Love Island 2023 prize money: how much do winners get, will winter series see return of split or steal twist?

Excitement is high among Love Island fans this evening as the winter 2023 series draws to a close.

The show’s grand final will see couples Ron and Lana, Tanya and Shaq, Tom and Sammie and Kai and Sanam face off against each other to be chosen as the nation’s favourite new sweethearts. Maya Jama is set to host a bumper finale episode live from the South African villa.

As one of the most popular shows on TV, the riches for the winners are nothing to sniff at. Alongside the winnings, social media stars and made out of the show, with contestants from past season going on to sign brand deals worth hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of pounds.

Love Island flipped the format during the last series in summer 2022, with the ‘split or steal’ element removed. But will it be re-introduced for the winter series?

Here’s everything you need to know about how much money the winners of Love Island get.

How much money does the Love Island winners receive?

Since the start of the revived show in 2015, the winning couple who takes home the Love Island title wins a total of £50,000. This is £50,000 between the pair rather than £50,000 each.

In addition to competing for the big pay day at the end of the series, the contestant are paid throughout their time on the show. However, this is considerably smaller than the jackpot prize.

Contestants are reportedly paid £250 per week that they appear in the show. The reasoning behind the money given to active contestants is to allow for them to keep up with expenses back home that they may be hit with while not working in their everyday profession for the duration of their time in the villa.

Is ‘split or steal’ returning to Love Island?

The months of drama of Love Island is worth it for fans, but in previous series’ of the show, there has also been a final twist at the end. Prior to the summer 2022 series, the winning couple would have had the opportunity to pick blindly from two envelopes.

One evnelope would contain the £50,000 cash prize, while the other contained nothing more than a cardboard heart. The option would be then given to the contestant holding the £50,000 envelope to split their winnings with their new sweetheart or take the money for themselves and run.

However, this last minute twist was removed from the last series starring winners Ekin-Su and Davide. Love Island did not comment on the removal of the game mechnic at the time, with fans feeling blindsided by the change up.

‘Split or steal’ looks like it is gone for good from the Love Island franchise. Maya Jama broke the news to fans that once again, there would be no option for the winners of the 2023 winter series.

While the reasoning behind the axing of the twist has not been revealed, it may be because, as of yet, every winning couple since 2015 has split the money. Fans have not seen a shocking last-minute decision by a winning contestant in the history of the show, with the ‘split or steal’ element slowly fading into the background of the show.