When was the first Winter Love Island series and who won?

It’s almost time for a new series of Love Island… (Picture: ITV)

If you’re sick of the wet and windy UK weather, a bit of escapism is nigh as the 2023 Winter Love Island series kicks off.

Transporting us to the South African sun, this will be the ninth series of Love Island and the launch of Winter Love Island 2023 will be the 342nd episode – a testament to how enduring the popularity of the show has proven.

This year’s cast of hopeful romantics include the first ever partially sighted contestant and a TikTok famous farmer.

Despite this being the ninth season, it’s actually only the second ever winter edition of the show.

When was the first Winter Love Island and who were some of the notable contestants?

When was the first Winter Love Island series?

The first Winter Love Island series was in January 2020.

It was the sixth series of the show in total and the first to take place in Cape Town. Before that, the first five seasons had taken place in Majorca – two in Santanyi, and three in Sant Llorenç des Cardassar.

The series launched on January 2, 2020 and finished on February 23. It was something of a stroke of luck having the first ever Winter Love Island air just a month before the coronavirus pandemic would hit the UK.

There wouldn’t be a regular summer edition after the pandemic shut down TV studios and made filming impossible and fans would have to wait until June 2021 for their next serving of the reality show.

Who won the first Winter Love Island?

Finn Tapp and Paige Turley were crowned the winners of the first Winter Love Island, securing 44.52 percent of the public vote.

They were the first couple to make their romance official in the villa, with Finn reading out romantic messages from his phone.

And they later dropped the L-bomb during their love proposals at the show’s prom.

Paige and Fin are still going strong (Picture: Joe Maher/Getty Images)

The couple are still together. In February 2022, they celebrated two years together with an Instagram snap as they headed to the BRIT Awards.

Siânnise Fudge and Luke Trotman finished as runners-up with 43.61 percent, making it the closest voting percentage between the final two couples ever with less than one percent between them.

They have since split.

Other contestants who appeared on Winter Love Island 2020 included Shaughna Phillips, Mike Boateng and Luke Mabbott.

Winter Love Island 2023 starts January 16 at 9pm on ITV2.

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There haven’t been too many winter editions…