TYRIQUE HYDE AND CATHERINE AGBAJE DEALT CRUSHING BLOW AHEAD OF LOVE ISLAND LAUNCH

Maya Jama is returning as the host of Love Island and will welcome the hopeful new islanders to their new homes for the next eight weeks.

However just hours before the show airs on ITV2, two islanders have been dealt a crushing blow by bookmakers Betfair.

For Tyrique Hyde and Catherine Agbaje their odds of making the final and becoming the latest winners are not looking good.

Tyrique's odds currently stand at 4/1 and is closely followed by George Fenson who has the same odds.

Catherine's odds stand at 5/1 with Jess Harding and Ruchee Gurung hot on her tail with odds of 4/1.

Betfair spokesperson Sam Rosbottom said: "With the summer series of Love Island starting tonight, Mitchel Taylor and Molly Marsh are the favourites to be the male and female winners.

"Andre Furtado follows behind at 10/3, with George Fensom at 4/1. Looking at who could challenge Molly in the villa, model Ella Thomas is 3/1 to go all the way, while Jess Harding and Ruchee Gurung are both 4/1."

Sheffield-born Gas Engineer Mitchel Taylor is leading the boys and has the best odds to win the show standing at 11/4.

For the girls, it's influencer Molly Marsh with matching odds to Mitchel to go the whole way and win the series.

Speaking ahead of the series return, Maya admitted that she felt like a little sister to the contestants and felt the need to take them under her wing.

She said: "We don't speak so much when we're filming but when they come out and on Aftersun and stuff that's when I can actually bond with them, and we have little chats and I'm like 'are you alright? How's everything?'

"I don't know how it feels to be on a reality show, but I know when you do a big show and you come out everything is different... to be able to take in all the new attention and everything like that and they're so young and little."

Last year despite the drama and the odds against them, Ekin-Su Culculoglu and Davide Sanclimenti won the £50,000 cash prize.

The couple are still together unlike runners-up Gemma Owen and Luca Bish who split just a few months after they left the villa.

The recent Winter series saw Kai Fagan and Sanam Harrinan walk away with the £50,000 prize money.

Kai and Sanam are still madly in love with one another, often posting on their Instagram stories.

Runners-up Lana Jenkins and Ron Hall are also still together, with the pair travelling up and down the country to work through the long distance.

Love Island begins tonight at 9pm on ITV2.

2023-06-05T09:56:37Z dg43tfdfdgfd