By Bejay Browne.
The final episode of popular reality TV show, Love island (Hungary), which was filmed in Paphos and broadcast on Hungarian TV for last six weeks, culminated in a final live episode and an invitation only ‘wrap’ party in Peyia, Paphos.
Hundreds of crew members were in the town working on the live show for a month and a half, and put out a live show daily for six weeks. The large scale production, the first ever, ‘Love island Hungary’, used crew members from both Hungary and Cyprus.
Hungarian couple, Zsófinak and Ticinek, popular with viewers who had the deciding vote, were crowned the 2019 winners and shared the winning prize of 60,000 euros.
Cyprus based producer, Valentine Nonyela, responsible for bringing the show to Cyprus, told the Paphos Post that the production had been a success and that there are hopes to bring the hit series back to the island for a second season next year.
“It has been a good experience and everyone involved has been fantastic and worked so hard, let’s hope we can make it work here for a second season,” the local producer said.
This may depend on whether the production will qualify for an incentive scheme that was introduced last autumn to encourage film makers and production companies to the island.
Cyprus offers a cash rebate or tax credit of up to 35 per cent on qualifying local spending for feature films, TV series, animation, documentaries and other projects, provided they meet certain financial and other specific criteria. The minimum spend per film is €200,000 and €100,000 for TV projects. (Qualifying spending can be a maximum of 50 per cent of the total production budget.)
The Love Island cast is made up of young singles who came to Cyprus looking for love and romance.
The finale of the reality produced by Paprika Studios, in association with Unified Entertainment Productions, aired live from the villa and was followed by an invitation only after party, which was attended by the cast, all of the crew and other local guests. Some of the Hungarian crew also brought family members with them to enjoy the summer holidays on the island.
Hungarian TV billed the series, which is based on the British model, as the ‘matchmaking show on the island of love’. It garnered large and regular audiences as couples were filmed at the specially adapted privately owned villa in Peyia.
The couples also got out and about to see Paphos as they were filmed trying out various activities on dates around the district.
