All The Challenges Love Island Has Axed Over The Years And Why

2 June 2023, 12:40

All of the scrapped Love Island challenges. Picture: ITV

By Savannah Roberts

All the games that are no longer used on Love Island and why, from the Lie Detector Test to Newsplash...

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Love Island is back for its summer season of 2023 and tenth series overall – we're ready for the drama, the romance and, of course, the entertainment!

As fans of the ITV2 dating show are getting to know the new contestants for season 10, some are already wondering which challenges we will (or won't be) seeing this summer.

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Since Love Island first aired in 2015, the villa has seen a wide array of games and tasks taken on by the contestants, from the weird to the whacky and beyond.

But some of the most popular challenges from the show never made a return, here's a list of some of the axed traditions of Love Island...

Cast of 2023 summer Love Island revealed

Love Island is famous for its games and challenges. Picture: ITV

Spitting Challenges

ITV bosses have confirmed that 'spitting challenges' will not be returning to Love Island, which is not surprising given that it delivered exactly what it promised.

The challenge tasked Islanders with transferring liquid by spitting it into each other’s mouths, in previous years viewers had expressed their distaste for the game and some even complained to Ofcom.

Creative director Mike Spencer revealed to the tabloids that the game in question will not be making an appearance in season 10, he said:" I think we’ll leave it – I do miss it a little bit, but we decided to get rid of it. We’ll keep that not happening.”

Other recreations of the game have emerged in recent years, such as 'Cocktail Mixup' and 'Lip Service', however, its believed that there are all axed for 2023.

Islanders go mouth-to-mouth in the Cocktail Mixup challenge | Love Island Series 6

The Twitter Challenge

The Twitter Challenge made multiple appearance on Love Island after first being featured on the show on series three back in 2017.

The game – which has also been called ‘Online Buzz’ – saw Islanders compete in two teams as they attempted to correctly fill in the blanks of real tweets from the outside world.

It became a catalyst for arguments between contestants as they got a rare insight into how the public are perceving them, however it caused backlash after fans speculated some fake tweets were used.

BRUTAL! the Islanders Read Your Mean Tweets | Love Island 2017

The Lie Detector Test

The Lie Detector feature was seen as the ultimate test of relationships in the villa as the show entered its final weeks on the air.

It saw contestants being asked burning questions by their partners whilst they were hooked up to a polygraph, and never failed to cause some drama.

Despite being popular, the test was scrapped in 2019 after appearing on the show in the four seasons prior.

Laura Shades Jack During His Lie Detector Test | Love Island 2018

Food Challenges

Over the years, Love Island has seen almost every food challenge you could think of – but no more!

Last year it was announced by producers that the dating series would no longer be partaking in food-related games, which had divided fans, in a bid to be less 'wasteful'.

At the time, an ITV boss said: "We are stepping away from the food challenges as we know them.

"We try to strive to be better as an environmentally friendly production and we try to be better with waste in this day and age," he explained.

Challenge: Meals on Wheels | Love Island 2018

The Headline Challenge

Not dissimilar to the Twitter Challenge, the Headline Challenge saw Islanders read out news stories that had been published back home in the UK, and attempt to fill in the blanks.

The dramatic feature has been used multiple times in the show's history and has gone by the name 'Newsplash' and 'Sidebar of Shame' in the past.

The tradition was axed in 2020 and hasn't been seen since, as some fans were angered by how some headlines insinuated circumstances that hadn't actually happened, therefore unnecessarily raising emotions in the villa.