Five million see Middlemiss and Cosgrave win Celebrity Love Island

by Sam Matthews, Brand Republic 21-Jun-05, 12:30

LONDON - Geordie TV presenter Jayne Middlemiss and nightclub owner Fran Cosgrave won the £100,000 prize on 'Celebrity Love Island' as the series came to a finale with a peak of 5.3m viewers last night.

The hour-and-a-half-long episode from 9pm averaged 5m viewers as Middlemiss pipped former Atomic Kitten Liz McClarnon to win favourite female, while Cosgrave beat former Manchester United footballer Lee Sharpe to be voted favourite male.

The couple share the £100,000 prize money, having beaten 13 other celebrities including glamour model Abi Titmuss, Beckham's "sleazy senorita" Rebecca Loos and George Best's son Calum to be crowned the top 'Celebrity Love Island' couple.

ITV also had cause to celebrate last night. The series kicked off five weeks ago to poor ratings averaging around the 2.5m mark, famously losing 1m in its debut episode. However, in the last two weeks, interest in the Fijian love fest has soared, picking up to average 3.6m viewers a night.

The main turning point for the show was the Titmuss-Middlemiss-Sharpe love triangle. Middlemiss fancied Sharpe, Sharpe fancied Titmuss and Titmuss was just glad to have someone to fancy her.

The antics of Calum Best and Loos, along with former 'Hollyoaks' actor Paul Danan and 'Playboy' model Nikki Ziering, also helped improve the show's ratings after both couples spent time alone in the bathroom during their flings.

Best and Loos snuck off to the bathroom for 18 minutes while Danan and Zierling clocked up four.

'Celebrity Love Island' has also managed to beat Channel 4 reality stalwart 'Big Brother' over four separate nights and garnered several hundred column inches in the tabloids.

Not bad for the show that Daily Mirror TV critic Jim Shelley once described as "so bad you can actually feel your brain cells eroding while you glare at it".

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