Love Island All Stars Season 3 has a new air date confirmed after being delayed due to wildfires in South Africa.
The series was initially scheduled to premiere on January 12; however, a delay was announced days before the premiere, following the outbreak of fires near the Love Island All Stars villa.
Now that the fires have eased, the show’s host, Maya Jama, has revealed that filming has begun and announced a new premiere date.
“Hi, everyone. I’ve got some very exciting news. I can officially announce, exclusively, that we are back up and running,” she began in an Instagram clip.
“I’m obviously in glam. I’m gonna go to the villa and start filming in a minute, and you can watch us on ITV2 tomorrow night at 9pm. Love Island All Stars is back!”
With the time difference, the premiere converts to 8am, Friday, January 16 AEDT.
What happened with the Love Island All Stars delay?
The postponement of Love Island All Stars Season 3 was officially announced on the show’s official Instagram account on January 10.
“Further to a production evacuation owing to ongoing wildfires in the area, our assessment of the location site has concluded that filming will need to be postponed,” the statement began.
“Health and safety is our greatest priority and will always come first, and therefore, the transmission of Love Island All Stars will be delayed until a date to be confirmed.”
Multiple fires have been burning through the Eastern and Western Cape in South Africa. The Love Island All Stars villa sits about an hour from Cape Town in the Western Cape.
Residents of Zwartenbosch, Oyster Bay Road, Kromme River and Riverside areas in the Eastern Cape were recently evacuated.
The #LoveIsland Villa in South Africa has been evacuated due to Cape wildfires. Filming was supposed to have started with the All Stars entering today but this has been postponed, with producers hoping it’ll be safe to get up and running tomorrow before Monday’s launch. pic.twitter.com/r0OPChSCjV
— sᴜᴘᴇʀ ᴛᴠ(@superTV247) January 10, 2026
Unlike Love Island Australia, the UK iteration is filmed and aired live, meaning that this year’s cast weren’t able to enter the villa because of the fires.
While the official word from ITV — the production company behind Love Island UK — was that the season would be postponed, when no new air date was released days after the delay announcement, fans began speculating that it may not happen at all.
“Probably fully cancelled, unfortunately. Hope everyone is safe though,” one person wrote on Reddit.
“If [the] situation is anything like here in Australia, unfortunately, it will be cancelled. We have massive bushfires here at the moment, and it’s not an easy task to get them under control; it takes weeks, IF the weather is playing along,” another added.
A third user, who claimed they work in TV production, said that just shifting the Islanders to another international Love Island villa (the Australian villa is in Spain) isn’t as easy as one may think.
“I would not be surprised if this ends up being cancelled outright,” they wrote.
“TBH, this is not a simple case of moving filming dates. Sponsor contracts are locked to specific delivery windows and once those slip, everything has to be renegotiated.
“Also, [finding] an alternative villa is only part of the issue. Any location has to be fully TV-ready, cleared legally, crewed, insured and technically set up, which takes weeks. On top of that, shipping equipment and securing the correct filming permissions internationally is not something you can fast-track.”
However, fortunately for fans, the Reddit theories were incorrect, and this year’s cast will be shooting their shot for the second (or third!) time in the Love Island villa.
Stream Love Island All Stars Season 1 and 2 on 9Now.
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