The stars of Winter Love Island are loved up and back in the UK but concerns are rising over the future of the show.

Following a highly anticipated return after the pandemic, Kai Fagan and Sanam Harrinanan were revealed as this year's winners, taking home the £50,000 on Monday, March 13. 

The pair were joined by fellow contestants, Ron Hall and Lana Jenkins, Shaq Muhammad and Tanya Manhenga, and Tom Clare and Samie Elishi in the final.

While the couples have returned from South Africa very much in love, they have left the villa with somewhat underwhelming Instagram followers.

The drop in social media following for this show's latest stars has been put down to a change in ITV rules that stopped friends and family from building their social media presence while the reality stars were on the show.

In fact, none of this year's contestants have left the ITV2 show with more than a million followers on the Meta-owned platform Instagram.

This year's most successful contestant on social media is Jessie Renee Wynter who previously appeared on the Australian version of the series before the ban was in place.

This year's winners Kai and Sanam jetted back to the UK with 173,000 and 153,000 Instagram followers respectively the day after they left the villa.

A source told the Mirror that the number of singles have already "slumped" following the latest series.

"There are fewer applicants for Love Island this summer," a source tells Daily Mail.

"The ban has exposed what we all know: that the show is all about landing lucrative deals, not finding love."

A spokesman for ITV told the Mirror: "Love Island is primarily about people looking for love.

The news follows an announcement last week that Pretty Little Thing - who has previously signed Molly-Mae Hague and Gemma Owen from the show - will not sign any of the stars from the latest Winter series.

Insiders have reportedly claimed to that up an-and-coming influencers are being put off applying for the next series as a result.

Love Island 2023 applications are open

Applications for Love Island 2023's summer series are now open.

You need to be 18 or over and terms and conditions apply.

You can submit your application via the ITV website.