Love Island’s Ian Sterling on fame seekers, NZ Comedy Fest and why shows are so hated – The NZ Herald

Love Island is filmed in the romantic dreamy town of Mallorca in Spain’s Balearic Islands, but the show’s narrator reveals that New Zealand isn’t where he wants to go again.

Speaking with Herald Via Zoom, Ian Sterling is sitting in his crisp white office at 9pm. The warm lamps are lit and the homely atmosphere is conveyed even through the laptop camera. Here he would record most, if not all, of his witty narration for the tenth season of the popular British romance show. He confessed that he may be planning a trip to Aotearoa at the end of the season.

“I want to go back to New Zealand,” he added, adding that he meant to say Australia to make it seem like he wasn’t just saying New Zealand for interview purposes, but admitted with a laugh. Both Melbourne and I thought it was kind of silly. “

Sterling traveled to New Zealand in 2017 for a brief appearance at the New Zealand Comedy Fest, but says it was a special time for him to come here as an unknown and effectively leave stardom. [NZ Comedy Fest] but i’m back [to the UK] for love island But then the series that I came back to was Series 4, and it got pretty big.

“So it looks like you went to New Zealand.” [as] An obscure comedian, the show exploded in popularity within about four weeks of his return. Well, it was a really fun time. “

love island It premiered in the UK in 2015, and the final episode was watched by 737,000 viewers, according to the BBC. B.As Sterling notes, the show’s fourth season in 2018 saw more than 4.3 million viewers watch the final episode, inducting it into the Pop Culture Hall of Fame. Since then, the show has captivated audiences, dominated the online meme space, and sparked the supportive water bottle trend—but it’s also garnered a fierce backlash.

Last year, the show received more than 5,000 complaints, online mail At least 1,500 of them reportedly involved misogynistic behavior. In 2021, it was widely reported that complaints reached a new record of 24,763 after islander Faye Winter had a “toxic” meltdown. And they were only officially registered complaints.

On social media platforms such as Twitter, regular viewers of the show don’t hesitate to share their opinions, but what’s particularly notable is that people are on the show just to get famous and gain publicity. Therefore, the charm of the program is lost.

Sterling revealed his thoughts on the allegation, saying, “I don’t know what to think about it,” adding with a gentle smile, “because there’s a little part of it that’s like, ‘So what?'” -Old went on to explain that even though people are signing up to the show for the sole purpose of becoming famous, that’s how it’s worked for 10 seasons, especially for him as a narrator.

“My job is always to tease what the show is and how it happened, so that’s the fun factor,” he says. Nevertheless, he and his program makers understand that this is a fine line. “Don’t get me wrong, if someone literally thinks this format sucks, I’m just going to be on TV and try to be famous. It’s going to end.” Sterling laughs.

Regardless, love island The piece is about romance and building lasting connections with others, and those storylines always shine through in the editing process. Sterling mentions Tommy Fury and Molly May Hague, the most famous couple who left their infamous Mallorcan villa.

“Molly said, ‘I went on’ love island Because I thought it would be good for my career,” he said excitedly, “and it’s one of the best love stories I’ve ever seen on the show.” “She and Maura Higgins trying to fight for Tommy were just two girls trying to fight for a man.

“So, at the end of the day, does it matter if she came to the show to meet Tommy Fury to become famous? No, I don’t care.”

Sterling, or at least his voice, has become almost as famous as The Hague and Fury. He’s the show’s affectionate host, known for his sarcastic and hilarious comments, but admits that his madness has a way.

“I didn’t want to make fun of anyone or make them feel left out,” he says of when he started writing with his writing partner Mark Busk-Cowley. love island joke. They had a rule “never make fun of people”. Just like you can’t ask questions about how they look or how they talk. “

“There are some parts that are probably closer to the bone than they were meant to be,” says the comedian, although he admits that probably not everyone will agree.

Despite his own rules, Sterling admitted that even though contestants knew what they were signing up for, it was “really hard” to see social media reactions. “I think it’s a double-edged sword, because that infatuation and obsession is what makes the show so popular. But that obsession is also what makes it so difficult for the contestants.” ”

And now that another season of the hit show is about to begin, he has a message for his fans watching:love island “It’s like the characters they play in a sitcom,” he says, “I wish they could separate the artist from the art, sort of.”

new season love island england Streaming tonight on TVNZ+.