasm. The next season is, presumably, now around a year away, but we can still celebrate the winners of this year’s competition.
Who won Love Island in 2022?
Love Island has been on the receiving end of several different controversies over its runtime, but that’s not stopping fans of the show from passionately following each of its seasons. A range of suicides between 2018 and 2020 spurred theories of trauma and a discussion about the pressures of reality television. They also prompted a discussion about online hate, and how it affects people in the spotlight.
These suicides, paired with the harassment and revenge porn some contestants have been subject to, have galvanized efforts to see the show end. Fans of the series are starkly against this, however, and continue to push for the show to remain on the air. Thus far, aims to see Love Island canceled have fallen short, which is great news for this year’s winners.
Contestants Ekin-Su Culculoglu and Davide Sanclimenti took home the grand prize in this year’s competition, following nearly 50 episodes of effort. They barely beat out runners-up Gemma Owen and Luca Bish, but ultimately won the season — and the $50,000 prize that goes along with it.
The pair of 27-year-olds are set to take home the prize after dazzling audiences with their steamy and passionate romance. Audiences were quickly taken by the chemistry behind Culculoglu, a Turkish actress, and Sanclimenti, an Italian business owner. Their dedicated fan base helped the pair outpace Owen and Bish, as well as the other contestants, despite an initially rocky relationship. By the time the season ended, they were easy crowd favorites, as evidenced by their big win.
