Scores of Love Island Malta viewers crowded the reality show’s finalists on Thursday, excited to meet and take pictures with them after the show’s finale.

Fans had the chance to meet the participants of the popular reality show at The Point shopping centre in Sliema.

The show aired almost every day between May and June. For six weeks, 19 single people lived in the Love Island villa hoping to find love while being watched on TV by much of Malta’s population, particularly the young. As new contestants were brought in, others were eliminated if they failed to couple.

“You go in there being a nobody and you come out a somebody,” Gabrielle Cook, the show’s first runner-up told Times of Malta.

"It's honestly an amazing experience to have so much love. It’s a little bit overwhelming but I’m enjoying the experience,” she said.  

Sven Fabri who coupled up with Gabrielle in the villa said he was expecting to be noticed by some people after leaving the villa “but not this much”. 

“I didn’t think the show was so popular,” he said, adding that contestants had no idea what was going on outside the villa during their stay.  

“I was expecting to get back to my routine exactly after (the show), but in reality, you can’t, it’s very hard to start the same life you had before,” he said. 

He said he grew a lot as a person during the six weeks he spent in the villa.  

All four couples, who managed to remain in the villa for the show’s entire run, were at the 'meet and greet' event.

Sven and Gabrielle, Kyle Curmi and Marie Christine Caruana, Dale Mallia and Nicola Warr, and Sunday's winners Allen Piscopo and Chelsea Bagnall-Falzon, took time to speak to fans who turned up to see them. 

The support has been incredible, said Allen and Chelsea.

“It’s very overwhelming but it’s amazing,” Chelsea said.  

“I’m really grateful for that experience, it was once in a lifetime,” Allen said.  

The couple said they enjoyed spending time with other contestants in the villa but they were now happy to be returning to their lives outside the villa.  

“It's good to be around my friends and family again,” Chelsea said.   

Allen said he was excited to get back to his routine after spending six weeks in the villa.  He said he enjoyed returning to work and was looking forward to spending time in the gym again. 

The show’s first season proved to be very popular with Maltese viewers with almost a third of the country, an estimated 160,000, tuning in to watch Love Island Malta’s first-ever episode. 

Organisers said that according to a recent survey, 170,000 people watched parts of the show.  

The show was especially popular among young people. Some 93% of the surveyed 16 to 25-year-olds said they had watched the show at some point. 

Twenty-year-old Javier Farrugia was one of the show’s passionate fans. 

“I watched them on television for six weeks and I wanted to see them in real life today. I used to watch the programme every day, I never missed one,” he said.  

Eighteen-year-old Maclen Farrugia said he went to the shopping centre to meet Dale and Nicola.  

“I always wanted to meet him (Dale) and when I saw the post (on social media) I took the opportunity. He’s really nice in person in real life,” he said.

Khadyja Salouani, a casual viewer of the programme was shopping at The Point when she stumbled upon the islanders.  

“I was lucky to meet them,” she said, adding that she took a photo with the contestants.  

“If I was a bit younger, I would have applied for the programme,” she said.