Strict Love Island mealtime rule explains why we never see them eat lunch or dinner

The 13th instalment of Love Island UK is well underway, with bombshells, dumpings, and heated exchanges already unfolding in the famous ITV2 villa.

Whether you’re a loyal long-time fan or have only picked up the reality TV show this season, you may have noticed that you only ever see the contestants making and eating one meal: breakfast.

“So if you enter Love Island, it’s only pancake and fruit you’ll be eating,” typed one recent viewer via social media.

Jasmine and Lorenzo from season 13 of the UK series (ITV)

You may be surprised, but the cast aren’t just eating eggs and drinking coffee and calling it a day — that would be ludicrous.

Instead, they are chowing down on lunch in the sun, enjoying dinner in the evening, and procuring snacks throughout the day if they are feeling a little bit peckish.

Former Islanders have opened up on why we don't see them eat any other meal than breakfast (ITV)

So, why don’t you see them eat anything other than breakfast? And what is on the menu for the first meal of the day? Former Islanders from past series have revealed all.

Items Islanders can eat at breakfast

Ex-contestants have previously alleged that breakfast is the only meal that Islanders are forced to cook or rustle up for themselves.

Taste of Home has previously mused on why breakfast its shown, claiming that the simple act of bringing someone breakfast or a cup of coffee ‘carries a lot of weight’.

“We get to watch who brings who breakfast, and it is a great way for the men to show special attention to the woman—or women!—they’re interested in,” it wrote.

“Some islanders are better cooks than others, but everyone gets fed.”

Delish reported that only a handful of items are on offer for the cast to cook, including eggs and bacon in addition to fruit, yoghurt, pancake mix, and fresh coffee.

Contestants can apparently request specific breakfast items (ITV)

In an interview with Closer Magazine, Paul Knops, who appeared on series four of the programme in 2015, said that if you’re sick of the options, then production will occasionally consider food requests.

“You can actually request food and they'll put it in the fridge overnight,” he claimed.

Olivia Attwood, who appeared on series three, also said that producers sometimes take the initiative and will ask the Islanders what they want for breakfast the next day instead.

Girls and boys can eat breakfast together - but not other meals (ITV)

The boys and girls eat separately

Jack Keating and Samuel Agbiji, who came into the 2022 show as bombshells, said that before they arrived, they wondered why viewers ‘never see people have dinner or lunch on the show’.

“Before going in I always wondered how and when do you eat?,” said Keating.

“You actually get catering for lunch and the lads and the girls sit separately at the time so there’s no villa chat. It was really hard.”

Agbiji added: "It was mad because when you’re eating you want to talk about what’s going on but you can’t because it affects the filming.

UK Season eight winner Ekin-Su Cülcüloğlu has also previously discussed meal times, describing them as ‘not glamorous’.

Ekin-Su Cülcüloğlu described meal times as 'not glamorous' (ITV)

“[Food] comes in a silver tray like school dinner,” she told US Weekly.

“You sit in the kitchen—boys on one side, girls on the other side. We’re not allowed to talk about the show. We’re not allowed to talk to each other.”

Meanwhile, former ITV contestant Lucinda Strafford gave Closer the lowdown on exactly where they eat their off-camera dinner.

"We get pull out chairs and tables and we eat our lunch just outside the kitchen on the patio area,” she said.

Watch series 13 of Love Island UK every night at 9pm on ITV2 and ITVX.