'Love Island' bosses say this year's show is going to be "sexier" than ever.

Love Island star Eyal Booker

Love Island star Eyal Booker

Paul Mortimer has big plans to ensure the ratings for the upcoming series of the popular dating show - in which individuals couple up in the hope of finding love - beat rival Channel 5 show 'Big Brother', which includes making the series "longer" and the challenges "bigger".

He told the Daily Star newspaper: "Five are getting beaten every summer.

"'Love Island' is easily our number one show now so we are investing in it a bit more heavily this year.

"It's going to be a little bit longer. It's going to be bigger and sexier."

When it comes to being more popular than the reality shows already on TV, Paul believes the thing that sets 'Love Island' apart is its flexibility, and says fans of the show are already hooked enough that they don't have to change the formula - including a mix of live and pre-recorded footage - too much.

He added: "One of the freedoms is that they ['Love Island'] don't have a rigorous format whereby, 'It's Friday night so therefore its eviction night.'

"That puts pressure on you. We will have an eviction on a Tuesday if it's right.

"As for a live feed, 'Big Brother' stopped doing it at the point at which the audience got a bit fatigued by it.

"At the moment we don't feel like we need to pull any more things out the hat."

The BAFTA award-winning show has proven to be immensely popular with fans, and Paul has no fears about large numbers of people not tuning in this year.

He said: "'Love Island' has seemingly proven over the last three years that when we deliver good quality content that people want to watch and engage in, they will come back and watch it."