Why Love Island Is the Best and Most Addicting Reality TV Show
During this quarantine I found myself consuming a lot of media. Some works of art, some comfort movies and shows, and reality television. Despite my obvious love and deep connection to movies, I find myself constantly and easily watching TV; reality TV being one of my favorite guilty pleasures. In the past year especially I have found myself exploring different shows such as the Bachelor franchise and the American Love Island. Both I found myself consumed and engaged with, even though I had to start the Bachelor with Peter’s season (yuck). Of the two, my favorite would have to be the American Love Island. In July of 2019, CBS released their version of Love Island which, similar to its’ UK and Australian counterparts, is a love surrounded reality show where all of the “islanders” live in a villa. Some unique things to it are the couplings, daily episode releases in real time, a shared bedroom, viewer participation, recoupling ceremonies, and a majority of the show consisting of people in swimwear. The goal of the show is “find love” and to be voted the best couple which results in a cash prize. Its’ first season consisted of 22 episodes and CBS was casting for a second season, but due to COVID-19 I’m not sure how this is going to affect that. I started watching it in the fall of last year hoping I was watching the UK or Australian version, but realized it was the American one when no one had an accent. Despite this setback, I loved the show and I thought it was incredibly entertaining.
I recently got Hulu and while exploring I found the UK Love Island. I’m sure it’s not a surprise, but I IMMEDIATELY started to binge it with season five since I’ve heard it is a fan favorite. It quickly became addicting to watch and something I could not stop watching. But, one initial big comparison I saw from the American version is that the UK one has a whopping 58 episodes in season five, including a reunion. The episodes also normally were around 40 minutes. This is due to the fact that from June 5th, 2019 to July 29th, 2019 every single day an episode was released, with the reunion being released a few days later in the beginning of August. I’m not quite sure how the two versions have such a drastic difference. I have seen in videos from contestants of the American Love Island that they at least had one day off a week, but I also suspect that because it was created by an American TV company, that they would not put out a 60 episode season. Regardless, this surplus of episodes allows viewers to deeply connect with the contestants. Since each episode is around a day to a day and a half of these islanders’ lives, everyone gets plenty of screentime. This also helps people understand how quickly things change in the villa and why. Living together with at least a dozen people twenty-four seven means that a lot happens faster than one might expect. If this were to be a show where only one, forty minute episode was released weekly it would be hard to fit all of the drama into it. Since viewers can expect an episode a day, they can see how tensions rise and fall, love connections form, and all the drama they could ever want. And this show does not disappoint with the drama. It’s a combination of good editing/directing, an entertaining and attractive cast, and the reality that these people are forced to live with each other at a max of two months depending on when contestants come and leave the show.
Sex appeal. Every successful reality TV show has to have it and Love Island definitely does. Choosing to have the villa in a tropical or hotter place (Spain for the UK one), means contestants are pretty much always shirtless if they’re a guy or in a bikini if they’re a girl. At night they dress up all nice because that is when all of the bigger things occur: sometimes a party, challenge, or a recoupling. And of course, like most reality TV shows, it is filled with an attractive cast.
The whole set up of the show is different than most dating reality shows. In the Bachelor, for example, there is one main lead with an abundance of girls trying to fight for his love. But, in Love Island it is a bunch of girls and guys trying to find love with each other. The ratio of boys to girls is normally equal unless there is going to be a recoupling. In the recoupling there is always at least one more of the gender getting picked. So, if the girls were choosing in the recoupling for example, there might be seven girls and nine boys. In this situation, the remaining two boys would either be single or dumped from the island. This causes recouplings to be events filled with drama. But, this pressure on being in a secure couple forces a lot of these connections which can make it hard to continue the relationships into the real world. But, with a constant stream of islanders coming in, recouplings can test established couples or act as a way for single people to have more opportunities at love. Something else about its premise that is different from even its’ American counterpart is Casa Amour. About half-way through the season the girls are whisked off to Casa Amour where they are met with a new group of guys, and the original guys are also met with new girls. They spend a little less than a week with these new people and are completely cut off from their original partner. Once it it is over, they have to chose whether they will couple up with one of the new islanders or stay in their original couple. The big twist of this event is that each partner does not know what the other chooses till the girls walk back into the villa, with or without a new partner. This obviously causes a LOT of drama and tests a lot of couples. I do not know if there is something like this for the Australian version.
The last thing that makes this show different, yet immensely engaging is the viewer participation. Since the show happens in real time, the audience can vote and have an influence in the outcome of the show. The public will sometimes vote for people to go on dates or more importantly what their favorite couples are. Throughout each season, there are a few times where the public can vote for their favorite couple causing the couples with the least amount of votes to be sent home. For example, one time the public voted and then the top three couples had to chose what one boy and one girl had to be dumped from the island from the couples with the least amount of votes. This active participation helps engage people to continue watching in real time. But, watching the show after it has aired doesn’t make the viewers feel disconnected because they don’t have that influence. They make the emphasis and importance of the voting known, but not in a way that shames or discourages people who don’t vote. Then obviously, the most important example voting is the finale. The public votes on who their favorite couple is of the ones remaining, the amount of couples dwindle as the show comes to an end, and the winning couple receives 50 thousand euros for the UK version or 100 thousand dollars for the American version. The big twist is that to receive their prize both people receive an envelope. One contains the cash prize and whoever has that envelope has to chose whether to split the money between the two of them or take it all for themselves. All couples so far have chosen to split the money, but it’s still an interesting catch.
Overall, I think if you enjoy reality TV, especially ones that surrounds love, this show is right up your alley. It has a lot of episodes, drama, sex appeal, viewer interaction, and a funny narrator. This isn’t a piece of fine art, but if you want something that is not that serious and very entertaining Love Island is a great option.
June 29, 2020