All the rules and behind the scenes secrets of the Love Island meet the parents episode

The Love Island meet the parents episode comes every single year right before the final, and getting an insight into the Islander’s mums and dads is always SO good. It’s always wholesome af, there are lots of tears and you can see how genuinely happy the Love Island cast are to see their families after weeks apart from them.

We already know the Islanders have to follow a whole LOAD of rules when they’re in the villa, but it turns out their friends and families also have lots of rules for during the meet the parents episode. Here are all the behind the scenes secrets of the meet the parents episode of Love Island, from what they’re not allowed to speak about or bring in, only getting 48 hours notice before flying to Mallorca, and how long they actually spend in the villa.

Here are all the rules and behind the scenes secrets of exactly what goes down in the Love Island meet the parents episode:

They’re not allowed to speak about the outside world

Kaz’s sister Banji, who went into the 2021 villa for the meet the parents episode, has spoken to OK about exactly what it was like. She said Islanders have to keep detached from what’s happening in the outside world in relation to the show, so some conversation topics are banned.

They’re allowed to speak about family things that have happened – remember when Molly-Mae’s mum told her she’d got engaged?? – but can’t tell the Islanders things that have happened because of the show, like how many Insta followers they have.

Kaz’s sister, Banji, and mum during the Love Island 2021 meet the parents episode

“We were told that we weren’t allowed to talk about the outside world in relation to the show. You are allowed to speak about things that have happened in relation to family life, but you couldn’t talk about things that had happened as a result of the show”, she said.

“For instance, our younger sister got a place at uni while Kaz was in the villa and that’s the first thing we told her. It was extremely emotional and Kaz was more interested in catching up with us rather than what was happening with the show anyway.”

Friends and family have to keep things ‘natural’

The Love Island friends and family who go into the villa are told by producers to keep things “natural”, Banji said. She says she was told to have a “natural catch-up”, but was worried about saying something embarrassing.

“Before I went in, the producers encouraged me to have a good time and to just have a natural catch-up with my sister,” she said. “I was so excited to be in the villa that even if I’d planned to say something fake for the cameras, I’d have forgotten about that the moment I walked in. As soon as I came out I was crossing my fingers hoping that I hadn’t made a fool out of myself by saying something embarrassing since it was all a haze.”

Chloe during the meet the parents 2021 episode

They’re not allowed to bring anything in

There’s a whole load of items the Love Island cast aren’t allowed to bring in to the villa, from phones to fake tan, and their friends, siblings and parents aren’t allowed to bring in anything forbidden during the meet the parents episode either. Their families even allowed to wear watches, because the Islanders are kept not knowing what time it really is!

Banji said: “Before we went into the villa, we had to give in our bags and possessions to stop us bringing anything forbidden in. Since the contestants are so disconnected from the outside world, I imagine that if we brought a watch or mobile phone into the villa they would’ve got extremely disoriented if they knew the time.”

The parents are only in the Love Island villa for 20 minutes

Banji said the meet the parents episode is filmed over one day and each group has their own time slot in the Love Island villa, and they’re only in there for 15 or 20 minutes.

“On the day itself, I spent around 15-20 minutes maximum in the actual villa before jetting back home again,” she said. “I was allowed to say a quick hello to the other contestants but there wasn’t even time for a tour of the villa.” She said she wishes she’d been able to see the iconic Love Island terrace.

I wonder if Ekin will take her family here this year x

They only get 48 hours notice and the families are kept separate

“We were told about 48 hours beforehand that two of us needed to fly out to Mallorca to be on the show, so it was a case of whoever could get time off work would be going,” Banji said.

And when they get there, they’re kept separate from the other Islanders’ families. Banji stayed at a hotel which only had the female Islanders’ friends and families, but they didn’t see them on the day of filming. “We stayed at a hotel with the other female contestants’ family members but didn’t see them on the actual day.

“I was hoping that I could speak to them and get the tea about what it was like but I had to go in there with zero knowledge. It would’ve been super helpful to have someone who could’ve told me to walk a bit slower when entering because I nearly fell over on the stone pathway!”

Banji said the experience was “overwhelming” and she was worried about how she’d be seen. “It’s quite overwhelming, especially if you’ve seen or managed the contestants’ social media. There’s lots of opinions out there, so it’s easy to worry about how you will be perceived.” Her top tip to any future Islanders’ family members would be to forget the stress, smile, and take a souvenir and a selfie outside the villa.

Love Island 2023 continues on ITV2 at 9pm tonight. For all the latest Love Island news and gossip and for the best memes and quizzes, like The Holy Church of Love Island on Facebook. 

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