“I’ve got it wrong so many times, when a couple [who meet on the show] stay together for a long time afterwards. It doesn’t matter what your intentions are, really, going into the show – you could find love, as that’s the environment you’re in and you’re around other people like you.”

While the Australian spinoff is largely faithful to the original Love Island premise (which began in the UK in 2015), there are a few differences. For example, the “truth bike” – a challenge in which contestants must truthfully answer questions put to them by their fellow “islanders” (while on an exercise bike) – is not featured in the UK format. The participants’ willingness to speak openly on the bike, as if they’re hooked up to an invisible “lie-detector machine”, often catches Monk off-guard, she admits.

Much to fans’ chagrin, Love Island Australia has also been deprived of Casa Amor – a key feature of the UK show – since 2021. The concept typically occurs halfway through the season, with either the girls or the boys being carted off to a new villa. Once separated, both groups are introduced to several new contestants of the opposite sex, putting their existing relationships to the test. The original islanders then have the option to “recouple” with their new connection, or remain in their existing couple. If one chooses to “stick” while the other “twists” – you get the idea. Drama galore.

However, this season Casa Amor is back: with a rebrand.

“‘Hotel Amor’ sees couples sent away for one night in a hotel – but in the couples the audience thinks they should be in, not the couple they’re currently in,” Monk explains. “No cameras allowed. I thought nothing would happen – but no, it does.”

In a nutshell, imagine your new partner spending the night, alone, in a hotel with a person your friends think they’re better suited to. Yikes.

“You know that saying, ‘There’s no honour among thieves?’ One always tells. One person always talks, and it all comes out,” Monk laughs.

This season will also feature “Love Island Gods”, who are contestants from other international iterations of the show. The male “Love God”, Steph Blackos, hails from France and appeared on its second season, while the female “Love God”, Sydney Paight, was on season four of Love Island USA.

“They come into the villa and hold a bit more power,” Monk explains, although she doesn’t elaborate on what this power might look like. “They didn’t find love on their season. We figured we’ve had some internationals before … so we were like, ‘Why not put some [more] internationals in there?’”

And for the sceptics who argue reality TV is, in fact, far from it, Monk reiterates that Love Island Australia is not scripted. While the drama can sometimes feel too juicy to be true, she claims everything on set plays out organically. Contestants aren’t fed lines, assigned “roles” or given manufactured plotlines, she says – despite the conspiracy theories you’ll find on Reddit.

“The only thing production has control over is a bombshell coming in, that kind of stuff. The rest is up to [the cast],” she says. “Being in that environment, it’s like being at school with your first crush – all of those emotions are so heightened … We also throw a lot at them to test their relationship.”

Plus, the cameras never stop rolling, she says, meaning it’s difficult for conversations to occur off-camera. While islanders have phones in the villa, they cannot text one another; only producers can contact them to announce an upcoming challenge, dumping or recoupling. These producers are also watching a 24-hour live feed of the happenings around the villa, meaning it’s virtually impossible to get away with furtive activity undetected.

However, unlike its UK counterpart, filming for Love Island Australia wrapped ahead of the premiere, although the winning couple has yet to be determined; that decision will be made by the public via a nationwide vote. While Monk has previously had inklings as to who might be crowned victors of the villa, this season, she admits she has no idea which of the top three will take the title.

“I’m not even like, ‘Maybe these two?’ I don’t know.”

Monk also becomes personally invested in the villa’s shenanigans, often staying on set to watch the livestream unfold with a “cheeseboard and champagne”.

“Who stays at their job? What a nerd. I can’t peel myself away,” she laughs.

As for her relationships with the contestants themselves, Monk says she tries to be “their friend” as opposed to the “scary”, elusive figure who only appears as the bearer of bad news. As someone who cut her teeth on the singing competition Popstars Australia in 2000 (she won as a member of the short-lived girl group Bardot), Monk is no stranger to reality TV. She went on to participate in 2015′s The Celebrity Apprentice Australia – and won – followed by a stint as the titular Bachelorette on The Bachelorette Australia and a turn on The Masked Singer. Monk has appeared as both a contestant and judge on Lego Masters, and has starred in a plethora of game and quiz shows: think Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, Have You Been Paying Attention? and All Star Family Feud.

“For me, [the job] is like, so stress-free … it’s one of the best jobs,” she says excitedly.

“I have to turn up, do a slow-motion walk, go in there, talk for a bit, and then go home. [Getting to] watch [the contestants] kind of bloom into something as well … just watching them do their thing is so entertaining and fun.”

Interestingly, Monk believes social media can be a helping hand for newly minted reality TV stars; an opinion that contradicts the idea social media only serves as an outlet to vilify, bully, and send vitriolic messages.

Yet according to Monk, social media means reality stars are no longer siloed, giving them the space to speak openly about their experiences and hit back at false narratives. The same cannot be said for those of yesteryear, she explains.

“I think it’s easier now. There was no [social media] when I did it. There wasn’t a lot of reality TV, so people didn’t know what it was like,” she muses.

“I think overnight fame – like, literally I went to sleep, and the world changed the next day – even though it’s good, like for success and whatever, it’s such a shock to your system, like a culture shock.

“It would have been nice to have a psychiatrist to talk you through it,” she continues. “Like now they’ve got psychiatrists on hand – they’re really hands-on, [they] check in and make sure everyone’s okay and prep them for it, and say, ‘This might come out about you’. We didn’t get that. I didn’t understand all the media and articles, and you couldn’t hit back because there was no social media.

“Back in the day, you’d get a bad headline … [and] you couldn’t really get your voice out there to defend yourself.”

But Monk says her experience with both sides of the coin endears her to the new generation of wide-eyed contestants. She empathises with the islanders and their emotional tumult, building a seemingly authentic rapport between host and small-screen hopeful.

“I have so much empathy for them. I see people watching reality TV at home, and they’re like, ‘Oh, God, they’re overreacting there’. And I’m like, ‘No, when you’re in it, every emotion is so heightened, because that’s what these shows do – the amount of times on reality TV I’ve run to the bathroom and cried,” she says.

“It can be quite emotional.”

Season six of Love Island Australia is available to stream on TVNZ+ from October 29.

Lana Andelane is an entertainment and lifestyle journalist who joined the Herald in 2024. She was previously lifestyle editor at Newshub, where she began her career as a news producer in 2019. She enjoys writing about music, pop culture, fashion and beauty.