Jason MoorePalma01/08/2018 00:00
TW

Like or hate it, ITV's smash hit series, Love Island, has certainly given the island some priceless publicity. And it will prove to be very successful for the contestants as well. Research by a group of economists, Frontier Economics, revealed that appearing as a contestant on the hit ITV2 show was likely to earn contestants more over the course of their life than three years studying at Oxford or Cambridge universities.

Contestants who stayed in the villa for the whole series could be expected to earn about 2.3 million pounds over the next five years from sponsorships and appearance fees compared to an average return from the top UK universities of 815,000 pounds. The programme also caused some controversy. Amnesty International said online abuse of the women contestants during the series highlighted the fact that one in five British women suffer from online abuse and harassment . "Social media can be a space where sexist or misogynistic abuse of women thrives - where their genders, ethnicities and sexual orientations can come under serious and harmful attack," said Chiara Capraro from Amnesty International UK.

Others argued the show was doing more good than harm. The programme has certainly been a talking point but for Majorca it has given the island a major lift and will probably help holiday sales as well. Love Island may not be everyone's cup of tea but it certainly has proved to be a success for all involved.