It doesn’t happen every day that two of ITV’s biggest reality TV shows cross paths, but tonight, Big Brother UK fans pointed out a surprising link to Love Island.
Tonight’s episode saw the housemates involved in a shopping task where they became passengers and crew of a British Eyeways flight.
As they were simply called on to endure the duration of the flight to secure a luxury shopping budget, the housemates took on the roles of different passenger archetypes.
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While Caroline, Zelah and Richard led a stag do gang, Tate and Teja meant business and Marcus was given a baby doll to play a loving single father of a newborn.
The plastic baby rang a bell for some viewers who immediately noticed a resemblance to the infamous baby challenge from Love Island. The dating show normally tests whether the couples are ready for family life, entrusting a weeping baby doll to each of them.
This year’s Big Brother has its very own couple in Marcus and Elsa. Despite Elsa playing a backpacker on a gap year with Emily, she became Marcus’ doll’s unofficial stepmum as viewers compared them to two iconic Love Island couples.
ITV
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“Marcus and Elsa are giving this,” one person wrote on X alongside a clip of season 8 winners Davide and Ekin-Su, while someone else noticed a resemblance with Molly-Mae shouting at Tommy for endangering the doll.
“I’m getting flashbacks to love islands baby challenge,” a third viewer wrote.
“Why are we doing love island x big brother crossover?” was another viewer’s puzzled post.
“Elsa’s buzzing she made it to the baby challenge,” someone else joked, with another fan offering: “Marcus and Elsa thinks this is the baby challenge off love island, I’m sick.”
Someone else rejected the comparisons entirely, explaining that romantic relationships between the housemates have always been an important part of Big Brother.
“Look, I don’t care about the showmance but can we stop going on about love island! People have been having relationships on [Big Brother] since channel 4 days. It’s a social experiment & Love island didn’t [invent] the concept,” they wrote.
ITV
Despite Marcus and Elsa’s best parental efforts, all passengers decided to abandon the challenge and refused to sit down when the duration of the fake flight was extended to five hours.
“We’re leaving,” flight attendant Jenny screamed.
This decision left them with basic rations for the next week as tomorrow’s eviction promises to shake things up in the house.
Tate, Teja, Feyisola and Nancy are up for elimination, while Caroline’s two-week immunity is coming to an end.
Big Brother airs on ITV2 and ITVX from Sundays through Fridays, followed each night by Big Brother: Late & Live.
Read more Big Brother news on our dedicated homepage
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Reporter, Digital Spy
Stefania is a freelance writer specialising in TV and movies. After graduating from City University, London, she covered LGBTQ+ news and pursued a career in entertainment journalism, with her work appearing in outlets including Little White Lies, The Skinny, Radio Times and Digital Spy.Â
Her beats are horror films and period dramas, especially if fronted by queer women. She can argue why Scream is the best slasher in four languages (and a half).Â