Love Island: The Hot New Bombshell That We Can’t Seem to Stop Watching

Mind if we pull you for a chat?

Sabrina Soros

Contributor

Lindsay Fitzgerald

Contributor

Love Island is a reality dating show where excited single men and women enter the show’s exclusive luxury villa in the hopes of fnding love. The show begins with fve boys and fve girls, none of whom are guaranteed to still be there by the end of the show. First, the boys step forward to choose whichever girl they fancy the most. Ultimately, it is up to the girls to decide who to couple up with. Once we have our fve couples, the islanders begin to develop their connections with one another. Right when things seem to be going smoothly in the villa, a hot new bombshell will come in and try to turn the coupled-up islanders’ heads. At least once a week, there is a recoupling that allows the boys and girls to choose if they want to stick with their current partner from last week or recouple with someone new. The last person standing who is not in a couple is sent home immediately. Sometimes, the public gets the chance to vote for their favourite islander. The three contestants with the fewest votes are at risk of going home. Throughout the show, texts are sent to the phones provided, and whichever islander receives them alerts the rest about a challenge, activity, or recoupling soon to come. In the fnal episode of the season, the public votes on who the strongest couple is. Then, the winning couple receives an envelope each. One reads £50,000, while the other reads £0. Whoever opens the envelope with the money gets to decide whether to keep it all for themselves or share the prize with their partner- the fnal relationship test. This show is flled with fun challenges, drama, friendship, love, and betrayal. But what is it really about?

Love Island is geared around just that: love. At least, that’s how it’s advertised. But, at the end of the day, viewers aren’t taking 45 minutes out of their day to watch happy couples live happy lives amongst other happy contestants. No one knows this better than the producers, so the true objective of the show is – and always will be –drama. Despite the winners supposedly being chosen by how gen- uine the couple appears, the public almost always votes for the pair who offered the best entertainment (AKA: whoever broke up and made up the most). When Zoe DiRisio, a Grade 10 student at North Toronto (and Love Island fanatic), was asked if she thinks islanders will fnd real love in the villa, she said that it is “...very highly unlikely”, echoing an opinion most fans have held since the beginning. Let’s face it: what are the chances that these strangers fnd what they’ve been looking for in such a limited pool of options? Coupled with how con- testants are partly chosen for their potential to stir things up, it’s hard to interpret Love Island as a show where the sole purpose is to fnd ‘the one’. Instead, the focus turns to all the dramatic bickering that makes the show enjoyably ridiculous. It is a light-hearted viewing experience in which the contestants’ issues pale in comparison to those of someone not living in a fve-star villa for eight weeks. In addition, could the islanders outlandish accents be playing into the humorous nature of the show? Despite there being two main Love Island shows, American and British, the latter is by far the most popular. When one grade 10 student watches, she fnds it hard to, “take British people seriously”, confrming that the absurdity of Love Island may be enhanced by the equally absurd (to Canadian ears) accents. Perhaps it’s the UK version’s banter and cheeky slang that have yet to be matched by its U.S. counterpart. Or maybe it’s that the customary ‘I’ve got a text!!!’ announcement will never sound right from a non-British bloke.

Love Island is a show that begs to be watched if you’re looking for a good time. You will fnd yourself sympathising with your favourite islander or couples, anxiously biting your nails during the recouplings, laughing at the narrator’s painful puns, and much more. But most importantly, you will inevitably become enthralled by the lives of a dozen strangers whom you will never meet in real life. That’s the Love Island effect!