Love Island All Stars is set to kick off on ITV2 in just a matter of days – but the production team have been left ‘scrambling’ after wildfires caused a road closure near the villa
Love Island All Stars has been hit with a ‘nightmare’ just days before it’s due to air, the Mirror can reveal. The series is returning for its third stint in a matter of days – but filming has now been postponed and the production site has been evacuated due to wildfires in near the South African villa.
Filming for the hit reality dating show, which this season sees the return of Millie Court, Shaq Muhammad and Whitney Adebayo, was due to start on Saturday as the Islanders were expected to enter the villa – but a wildfire, which has caused a road closure en route to the villa in South Africa has brought the production plans to a grinding halt for the meantime.
The production site has been evacuated as a precaution and filming for the launch show has been postponed. With the launch show, hosted by Maya Jama, starting on Monday evening on ITV2 the delay in filming has, understandably, left the show’s team ‘scrambling’ to look for alternatives to ensure the show gets aired without a hitch. It also means the edit team will have half the amount of time to put together Monday night’s episode because of the delay in filming.
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A source has exclusively told the Mirror: “It’s a nightmare. It’s left the team scrambling to arrange alternative options on what’s the most difficult day in terms of logistics for the crew – it’s called the ‘get in’ day and they need to make sure everything is running on time and that the islanders don’t get a glimpse of each other before arriving at the villa.
“The filming for their arrivals/meetings take hours. Safety is priority though and they have plans in place for such situations. But not ideal given the show hasn’t even begun.”
They added: “The edit team will now have half the amount of time to put together Monday night’s episode because of the delay in filming.” A spokesperson for Love Island told the Mirror: “Owing to an ongoing wild fire in the area, we have evacuated the Love Island production site as a precautionary measure.”
The wildfires have hit South Africa’s Western and Eastern Cape as the strong winds and high temperatures have fuelled the blazes. While fire services said on Friday January 9 that significant progress was made overnight in some areas, wildfires in Langrug and Franschhoek areas in the Boland were still burning ‘out of control’.
A spokesperson for Cape Winelands District Municipality’s Fire Services told SABC News they planned a military flight to assess the full extent of the fire and determine its current direction.
They said: “This assessment will inform the operational plan for the day as active firefighting and mitigation efforts continue. The fire reported yesterday in Stormsvlei continues to burn, with an active fire line of approximately 2 km. Two fresh ground teams have been deployed this morning to continue active firefighting operations. De Wet Cellar, Worcester CWDM Fire Services confirm that the fire reported yesterday afternoon at De Wet Cellar in Worcester has been successfully contained. No damage to infrastructure and no injuries have been reported in relation to any of the fires.”
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