Month: Jul 2026

Forget the villa: a third of Brits admit to a real-life ‘Casa Amor’ — straying, or coming close, the moment their partner’s back is turned

Key findings

  • 34% of coupled-up Brits admit they’ve strayed, or come close, while their partner was away – their own real-life ‘Casa Amor’. For 16% of all those polled, it went all the way.
  • Work trips are the biggest danger zone (39%), ahead of girls’ and lads’ holidays (31%) and stag and hen weekends (22%).
  • As Love Island crowned Lorenzo and Julia on Monday night, 68% of Brits are betting the couple won’t last the year.
  • 41% say watching the show has started a row at home about loyalty, jealousy or an ex.
  • The results come from a poll of 2,000 members by IllicitEncounters.com, the UK’s leading extramarital dating site.

Britain spent last night glued to the Love Island final, watching Maya Jama crown Lorenzo Alessi and Julia Majchrzak as the couple who survived every bombshell and Casa Amor twist the villa could throw at them. Turns out plenty of us have taken that same test ourselves, off camera. And failed it.

IllicitEncounters.com, the UK’s leading extramarital dating site, put the question to 2,000 of its members, and 34% owned up to a Casa Amor moment of their own: a spell when their partner was away and they either strayed or came very close to it. Most stopped at the brink. But for 16% of everyone polled – roughly one in six – it went all the way.

The danger zones will surprise nobody who watches the show. Work trips came out top, with 39% pointing to a night away for the job as the moment temptation crept in, followed by the girls’ or lads’ holiday (31%) and the stag or hen do (22%). Men were quicker to act on it: 21% went through with it, against 12% of women, who were more likely to wobble and pull back at the last minute.

The show causes its share of trouble at home too. 41% of members said watching Love Island had started a row with their partner about loyalty or jealousy, usually during Casa Amor week, or when somebody got a bit too defensive about a contestant whose head had been turned.

The site’s own traffic tells the same story. Visits to IllicitEncounters.com climbed 24% during Casa Amor week, its busiest stretch of the whole summer, and it was women doing most of the messaging. The pattern echoes the site’s recent research on holiday flings, which found a third of Brits say a fling on holiday doesn’t really count.

As for Lorenzo and Julia, don’t expect the members to send a card. 68% reckon the couple won’t make it to next summer. Some of that is Love Island’s track record talking. But plenty of IE’s members were once the couple everyone else envied.

Chloe*, 34, from Nottingham, had her own Casa Amor moment on a hen weekend. “I honestly wasn’t looking for anything,” she says. “But the minute I was away from home it was like the normal rules didn’t count. That’s the bit people don’t admit about the villa – you tell yourself it doesn’t matter because you’re somewhere else, with different people around you.”

Jessica Leoni, sex and relationships expert for IllicitEncounters.com, said: “Everyone’s very quick to shout at the telly when somebody’s head gets turned in Casa Amor. But be honest – how many of us would actually pass that test? Take someone out of their routine, put them somewhere new where nobody knows them, and you find out very quickly how solid things really are back home.”

She added: “I’ve been doing this for over 20 years and I’ve never once seen a work trip make somebody cheat. What the time away does is remove whatever was stopping them. If things are good at home, a few nights in a Travelodge is just a few nights in a Travelodge. If they’re not, it starts to feel like your own private Casa Amor – and hand on heart, that feeling was there long before the show came back on.”

Results

When Brits are most likely to have a real-life ‘Casa Amor’ moment (respondents could select more than one).

When a ‘Casa Amor’ moment is most likely (partner away) % who’ve been tempted
On a work trip or conference away from home 39%
On a ‘girls’ / lads’ holiday 31%
On a stag or hen weekend 22%
When a partner visits family without them 17%
When a partner is away with the kids 11%
On a night out when a partner has gone home early 9%

*Name has been changed.

About Illicit Encounters

IllicitEncounters.com is the UK’s largest and longest-running extramarital dating site, established in 2004. The site has over one million UK members and publishes regular research on modern infidelity and relationships in Britain, with expert commentary from sex and relationships expert Jessica Leoni.

