Breadcrumbs ![The Love Island Villa Is Harder To Get Into Than Cambridge](https://media.sheerluxe.com/HO3mwN8hh8OxiXBZM10tCRGA8mc=/800x0/smart/https%3A%2F%2Fsheerluxe.com%2Fsites%2Fsheerluxe%2Ffiles%2Farticles%2F2018%2F06%2Flove-island1.jpg) [Culture](/culture) / 01 June 2018 # The Love Island Villa Is Harder To Get Into Than Cambridge June is everyone’s favourite time of the year – not because of the sun, or the chance to hang out with friends in a beer garden, or even because of the many holidays and festivals we have booked. No, no – it’s because Love Island is officially back on our TV screens this evening. [ Save To My Favourites ](/user/login?destination=/markdownify/node/16251) Whether you’ve watched the ITV2 favourite or not, it’s hard to argue with its immense popularity last year. In fact, the final episode of the 2017 series broke ITV2 records, with 2.43m viewers – compared to 1.3m the year before – tuning in to see Kem and Amber crowned the winners and bag that £50,000 prize money. And with its popularity growing exponentially over the past couple of years, a spot on the show is in even higher demand. New statistics compiled by *[The Tab](https://thetab.com/uk/cambridge/2017/07/21/statistically-harder-get-love-island-cambridge-96675)* show that the series is now more difficult to get into than Cambridge University – yep, more people applied for a spot in the villa than for a place at the top-rated uni last year. In 2016, the rates were much closer. 18,000 applicants applied to *Love Island*, while 16,750 applicants tried for a place at Cambridge. But in 2017, the applicant number for the TV show stood at around 80,000, while the number of teens applying for a spot at Cambridge came to around 17,171, making *Love Island* almost *five times* more competitive – and with a far lower success rate. Essentially, you have more of a chance getting into Cambridge than you do the ITV2 show – and with popularity continuing to surge, who knows what the number could be at this year. And is it *really* that surprising people are more interested in being whisked away to the hot, hot island of Majorca for a free summer holiday filled with sunbathing, relaxation and oiled-up members of the opposite sex? Surely that beats a dorm room on a rainy day, with the weight of university work slowly crushing your soul? And not only that, it’s likely that *Love Island*ers will have better career prospects once leaving the show, what with all those coveted *Dancing on Ice* spots to fill and teeth whitening strips to sell. But it seems some of this year’s *Love Island*ers might even have the brains to blag themselves a spot at both Cambridge *and* the villa – this year’s current male favourite, Alex George, is an A&E doctor from Carmarthen, while 20-year-old Wes Nelson is an electrical and nuclear systems design engineer. But as the show's viewers continue to grow, with great popularity comes great responsibility. There have been calls for the newest series to be vigilant in curbing the 'slut-shaming' previously seen in the past two seasons (now available to binge on Netflix, if you want to see the full horror of it). In series two, former Miss Great Britain, Zara Holland, was stripped of her title whilst in the villa – and completely lambasted by the vast majority of her female housemates – for having consensual, sober sex with Alex Bowen on television. The Miss GB organisation said it could “no longer promote Zara as a positive role model" for doing something completely natural. And what about Alex? There were, of course, no repercussions for him, and he went on to have a successful relationship during the series. Despite the backlash over Zara’s treatment, there were still moments of shaming in series three – Kem Cetinay immediately went off Amber Davies for revealing she once had sex with two guys in the same night, despite the fact the male *Island*ers revealing they’d slept with over 300 girls between them. So what about this year’s female hopefuls? Last year’s contestant, Tyla Carr, had a suggestion for them this week: “I would advise girls to hold themselves well. You will get better jobs after the show if you don’t do it. If you have sex on the show it can tarnish your image just a little bit. So it’s better not to.” Hopefully the new ladies won’t take Tyla’s advice at face value. As the *Metro*’s Emma Kelly put it, “Girls don’t need to stand to some weird higher standard; having sex, casually or in a relationship, doesn’t reduce your value like you’re some sort of product.” Considering the very premise of the show is if you’re single too long, you get booted out it’s no wonder all the housemates are running around, trying to find someone to cosy up to. Let’s hope this year’s lucky lot