Why hundreds of Love Island fans are about to take over this unassuming Sydney pub
Exclusive: Most pubs brace for a quiet one on Monday nights, but head down to The Chippo Hotel on Monday, October 26 and you’ll find the Sydney venue packed to the rafters with fans ready to usher in a new season of Love Island Australia.
Publican Bhavani Baumann has promised fans themed cocktails and the first episode of the 2026 season on the big screen for the Sydney pub’s inaugural Love Island watch party.
This is what you can expect to see inside The Chippo Hotel when it hosts its inaugural Love Island Australia watch party Monday week. Bhavani Baumann
“This will be our first Love Island one, but we’ve done a lot of others; The Summer I Turned Pretty, Off Campus, Heated Rivalry,” she told nine.com.au.
It all started when Baumann’s 19-year-old daughter suggested the pub host a watch party for one episode of The Summer I Turned Pretty, which exploded in popularity last year.
Baumann was hesitant at first. What if she set up Chippendale pub for a night of fangirl antics and no one came?
“Then we did it, and we had like 600 girls turn up,” she said.
“They were screaming at the screen, it was hilarious. My poor boys behind the bar were like, ‘What the hell is this?’ because the girls were just so emotionally invested.”
Before long, The Chippo was hosting weekly watch parties and Baumann had to schedule multiple viewing sessions to accommodate the sheer flood of people who wanted to attend.
Monday week will mark the pub’s first foray into reality TV watch parties, and where better to start than with the new season of Love Island Australia?
Even Sophie Monk has endorsed the event, commenting “This is awesome!” with a cheering and heart emoji on The Chippo Hotel’s Facebook post about it.
The best part? It’s totally free to attend.
Publican Bhavani Baumann wants The Chippo Hotel to feel like a safe, inclusive space for young women wanting to indulge in their favourite shows. Wolter Peeters
“I want people to get out, be amongst the community, and if a group of girls are coming in and one or two of the girls haven’t got much money, they can still come,” Baumann said.
“If they want to grab a bowl of chips or something, they can do that, but I think people really just want to come together in communities at the moment.”
And there’s nothing that brings women aged in their 20s and 30s together like the words, “Can I pull you for a chat?“.
Baumann already runs reality TV trivia nights at the pub and they’re constantly overbooked, so she’s preparing for a huge turnout on October 26.
“It’s already going crazy. I only put it up a few days ago and we’ve already got 100 spots taken,” she said.
If the first watch party is a success (and it looks like it will be), Baumann plans to keep them up throughout the 2026 season and have a big bash for the finale.
Not only do they help the pub by bringing in paying customers looking for a drink and a feed with their reality TV, these watch parties also help foster the kind of safe, inclusive space for women that many pubs are missing.
“There’s not really anywhere like a pub that is female-centric, so we now focus a lot on female events like we girls-only dance parties because girls just love it,” Baumann said.
“They love being able to come out and feel safe, and what I’ve noticed is a lot of single women come to these things too.”
Most end up leaving with new friends after connecting over a shared love for shows like Heated Rivalry andOff Campus.
“They say it’s the highlight of their week, because coming together with 100 odd girls and screaming your guts out is quite therapeutic!” Baumann added.
The Summer I Turned Pretty was The Chippo’s first huge hit. Now the pub is hoping Love Island Australia will draw similar crowds. Bhavani Baumann
TV watch parties are already popular in the UK and US, where footage of crowds reacting to bombshell moments on shows like The Traitors and (back when it was still airing) Game of Thrones have gone viral plenty of times.
The Chippo Hotel’s success with The Summer I Turned Pretty and other drama has proven Aussies have an appetite for watch parties too.
As for whether Love Island Australia will be the pub’s next big hit, we’ll have to wait until the first episode airs to find out – but Baumann has a good feeling about it.
So where will you be on October 26?
Why Love Island Australia 2026 will look different
Love Island Australia’s new season will kick off on Monday, October 26 with a whole new cast of singles looking for love in a hot new location.
This year the Aussie Islanders will be taking over the renowned Love Island USA villa in tropical Fiji for the very first time.
So, who are these guys and gals hoping to meet their other half under host Sophie Monk’s watchful eye?
Why hello there! Nine
There’s a FIFO worker who reckons he gets mistaken for NRL heartthrob Reece Walsh, a private school princess who considers herself ‘Funemployed’, and a Geordie bombshell who’s guaranteed to turn heads – just to name a few.
From ex-sports stars to models, you can get to know all the Islanders heading into the Villa in 2026 right here.
Love Island Australia Season 8 premieres Monday, 26 October on 9Now at 10am AEDT and on Channel 9 at 8:30pm. Stan’s new spin-off showLove Island Australia: Unseen. Uncut. launches the very same night.