Press contact: [email protected]

It doesn’t count if it’s abroad: 1 in 3 Brits say a holiday fling isn’t really cheating

Key findings

  • 34% of Brits say being unfaithful with someone else while on holiday “doesn’t count” as infidelity.
  • 41% believe a holiday fling is fundamentally different from an affair at home – citing distance, anonymity and the “holiday version of themselves” as reasons.
  • 27% say what happens abroad should stay abroad – and their partner would agree.
  • 19% admit they’ve acted on that belief; of those, 74% say they have no regrets.
  • Study conducted by IllicitEncounters.com, the UK’s largest extramarital dating site.

It’s one of Britain’s most quietly held beliefs – and according to new data, a surprisingly large number of people genuinely stand by it: if it happens abroad, it doesn’t really count.

A poll of 2,000 adults conducted by IllicitEncounters.com, the UK’s largest extramarital dating site, has found that 1 in 3 Brits (34%) do not consider a sexual encounter with someone else while on holiday to constitute cheating – at least not in the traditional sense. And with the peak summer holiday season now under way, the timing could not be more relevant.

The reasoning, it turns out, is remarkably consistent. 41% say a holiday fling feels fundamentally different from an affair at home – citing the distance from normal life, the anonymity of being somewhere nobody knows you, and what several respondents described as becoming a “different version of themselves” the moment they land. The rules of home, they argue, simply don’t follow you through the departure gate.

27% go further still, saying not only do they believe what happens abroad stays abroad – but that their partner, on some level, would quietly agree. A kind of unspoken holiday amnesty, observed but never discussed.

19% admit they have acted on that belief at some point in their relationship – and never mentioned it to their partner. Of those, 74% say they have no regrets, and 61% say it had no negative impact on their relationship whatsoever.

The holiday locations most associated with the “it doesn’t count” mentality are, perhaps unsurprisingly, the sun-and-sangria circuit. Spain topped the list, cited by 37% of respondents, followed by Greece (30%), Ibiza specifically (28%), Dubai (22%) and Italy (19%).

The pattern shows up again in a separate strand of the site’s summer research on real-life Casa Amor, which found a third of Brits admit to straying, or coming close, the moment their partner’s back is turned – with the girls’ or lads’ holiday abroad one of the most likely settings.

“Mark*”, 43, from Leeds, is unrepentant. “I’ve been with my wife for fifteen years and I love her completely. But I’ve had two holiday flings in that time – once in Barcelona, once in Dubai – and I genuinely don’t think of either as cheating. You’re in a different country, you’re a different person, and it goes no further. It stays there. That’s just how I see it.”

Jessica Leoni, spokesperson for IllicitEncounters.com, said: “The ‘it doesn’t count abroad’ rule is one of the great unspoken agreements in British relationship culture – and our data suggests it’s far more widespread than most people would admit at a dinner party. What’s interesting is that it isn’t just men saying this. Women are almost equally likely to hold this view, which tells you something about how the idea of a ‘holiday self’ has become genuinely embedded in the way Brits think about fidelity.”

She added: “Whether it counts or not is, of course, entirely a matter of what you and your partner have agreed – explicitly or otherwise. But the fact that nearly 1 in 5 people have acted on this belief and never told their partner suggests that for a significant chunk of the population, the holiday fling occupies its own moral category entirely. Not quite an affair. Not quite nothing. Just something that happened in the sun, and stayed there.”

Results

Top destinations where Brits have had holiday affairs.

Destination %
Spain 37%
Greece 30%
Ibiza 28%
Dubai 22%
Italy 19%
Tenerife 18%
Turkey 15%
Portugal 10%
Mexico 6%
Thailand 5%

*Name has been changed to protect identity.

About Illicit Encounters

IllicitEncounters.com is the UK’s largest and longest-running extramarital dating site, established in 2004. The site has over one million UK members and publishes regular research on modern infidelity and relationships in Britain, with expert commentary from sex and relationships expert Jessica Leoni.

Press contact: [email protected]

Tomorrow is Britain’s biggest cheating day of the year as schools break up for summer

* 71% surge in people seeking an affair expected on Friday 17th July – making it the biggest cheating day of the summer
* School holidays create the perfect opportunity, with parents using gym trips, shopping and “working late” as their favourite alibis
* More than a third admit they’ll use a solo hobby as cover to meet an affair partner on Friday
* Study conducted by IllicitEncounters.com, the UK’s largest extramarital dating site.

