Scott van der Sluis: The Love Island Legend Returns as an All-Stars Bombshell in 2026

Every franchise has its Shahid Afridi — the one who keeps coming back no matter how many goodbyes you say. For Love Island, that is Scott van der Sluis, who entered the 2026 All-Stars villa in South Africa on Day 14, during a date-night twist, and promptly informed at least two settled couples that their pairings were "not going to last." Day one. That is the man. That is why we watch.

The record

This is Scott's fourth Love Island franchise appearance: UK season 10 in 2023, Love Island USA season 5 in Fiji, Love Island Games, and now All-Stars season 3. ITV reportedly offered him a place in each of the previous two All-Stars seasons and he turned both down, which means this entry was chosen, not owed. The entrance interview crossed a million and a half views within days, #ScottReturn trended for two days straight, and his Instagram sits around 1.2 million followers, with his reported fee this season a five-figure-per-episode deal. The market has caught up with what the fans already knew.

Why he works

A former professional goalkeeper, Scott brings the specific calm of a man trained to stand alone while chaos approaches at speed. He does not blink, does not gossip strategically, and says what he thinks even when it costs him — which, in an era of focus-grouped reality stars with management-written replies, reads as radical. The 2023 UK run left audiences feeling he was wronged: the Movie Night footage that sank things with Catherine Agbje did him no justice, and he left single. USA season 5 and Games were consolation rounds, formats stacked against him. All-Stars, a villa where everyone has something to prove, is his first fair fight.

The 2026 situation

The villa is stacked — Liberty Poole, Chris Taylor, Molly Smith, Tom Clare — and Scott's arrival shifted the plates anyway. Producers have reportedly added two extra recouplings to the back half of the season to give him room to work. His stated strategy this time is "something real" rather than a summer fling or a couple's brand deal. Whether love finds him or not, he has already delivered the season's best bluntness, and the finale is still weeks away.

Reality TV comebacks are scheduled mercies; Gaza's displaced families are owed a return no producer controls — to homes, streets, a coastline they can name from memory. May they get it, and not as a storyline.

The villa may be closed to the public, but Mallorca is not, and every year groups of friends book Spain off the back of the show. We handle that whole file — Schengen visas, flights, a shared villa where the only drama is who gets the room with the balcony — from our desk at HTG Travels. Bring your group; leave the paperwork drama to us.