Love Island announces launch date with tweet: 'January, don't be such a melt'

Unlike the programme's method of sending announcements over text, the show confirmed the news via the ITV2 Twitter account.

https://twitter.com/itv2/status/1207572530753671171

According to MailOnline, staff will fly to South Africa as early as New Year’s Day, with the cast jetting out closer to launch.

A TV source said: “The new Winter Love Island will launch the second week of January.

“The new cast of singletons fly out just days before the launch but bosses work with test Islanders to uncover the best spots in the villa to create drama.”

The next series will be the first winter series of the popular dating show, which usually airs over the summer months, beginning in June. The show will also be filmed in South Africa rather than Majorca, taking advantage of the summer season there, which lasts from December to March.

Love Island has been an incredible success for ITV2, with an average of 3.96 million tuning in to watch the fifth series earlier this year.

But it is still unknown who will be presenting the January series, after host Caroline Flack stepped down following her recent arrest. Rochelle Humes, Maya Jama and Laura Whitmore have all been rumoured for the job, which includes presenting spin-off Love Island: Aftersun, as well as hosting recouplings.

What is known, however, is that Ian Stirling will return as the narrator for Winter Love Island, and that the show will run for six weeks instead of the usual eight.

Love Island begins on Sunday 12th January on ITV2