The Last Window Before the Chaos

As schools close their gates for the summer holidays this week, Britain’s cheaters are preparing for what has become the biggest affair day of the year.

New data from IllicitEncounters.com, the UK’s largest dating site for married people, predicts a 71% surge in people actively seeking an affair tomorrow – an annual phenomenon dubbed ‘Frisky Friday’.

The annual spike comes as millions of families prepare for six weeks of disrupted routines, childcare and holidays together. For those already leading double lives, it’s seen as the last opportunity to meet an affair partner before family life takes over.

Britain’s Cheaters Have Their Alibis Ready

And Britain’s cheating class already has its excuses lined up.

A poll of 1,900 IllicitEncounters members found the most popular alibi is a solo hobby, with 38% planning to blame a trip to the gym, a round of golf or a shopping trip if questioned about their whereabouts.

Almost a third (29%) say they’ll tell their partner they’re working late or dealing with work commitments, while 17% plan to disappear under the guise of running errands or attending appointments.

Just over one in ten (11%) will simply claim they’re meeting friends, while the remaining 5% admit they’ll come up with another excuse entirely.

Emma*, 39, says she’s already planned her Frisky Friday. “Once the kids are off, every minute is accounted for,” she said. “My partner works from home, the house is full, and there’s no space to breathe. If I’m going to see the man I’ve been talking to, it has to be before the chaos starts. I’ll tell my husband I’m going to the gym — he never questions it.”

Expert Comment from Jessica Leoni

Jessica Leoni, spokesperson for IllicitEncounters.com, said: “Frisky Friday has become something of a phenomenon because it arrives at exactly the point where opportunity is about to disappear.

“Once the school holidays begin, couples spend far more time together, children are around constantly and routines completely change. For many people having affairs, this Friday represents the last realistic chance to meet someone before September.

“It’s remarkable how organised people become. The gym membership suddenly gets plenty of use, shopping trips take much longer than usual and work somehow becomes incredibly busy.”

She added: “Every summer we see exactly the same pattern. Activity spikes dramatically just before schools break up and then falls away during the holidays, before climbing again when normal life resumes.”

* Name has been changed to protect identity

Results

Excuses people will be using on Frisky Friday to meet their lovers:

38% will use their ‘solo hobbies’ (e.g. gym, golf, shopping) 

29% will rely on ‘working late’/’work commitments’.

17% will be ‘running errands’ or have scheduled appointments 

11% will be meeting up with friends

5% – Other

Further Reading

Britain’s festivals are the UK’s biggest infidelity hotspot, according to new data

* 44% of festival-goers say festivals make them feel “more open to temptation”
* Festivals create a “psychological bubble” – anonymity, alcohol, music and the holiday-from-real-life effect combine to make them Britain’s biggest infidelity hotspot
* 73% say they’d cheat at a festival if they knew they wouldn’t get caught
* Study conducted by IllicitEncounters.com, the UK’s largest extramarital dating site

The Perfect Storm for Infidelity

With a packed summer festival calendar ahead of us, new data suggests Britain’s festival fields are about to become the country’s biggest infidelity hotspot.

A poll of 2,000 festival-going adults conducted by IllicitEncounters.com, the UK’s largest extramarital dating site, has found that 1 in 4 Brits openly admit they have cheated – or would cheat – on their partner at a summer festival. And the conditions, it seems, are almost perfectly engineered for it.

Nearly half (44%) of festival-goers say the festival environment makes them feel more open to temptation than they would be in everyday life. It isn’t hard to see why. Festivals create a “psychological bubble” – a world set apart from real life, governed by different rules, where normal consequences feel temporarily suspended. The combination of anonymity, alcohol, music, warm weather and thousands of strangers packed into a field produces something that feels less like the UK and more like a holiday.

21% put it even more plainly: festivals feel like a no-rules zone. What happens in the campsite, stays in the campsite.

The Numbers Behind the Temptation

The most common form of infidelity is a kiss – 24% of respondents admit they’ve locked lips with someone who wasn’t their partner at a festival, often blaming the atmosphere rather than any genuine dissatisfaction at home. But the most striking finding is this: 73% say they would cheat at a festival if they knew they wouldn’t get caught. Nearly three quarters of Britain’s festival-going population, in other words, are one consequence-free moment away from straying.

