which was the first ever love island

Quick answer

The very first Love Island was Celebrity Love Island , which launched in May 2005 on ITV in the UK. The rebooted, non‑celebrity version most people know today then began on 7 June 2015 on ITV2.

The original “first ever” Love Island (2005)

• Title: Celebrity Love Island
• First aired: Summer 2005 (May) on ITV (prime‑time, not ITV2).

• Location: Filmed in Fiji (Armstrong Island for series 1).

• Hosts: Patrick Kielty and Kelly Brook (with Fearne Cotton replacing Kelly in series 2).

• Winners: Jayne Middlemiss and Fran Cosgrave – notably, they weren’t actually a romantic couple, which is very different from today’s format.

This version ran for two celebrity series (2005 and 2006) before being taken off the air.

The modern Love Island era (from 2015)

When people say “first Love Island” now, they often mean the 2015 reboot , which created the current template:

• Title: Love Island (no “Celebrity” in the name)
• First aired: 7 June 2015 on ITV2.

• Host/Narrator: Caroline Flack (host) and Iain Stirling (narrator).

• Location: The villa was in Mallorca (later seasons moved to other spots like Cape Town and Fiji again).
• Winners: Jess Hayes and Max Morley – the first winners of the rebooted series.

This is the version that spawned all the international editions (USA, Australia, etc.) and the ongoing UK seasons.

TL;DR

• First ever Love Island ever made: Celebrity Love Island – 2005 , ITV, Fiji, won by Jayne & Fran.

• First of the current non‑celeb format: Love Island series 1 – 7 June 2015 , ITV2, Mallorca, won by Jess & Max.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.