don’t chastise the women for doing just that. *Watch* Love Island *tonight at 9pm on ITV2* [ Sign in to comment with your SheerLuxe profile ](/user/login?destination=)Or continue to comment as a Guest below [View the discussion thread.](http://sheerluxe-dev.disqus.com/) *more from* Culture [View All Culture](/culture) ![The Substack Newsletters The SL Team Love](https://media.sheerluxe.com/jWUVKH7rrqZ9fWi-22ohDk24Hko=/200x267/smart/https%3A%2F%2Fsheerluxe.com%2Fsites%2Fsheerluxe%2Ffiles%2Farticles%2F2026%2F07%2Fsl-site-assets-140726-thumb-hero-team-substacks.jpg) [Culture](/culture) / 14 July 2026 [## The Substack Newsletters The SL Team Love ](/culture/best-substack-newsletter) ![The Luxe List: October](https://media.sheerluxe.com/vSvFVrq84kSSa1ZPy-8x0nHrqXA=/200x267/smart/https%3A%2F%2Fsheerluxe.com%2Fsites%2Fsheerluxe%2Ffiles%2Farticles%2F2026%2F10%2Fsl-site-assets-051026-luxe-list-thumb.jpg) [Culture](/culture) / 05 October 2026 [## The Luxe List: October ](/culture/the-luxe-list-october-0) ![The Gold Edition Hot List](https://media.sheerluxe.com/ndfqIm7qdJeUvgzhcQq5E9pIVrM=/200x267/smart/https%3A%2F%2Fsheerluxe.com%2Fsites%2Fsheerluxe%2Ffiles%2Farticles%2F2026%2F09%2Fsl-gold-210926-site-assets-hot-list-thumb.jpg) [Travel & Culture](/gold/travel-culture)/ 21 September 2026 [## The Gold Edition Hot List ](/culture/the-gold-edition-hot-list-4) ![Where To Eat, Shop & Drink In London’s West End](https://media.sheerluxe.com/QV5LeHwyqVX-9s0DbvlXJJagCWg=/200x267/smart/https%3A%2F%2Fsheerluxe.com%2Fsites%2Fsheerluxe%2Ffiles%2Farticles%2F2026%2F09%2Fsl-170926-site-assets-the-crown-estate-thumb.jpg) [Culture](/culture) / 17 September 2026 [## Where To Eat, Shop & Drink In London’s West End ](/culture/where-to-eat-shop-drink-in-londons-west-end) ![Inside The SheerLuxe Founders’ Evening At The Arding Rooms](https://media.sheerluxe.com/JgnoVFZEzSH3doXZRMkd-V-ztc8=/200x267/smart/https%3A%2F%2Fsheerluxe.com%2Fsites%2Fsheerluxe%2Ffiles%2Farticles%2F2026%2F09%2Fsl-100926-founders-event-thumb.jpg) [Culture](/culture) / 10 September 2026 [## Inside The SheerLuxe Founders’ Evening At The Arding Rooms ](/culture/inside-the-sheerluxe-founders-evening-at-the-arding-rooms) ![The Luxe List: September](https://media.sheerluxe.com/rEhXdYl78f7_W5I-GYnFYSlV094=/200x267/smart/https%3A%2F%2Fsheerluxe.com%2Fsites%2Fsheerluxe%2Ffiles%2Farticles%2F2026%2F09%2Fsl-site-assets-020926-thumb-luxe-list-2.jpg) [Culture](/culture) / 02 September 2026 [## The Luxe List: September ](/culture/the-luxe-list-september-0) ![The Gold Edition Hot List ](https://media.sheerluxe.com/9mgRYt6AVBR_KA9qTjczNSh_tBo=/200x267/smart/https%3A%2F%2Fsheerluxe.com%2Fsites%2Fsheerluxe%2Ffiles%2Farticles%2F2026%2F08%2Fgold-site-assets-0826-thumb-hero-hot-list.jpg) [Travel & Culture](/gold/travel-culture)/ 17 August 2026 [## The Gold Edition Hot List ](/culture/the-gold-edition-hot-list-3) ![This Luxury Car Will Change The Way You Think About Electric Driving](https://media.sheerluxe.com/g7TtDNkf3HJLqJlWYDwcNP4SIpo=/200x267/smart/https%3A%2F%2Fsheerluxe.com%2Fsites%2Fsheerluxe%2Ffiles%2Farticles%2F2026%2F08%2Fsl-site-assets-100826-thumb-porsche-com.jpg) [Culture](/culture) / 10 August 2026 [## This Luxury Car Will Change The Way You Think About Electric Driving ](/culture/this-luxury-car-will-change-the-way-you-think-about-electric-driving) ![The Luxe List: August](https://media.sheerluxe.com/HdnnnG3O3dwyIjhS1xuAaYWzCeY=/200x267/smart/https%3A%2F%2Fsheerluxe.com%2Fsites%2Fsheerluxe%2Ffiles%2Farticles%2F2026%2F08%2Fsl-site-assets-030826-thumb-luxe-list-more-to-come.jpg) [Culture](/culture) / 03 August 2026 [## The Luxe List: August ](/culture/the-luxe-list-august-0) ![The Gold Edition Hot List](https://media.sheerluxe.com/QtspAJOWa8laOtECN_wp-0cN8G4=/200x267/smart/https%3A%2F%2Fsheerluxe.com%2Fsites%2Fsheerluxe%2Ffiles%2Farticles%2F2026%2F07%2Fsl-gold-200726-site-assets-hot-list-thumb.jpg) [Travel & Culture](/gold/travel-culture)/ 20 July 2026 [## The Gold Edition Hot List ](/culture/the-gold-edition-hot-list-2) Share This Story [Facebook ](https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?display=popup&redirect_uri=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com&u=https%3A%2F%2Fsheerluxe.com%2Fculture%2Fthe-love-island-villa-is-harder-to-get-into-than-cambridge&t=The+Love+Island+Villa+Is+Harder+To+Get+Into+Than+Cambridge) [ Pinterest ](https://www.pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fsheerluxe.com%2Fculture%2Fthe-love-island-villa-is-harder-to-get-into-than-cambridge&description=The+Love+Island+Villa+Is+Harder+To+Get+Into+Than+Cambridge&media=) [ E-mail ]() DISCLAIMER: We endeavour to always credit the correct original source of every image we use. 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