The Real Bombshell: Love Island

Host: Welcome back, Islanders! Tonight…

As July comes to a close, millions worldwide grieve coastal beach runs, late-night stargazing, and the bliss of a school-free summer. But if you ask me and 5 million daily viewers? We’re grieving the hour-long Love Island episodes at 9 PM sharp, 6 days a week.

Let’s refresh our memories on what Love Island even is. The show has two franchises—Love Island USA and Love Island UK—with the same premise. Every summer, a group of single ‘islanders’ move into a beautiful, isolated villa, cut off from the outside world with only one goal: find love (or fake it convincingly). Couples form fast, but nothing is ever permanent; new ‘bombshells’ can walk in at any minute and ‘shake up’ the villa’s existing dynamics. Islanders and the public vote couples out, and the last remaining couple takes away a cash prize of $100,000 USD.

But since we’re all reminiscing about a villa in Fiji none of us have even set foot in, let’s take a look at how this season played out!

Section 1. The Villa Doors Only Open So Wide

Host: Tonight, a hot new bombshell is about to enter the villa! 

CUT TO: THE CONFESSIONAL BOOTH AND ISLANDERS LOSING THEIR MINDS OVER WHO WILL WALK THROUGH THE ENTRANCE. 

Islander 1 (female, brown hair, caucasian): I’m so curious. Who will it be?

Islander 2 (male, blond hair, also caucasian): Honestly? Could be anyone.

Newsflash: It’s not quite literally ‘anyone’. Casting on this show is not accidental.

Newsflash: It's not quite literally 'anyone'. Casting on this show is not accidental. The producers carefully select people who fit a particular standard, which is pretty obvious when fewer than 10 Asian women across all seasons have appeared on the show over the past decade. When critics flamed Love Island for their lack of diversity in casting, creative director Richard Cowles simply justified that contestants need to be “attracted to one another”.

Audience member (gasping): That’s diabolical!  

Of course, Love Island’s problematic casting standards span beyond race as well: Between 2015 and 2025, no one with a disability had been let on the show. Naturally, then, viewers were astonished to see Paralympian Beatriz Hatz, a contestant with an amputated leg, featured on the newest USA season. Viewers worldwide praised this newfound visibility; was Love Island turning over a new leaf when it came to casting decisions? 

CUT TO: DRAMATIC MUSIC AND EMOTIONAL SOBBING

Host: Beatriz, you have received the fewest votes and are now dumped from the villa (cue dramatic music). You may now have time to say your goodbyes and pack your bags.

Well, that was awfully short-lived. In episode 9, Beatriz became the first girl who got dumped from the villa, lasting only 25 percent of all episodes that season. Sure, audience vote played a role in the elimination, but given that producers choose whose storylines to highlight, it came as a blow to the wider disability community. Overall, Beatriz ranked within the bottom three for total screen time, a factor manipulated by the directors. 

In retrospect, though, maybe this elimination was a good thing for Bea, because she spent less time around the toxic environment created by other actors. 

Section 2. An Unscripted Script

Casting chooses who gets in through the villa doors. But how do the Islanders behave once they get inside? 

Audience Member (Inexperienced): I know! Everyone finds a couple, and they all live happily ever after!

Good guess…but sorry, not quite. If you want that, you’ll have to find another show. Let’s take a look at Exhibit A, Love Island UK Season 8:

Season 8 contestant Dami Hope (shrugging): I’m just being a man.

Now think about what could have preceded that statement. Maybe Dami was having a heartfelt conversation with someone. Or maybe Dami was being praised for a loving act of kindness. In actuality, this is how Dami justifies cheating on another islander, Indiyah—by simply “being a man”. It is a typical ‘boys will be boys’ trope that is prevalent throughout nearly all Love Island seasons. 

Repeatedly, Love Island has been criticized for its “portrayal and normalization of toxic masculinity”. Suddenly, a woman who approaches a man first is too ‘lustful’, while a man who juggles three girls in one week is only ‘exploring his options’. Manosphere rhetoric has become a staple in episodes. Misogynistic comments run unchecked and sensationalized: In one UK season, the male islanders called islander Jasmine "too opinionated," "too much," "promiscuous," and a "sassy b*tch" within just the opening episode.

Section 3. The Villa is No Wildcard

Turns out, homogeneity in casting and the show’s rigid gender roles stem from the same problem: Love Island casts people who fit a market-friendly idea of what ‘desirable’ looks like. The show wants both conventionally attractive people and a conventionally structured romance: the man pursues, the woman is being pursued, everyone fits into ‘normal’ gender roles, and everyone is societally deemed attractive. Diversity—maybe a same-sex couple or a plus-sized Islander—introduces a version of the show that isn’t pre-tested for 5-star ratings and online gossip. So, these two issues reflect the same problem: Producers don’t want to challenge society’s ‘traditional’ assumptions about how love is supposed to look.

Host: So, we’ll see you at the reunion?

Despite all of these concerns, for millions worldwide, the answer is yes. We’re still stuck in a cycle of watching a familiar formula, not deciding whether love is real. Every 9 PM, 6 days a week, millions await a new episode. 

Will the villa doors ever close for good? Tune in next summer to find out.