With Latitude descending on Henham Park in Suffolk from 23rd-26th July, Wilderness kicking off in Oxfordshire from 30th July-2nd August, and a string of further events still to come this summer, the next few weeks represent peak temptation season for Britain’s coupled-up festival fans.

“Nobody Knows Who You Are”: One Festival-Goer’s Story

Lisa*, 31, attended Glastonbury last year with a group of friends – without her long-term partner. “The moment you’re through the gates it feels like a completely different world,” she says. “Nobody knows who you are. Nobody knows if you’re in a relationship. There’s music everywhere, everyone’s in a good mood, and by the second night you’ve completely stopped thinking about normal life. I kissed someone on the Friday. I didn’t feel guilty until I was on the motorway home.”

Jessica Leoni, spokesperson for IllicitEncounters.com, said: “Festivals are essentially a perfect storm for infidelity – and the numbers back that up. It’s not that festival-goers are more dishonest than anyone else. It’s that festivals systematically remove all the usual barriers: you’re away from home, away from your routine, away from anyone who knows you. Add alcohol and a crowd of happy strangers and the ‘holiday from real life’ effect kicks in almost immediately. 

* Name has been changed to protect identity

Results
Based on a poll involving 2,000 festival-goers:
44% say festivals make them feel “more open to temptation”
21% say festivals feel like a “no-rules zone”
24% admit they’ve kissed someone who wasn’t their partner at a festival
73% say they would cheat at a festival if they knew they wouldn’t get caught

Further Reading

“He’s Insufferable When They Win — and Now There’s Another Fortnight of It”: England’s Last-16 Place Linked to Spike in Cheating

* 37% of married women say a big England win makes their partner harder to live with in the hours afterwards 

* Female messaging on IllicitEncounters.com rose 41% in the 12 hours after full-time

* Nearly 1 in 4 (24%) say the reward for winning is simply another fortnight of being ignored — now with a 1am Monday kick-off attached

The Win That Made the Living Room Lonelier

For 83 minutes on Wednesday, England supporters went through it. DR Congo were ahead inside seven minutes, the Three Lions were second best, and the 5pm kick-off that half the country had knocked off work early for was curdling into a long evening. Then Harry Kane scored twice, a jittery night became a 2-1 win, and the nation exhaled as one. England are into the last 16.

For a sizeable minority of partners watching it unfold at home, though, that exhale never came — because the person on the sofa next to them hadn’t looked their way since five o’clock. According to IllicitEncounters.com, the UK’s largest extramarital dating site, the comeback that thrilled the country made the living room lonelier than ever.

What the Data Shows

A poll of 2,000 married women found 37% say a big England win makes their partner harder to live with in the immediate aftermath. A nail-biting comeback, members say, only sharpens it: an hour and a half of a partner living and dying with every touch, then celebrations that pour into the group chat rather than the room. The mood shows in the site’s own traffic too — female messaging rose 41% in the 12 hours after full-time, with a first spike late into the night and a second this morning at 9am.

And winning, of course, settles nothing at home. England’s prize is a last-16 tie against hosts Mexico on Monday kicking off in the small hours, UK time. For anyone who spent Wednesday evening as a football widow, the reward for the comeback is a middle-of-the-night vigil on Monday — and, if Kane keeps scoring, potentially another fortnight of them.

One ‘football widow’ from the website who suffered as a result of the 2-1 win said, “When Congo scored he had his head in his hands before I’d even sat down. For an hour he snapped at the telly, the ref, and me if I dared speak. Then Kane scored and he was up hugging the dog, screaming, straight on the phone to his brother. Two hours of him — and not one word actually to me. And now apparently we’re all staying up till God knows when on Monday for Mexico.”

Jessica Leoni, sex and relationships expert at IllicitEncounters.com, said, “A comeback like that is the worst possible night if you’re the one who isn’t bothered about the football. You get the anxious version of him for an hour — every Congo touch is the end of the world — and then the euphoric version who’s too busy hugging strangers and texting the group chat to remember you’re in the room. 

Kane rescued England; nobody rescued the evening at home. And the cruel bit is that winning just books another one. A last-16 tie in the middle of the night against Mexico isn’t a treat for everyone — for a lot of women it’s simply the reason they’re quietly talking to someone else while he’s shouting at the screen.”

Further Reading