Love Island's Sophie Monk breaks silence on Skye Wheatley replacement rumours

The highly-anticipated sixth season of Love Island Australia is set to premiere on Monday night with a brand new cast, a world-first twist, and plenty of spicy drama. While Sophie Monk is returning as host of the Channel Nine reality show, it was rumoured last month that she was being replaced by another outspoken TV star.

Daily Mail claimed that influencer and I'm A Celebrity winner Skye Wheatley was slated to take over the role in 2024, with Sophie leaving to “focus on other projects”. However, it was then reported that Skye had been taken out of the running because of how her appearance had changed after undergoing plastic surgery.

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Speaking with Yahoo Lifestyle ahead of the new season of Love Island, Sophie admits she had been curiously following along with the speculation online over the past few weeks.

“I saw the rumour by the time [Skye] had already been fired. So I was like, ‘Oh god, I didn’t even know this was happening’. But then I was like, ‘Well cool, I’ve still got my job, she’s been fired, apparently’,” she jokes. “I mean, it just makes me laugh.

“I didn't really know about her, but she's a gorgeous girl. She’s quite popular, didn’t she win I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here!? I mean, I'm sure she's gonna do great things anyway.”

Having been in the public eye for over two decades, Sophie admits she’s become accustomed to reading rumours about herself and her career.

“I feel like with most jobs I read that I'm being fired and replaced, and then I'm still here,” she remarks. “But you never know with this industry, it’s pretty crazy.

“But Love Island’s my favourite, I love doing it so much. And I care about the contestants a lot because I've been in so many reality shows myself. I really empathise with them hugely because I’ve been in their position.”

Sophie spills on Love Island 2024

Sophie teases that the upcoming season of Love Island Australia will be “the most entertaining” fans have ever seen. Two international ‘Love Island Gods’ from previous series have joined the cast, and the world-first ‘Hotel Amor’ is said to completely rock the Villa and send the contestants into a spiral.

“I feel like I say every season is the best season, but this is leaps and bounds the best,” she shares. “The cast were incredible in so many ways. Like, yeah they’re there for love, but they’re also so entertaining.

“I was waiting around after I worked, like at 12 o'clock at night I’d be watching them. It's just so good. There’s loads happening, there’s not one boring moment.”

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Sophie adds that this season is “so unpredictable” that not even she could pick which couple fans will vote to win.

“Usually in other seasons I can kind of go, ‘Obviously they're going to be top three or maybe even win it’ and you can kind of predict, but there is zero prediction in this,” she details. “This one I didn't pick the top three and I have zero idea who Australia’s gonna vote for. I couldn’t put any money on it, it’s just so tricky this one.

“There’s just so much happening. We definitely threw some stuff at them this year, because it's for their own good. You want to know whether you can be with this person or not, so we really test them.”

Love Island Australia 2024 premieres tonight 6pm AEDT on 9Now with new episodes from Monday to Thursday.

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