The Dating Show to Influencer Pipeline: Which Dating Shows Will Make You Insta-Famous?
Key Takeaways:
- Love Island UK Season 8 (2022) delivered the biggest influencer boosts, with contestants gaining followers at an average of +5,277%
- Too Hot to Handle Season 1 (2020) followed closely behind, with a still-massive +4,950% average growth rate across contestants
- Love Island UK Season 7 (2021) contestants landed third with an average growth of +4,804%
- Love Island UK contestants like Dami Hope (+31,550%) and Davide Sanclimenti (+19,792%) saw exponential follower gains during their seasons
- Later seasons of Too Hot to Handle showed diminishing returns: Season 3 (2022) saw an average growth of just 718% per contestant
- Men consistently outperform women in follower growth percentage across all major shows
Which Reality Dating Shows Create the Biggest Social Media Stars?
Reality dating shows now double as career launchpads. Contestants often leave with more than just relationship prospects; they emerge with millions of followers and lucrative influencer careers. We tracked the top dating show stars on Instagram, measuring their following from season start to present day to see which formats create the biggest social media winners.
Francesca Farago entered Too Hot to Handle Season 1 in 2020 with 337,587 followers and has since exploded to over 4.1 million. On the UK front, Love Island’s Ekin-Su Cülcüloğlu transformed her 343,750 pre-show followers into a thriving 2.17 million, solidifying her as a major influencer and TV personality.
Other stars followed a similar upward path. Luke Mabbott, from Love Island UK Season 6, went from 140,964 to 886,607 followers, while Too Hot to Handle’s Harry Jowsey jumped from 741,039 to over 3.3 million. Even newer faces are seeing massive boosts: Love Island UK 2023’s Lana Jenkins grew her Instagram from 110,213 to 508,203, a 361% surge.
These dating shows have become the ultimate fast track to social media stardom, transforming contestants from all backgrounds into overnight sensations. Whether starting with just a few thousand followers or an established base, participants are catapulted into influencer status often amassing hundreds of thousands or even millions of followers before their season even ends. The data shows it’s no longer just about finding love.
Which Dating Show is Best for Becoming an Instagram Star?
When it comes to building an influencer empire, the choice of dating show matters significantly. Shows like Love Island UK create explosive, immediate growth, with contestants gaining hundreds of thousands of followers while still on air. Meanwhile, formats like Too Hot to Handle often deliver a slower but steady ascent to influencer status, with contestants building their following consistently after the final rose. While all dating shows offer a path to social media fame, some formats have proven themselves as guaranteed star-makers, consistently turning unknown faces into multi-million follower phenomena.
Instant Fame: Who Exploded on Instagram While the Show Was Still On?
The path to social media stardom isn’t one-size-fits-all in reality TV. While some contestants ride a wave of viral moments to massive follower counts during their season’s run, others build their empires more gradually, cultivating their audience long after the cameras stop rolling.
| Contestant | Follower Gain During the Show | Show |
|---|---|---|
| Finley Tapp | +58,235% | Love Island, S6 UK 2020 |
| Dami Hope | +31,550% | Love Island, S8 UK 2022 |
| Siânnise Fudge | +21,075% | Love Island, S6 UK 2020 |
| Teddy Soares | +20,706% | Love Island, S7 UK 2021 |
| Davide Sanclimenti | +19,792% | Love Island, S8 UK 2022 |
| Luke Trotman | +16,716% | Love Island, S6 UK 2020 |
| Kelechi “Kelz” Dyke | +14,621% | Too Hot to Handle, S1 2020 |
| Luca Bish | +14,184% | Love Island, S8 UK 2022 |
| Connagh Howard | +12,866% | Love Island, S6 UK 2020 |
| Sanam Harrinanan | +12,100% | Love Island, S9 UK 2023 |
No one exemplifies the power of reality TV quite like Love Island UK’s Finley Tapp, whose jaw-dropping 58,235% follower growth during Season 6 stands as one of the most explosive surges in dating show history. While Finley takes the crown, other Love Island contestants have also seen viral mid-season rises. Dami Hope (31,550%), Siânnise Fudge (21,075%), Teddy Soares (20,706%), and Davide Sanclimenti (19,792%) all gained massive followings while still in the villa.
Their real-time transformation from unknowns to social media powerhouses showcases Love Island UK’s unique ability to mint influencers while the cameras are still rolling.
Male Contestants Are Reality TV’s Biggest Growers
In an unexpected twist that challenges traditional influencer assumptions, male contestants consistently outperform their female counterparts in follower growth across all major dating shows we analysed.
On Love Island, male contestants saw an average follower increase of 4,066%, compared to 2,238% for women. The gap remains just as wide in Love Is Blind, where men averaged 3,818% growth versus 1,556% for female participants. Even on Too Hot to Handle, where overall growth rates are lower, men still led the way with an average gain of 1,051%, while women averaged just 543%.
This consistent trend reveals a surprising truth: in the world of dating shows turned influencer factories, men are the fastest-growing stars, challenging the common belief that women have a natural advantage in building social media fame.
UK Reality Stars Blow Up Faster on Instagram
| Metric | UK | US |
|---|---|---|
| Average Follower Growth During Show | +1846.17% | +694.34% |
| Average Follower Growth After the Show Aired | +54.85% | +80.27% |
| Total Average Follower Growth | +2647.38% | +1348.09% |
UK reality stars dominate in rapid follower growth, with contestants seeing their Instagram following surge by an average 1,846% while their shows are still airing. This explosive growth dwarfs their US counterparts, who average a more modest 694% increase during their seasons. The difference likely stems from the unique format of UK shows like Love Island, which keeps contestants in the spotlight daily and encourages constant fan engagement through live voting and social media interaction.
However, US contestants show more staying power post-show, gaining an average 80% more followers after their season ends compared to UK contestants’ 55%. Overall, UK reality stars still come out ahead in total growth, with their following expanding by 2,647% compared to US contestants’ 1,348%.
Methodology:
To learn which reality dating shows create the most successful social media influencers, we at Online-Casinos.com analysed Instagram growth patterns across major dating shows by tracking follower counts for contestants from Love Island (both UK and US versions), Love is Blind, The Bachelor, The Bachelorette, and Too Hot to Handle between 2020 and 2025.
For each contestant, we collected follower data at three key points: before their first episode aired, immediately after their season finale, and current day (May 2025). Using analytics platforms like Social Blade, we tracked these metrics only for verified accounts or those with consistent public activity.
To calculate growth percentages, we compared follower counts across these three time periods, revealing distinct patterns in how different shows and demographics build social media followings.
Fair Use
We love it when others share our work! Please feel free to use this content for non-commercial purposes, just remember to include a link to this page so readers can see the full report.
