Britain 2018: More apply for TV’s Love Island than Oxbridge!

And it gets 1m more viewers than BBC Suffragettes documentary

MOST of us might balk at the prospect of cavorting around in risque challenges – and even having sex – in front of the television cameras.

But the idea certainly hasn’t put off the hopefuls queueing up to be contestants on Love Island.

For the tawdry ITV2 reality show’s latest series attracted more than 85,000 applicants – more than twice the 40,000 who applied this year to go to either Oxford or Cambridge university.

And to underline the popularity of the programme’s unsavoury antics, Monday night’s first episode attracted more than 2.8million viewers, a record for the minority channel. By comparison, a mere 1.7million tuned in to Lucy Worsley’s documentary about the Suffragettes – celebrating votes for women – that aired on BBC1 at the same time.

Love Island follows young singletons living in a villa in Majorca under constant surveillance, with nightvision cameras filming their bedroom antics.

To stay in the competition, they have to complete explicit challenges and form relationships. But the couples frequently swap amid a continuous process of dating, break-ups and recoupling. The winning pair, as voted by the public, take home a prize of £50,000.

Yesterday BBC1’s Breakfast presenter Dan Walker questioned why so many were willing to expose themselves to the seamy side of reality TV.

He wrote on Twitter: ‘I’ve just read that more people applied for #LoveIsland this year than Oxford & Cambridge! What is happening to us?’

But some criticised Walker’s remark, claiming that while Oxbridge is elitist and costs tens of thousands of pounds, appearing on Love Island can bring money and fame.

Monday’s opening episode of the fourth series, which will air each evening for eight weeks, showed the men choosing scantily clad women they wanted to share a bed with.

Contestants include Dr Alex George, 27, who is taking eight weeks off from his job in a hospital A&E department to appear. In last night’s second show, he was seen passionately kissing a 21-year-old model.

Tonight another unlikely contestant will arrive at the Spanish villa – a solicitor who quit her prestigious job to go on the programme.

Rosie Williams, who calls herself ‘ legally brunette’, spent eight years training at law school before qualifying as a brief in March.

Miss Williams, 26, said she thought her former colleagues would be shocked to see her on the show. ‘I’m definitely not your typical solicitor,’ she said.

‘I don’t dress or act like one. I don’t feel like you should change yourself to fit a stereotype.’ Last night the 11 contestants had to take part in a ‘ kiss and tell’ challenge which saw them try to guess ‘scandalous secrets’ about each other.

They had to read anonymous facts about their peers before kissing the person they thought the fact was about.

These ‘secrets’ included clues Briefed for fun: Solicitor Rosie Williams, 26. Left: Dr Alex George such as ‘this boy has had a threesome with his friend and a girl’ and ‘this girl can’t remember all the names of the people she has slept with’.

But despite its unedifying nature, the programme is not just watched by hordes of teenagers.

Labour MP Jess Phillips, 36, tweeted her insights about the show following Monday night’s programme. She wrote: ‘Just caught up on #LoveIsland I’m team Kendall. If I have to listen to Eyal being “deep” for even one more evening I’ll be switching off.

‘I bet he plays Chili Peppers on the guitar on a beach and owns a [Lamborghini] Diablo.’

And Lucy Powell, 43, Labour MP for Manchester Central, tweeted: ‘Good first episode of #loveisland Some good personalities.

‘ Faves so far: Dani & Jack, Kendall & Niall...’

Monday night’s 95- minute episode broke ITV2’s audience record – the 2.6million who watched last year’s Love Island final. In series three it took just one week for a couple – Dom Lever and Jess Shears – to have sex on the programme.

A total of 12 people were filmed having sex during the series, four couples during just one episode.

Nearly 100 complaints were made about the programme in 2017, including 26 about it being incompatible with ‘generally accepted standards’.

However, TV regulator Ofcom ruled that the two million viewers who regularly tune in expect to see adult content.

‘What is happening to us?’