Viewers fall out of 'love' with island

ITV was yesterday forced to defend Celebrity Love Island after ratings fell by more than a million.

The second episode of the £15million reality show, which features 'celebrities' such as Abi Titmuss and Rebecca Loos battling it out for £100,000 prize money, had an average of four million viewers - down from 5.3million on Monday night.

It was even beaten by BBC1's Ten O'Clock News, as only one in five of the available audience tuned in.

Nevertheless ITV insisted that it was 'very, very pleased' with the show.

A spokesman said it had done 'fantastically well' for its 10pm slot. 'Normally we get only about two to three million viewers at that time,' she said.

However the ratings slump leaves ITV bosses with a significant headache.

As well as having invested millions of pounds, the channel has committed itself to broadcasting the show in prime time every night for the next five weeks.

Last night viewers saw hopes fade of romance between ex-Hollyoaks actor Paul Danan and Lady Isabella Hervey. Despite being locked together in the Love Shack, the It-girl proved immune to Danan's charms.