Love Island bosses are said to have splashed a generous £1.2million on a luxury villa kitted out with impressive amenities for what will no doubt be the sportiest series to date.
The beloved ITV2 dating series is set to return to South Africa in just a few weeks, with Maya Jama making her hosting debut following Laura Whitmore’s departure.
And it looks as though this year’s batch of contestants will be living in a fitness paradise, with the sprawling villa decked out with an Olympic training pool, 400m running track, state-of-the-art rugby field, and a zip line.
The property, which is aptly named Ludus Magnus after Rome’s ancient gladiator school, also has access to a private lake, which has its very own Love Island, beach, and palm trees.
Casa Amor is set to be extra scandalous this time around as the second villa will be just metres away from the main villa, meaning contestants will be in earshot of any mischief.
All in all, the impressive estate boasts of 17 bedrooms across 25 acres in a wine valley near the country’s capital city, Cape Town.
According to insiders, the network will be splurging £8,000 a day to have exclusive use of the eco-retreat
‘The challenges on Love Island always make for fun TV and this place is a producer’s dream,’ a source said.
‘It’s absolutely stunning and has so much going on. It will set the standard for future series’
They added to The Sun: ‘There’s bound to be plenty of fun and games on the winter edition and Ludus Magnus provides the perfect opportunity for a huge range of activities for the contestants to get stuck into.’
Details of the new Love Island villa comes after former host Laura opened up about ‘going quietly’.
Irish TV presenter Laura, 37, announced in August after the recent series ended that she would be stepping down after taking over as host from the late Caroline Flack.
‘It’s a show I love watching, but I guess when you work on it, you can’t speak about it,’ she said.
‘There was only so much I can do as a host – I couldn’t support them or not support them. I couldn’t say anything.’
She continued to Psychologies magazine: ‘So you kind of have to go quiet, and that was hard for me because I like to be able to have those conversations.
‘If I could [have done] things the way I wanted to, I’d probably still be doing it.
‘But it’s a heavily formatted show and I found my role within that tricky at times. It’s an entertainment show and there just wasn’t really any space for me to be more than that.’
Metro.co.uk has contacted ITV for comment.
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