‘Love Island’ Narrator Iain Stirling, a Day in the Life: How the Comedian Pulls Double Duty for UK and USA

Perhaps as iconic as “Love Island USA” host Ariana Madix or fan-favorite islanders from across the seasons is narrator Iain Stirling, the snarky yet steady heartbeat of the reality dating franchise best known for his quips about the islanders’ questionable fashion choices or their not-so-stimulating conversations.

While the comedian has narrated “Love Island U.K.” for a decade since the show’s start in 2015, he began pulling double duty as the narrator for “Love Island USA” in 2022, when the spinoff series moved from CBS to Peacock. The gigs have lead to quite jam-packed days for Stirling, as the dating shows roll out in real-time.

The comic, who remains based in the U.K. as “Love Island USA” and “Love Island U.K.” film in Fiji and Mallorca, respectively, begins his day around 8 a.m. U.K. time with some parenting duties, breakfast and a gym session that takes him to around noon, when his work for “Love Island U.K.” begins. Stirling hops on a Zoom with writer Mark Busk-Cowley, who originated the “Love Island” format, and the duo write the four parts of “Love Island U.K.” until around 5:30 or 6 p.m.

As most people close out their day around 6 p.m., Stirling is in the thick of “Love Island” joke writing and narrating by dinnertime, when he takes a reprieve to make dinner with his wife and put his children to bed. Then, at 8:30 p.m., Stirling does it all again for “Love Island USA” as he hops on a Zoom with U.K. comic Steve Bugeja and American comic Caroline Hanes, who joins from Fiji.

“Love Island USA” is much longer than “Love Island U.K.” however, with the U.S. iteration broken into six rather than four acts that sometimes stretch into hour-and-a-half long episodes.

“There’s more voiceover, which is great — I get more times to be funny,” Stirling told TheWrap of “Love Island USA.” “We basically don’t stop right until 2:30 in the morning … then I finish at 2:30 and I go to bed, and then I wake up whenever a child decides it for me to wake up.”

Luckily, the Zoom calls feel much more “collaborative” than anything, with Stirling comparing the experience to “three friends just shooting the s–t, the same way that if you were watching ‘Love Island’ with your mates.” “We just sit and come up with some jokes, and then we’ll say some out loud, and some of them just instantly, you just notice something and you can do a joke,” he said.

Other times, Stirling admits the writers will get stumped, prompting them to watch a scene over and over again for 20 minutes brainstorming jokes to contribute.

“When Nic and Olandria are on the dock having a conversation for the 20th time, you’re like, ‘what is left to joke about with this?'” Stirling said. “Other times, obviously, there’s dates and … loads of new things that you can pick out on. It’s much easier.”

After narrating the franchise for over a decade, Stirling noted that “Love Island USA” feels markedly different this season as Gen Z islanders bring a level of fluidity — both in their relationships and sexuality — to the villa, which can be seen during the recent heart-rate challenge, when several female islanders shared kisses.

“As millennials, we were very like, ‘Get in a box … you’re with someone or you’re not, you’re chatting or you’re not, you like boys or you don’t,'” Stirling said. “The Gen Z ‘Love Island’ has started, and I think they’re bloody built for it … It’s a Gen Z takeover.”

The flexibility in connections has led to a different turn of events in “Love Island USA” this season, according to Stirling, especially with the Casa Amor twist. “Casa Amor is built on the romantic moment where the couple that has been the couple come out and they’re a couple together,” Stirling said. “We didn’t have that and we didn’t need it.”

Out of the Season 7 islanders, Stirling applauded Huda Mustafa, who was at the center of a dramatic and toxic relationship with Jeremiah Brown, for both making great TV, as well as being a grounding anchor for the show. “There’s that really human part of it where you’re cringing, remembering the 500 times you’ve absolutely been Huda in a relationship,” he added.

“Every main sitcom character has a flaw, one big issue that the minute they realize that’s their issue, the sitcom ends because it stops being funny,” Stirling said. “You can see she’s trying her absolute best to not follow the same path that she’s followed every single time, and she just can’t.”

“Love Island USA” streams every day but Wednesdays on Peacock.

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