Location, location, location: a reason to oppose the Love Island favourites

Love Island has had its share of memorable moments over the previous four series, whether it be Montana Brown’s unique dancing during a rap, Malin Andersson’s return to confront Terry Walsh or the start of the bromance between Chris Hughes and Kem Cetinay.

Whether anything as notable occurs during the fifth instalment of the ITV2 show remains to be seen, although there are reasons to believe the show will be more tightly controlled this year.

The relatively recent deaths of former contestants Sophie Gradon and Mike Thalassitis are sure to put the show under more scrutiny than ever and this may factor into how staged this year’s edition is.

However, from a Love Island betting standpoint, things remain the same. The challenge is to identify who will be the Top Male and Top Female at the end of the series.

The first 12 contestants of the series have been confirmed, although as ever, there’s scope for more to be added to spice things up down the line.

It’s difficult to make any general assessments before the airing of the first episode, when there’s opportunity to make an initial diagnosis on personality and character.

However, historically contestants from the south have outshone those from up north in terms of success.

The Top Male and Top Female favourites hail from the north

Of the six winners from the last three series, two have come from Essex (Nathan Massey, Kem Cetinay), two from Kent (Cara De La Hoyde, Jack Fincham) and one from East London (Dani Dyer).

The only exception in this period was Wales’ Amber Davies in Series 3.

Max Morley in Series 1 remains the only winner to date who wasn’t a member of the initial cast and so there is logic to backing a contestant from the south to win from the get go.

Essex and Kent involvement is non-existent this year, meaning that siding with one of the three Londoners could be a shrewd move.

These are Anna Vakili (5/1 to be Top Female), Joe Garratt and Sherif Lane (9/2 and 10/1 respectively to be Top Male).

Looking at things from a geographical angle is bad news for the leading contenders in each of these Love Island betting markets.

Amber Rose Gill is favourite to be Top Female at 3/1 and hails from Newcastle, with Manchester’s Tommy Fury (3/1) leading the way early on to be Top Male.