Amayzine

My problem with Love Island

Love Island singles 2020 NL/BE

Every new season of Love Island I think again; nah, I'm not going to watch this. I don't have time for it either, because having to watch an episode of about 40 minutes every workday is quite a task. But well, then comes a day like the hungover Sunday and then I'm catching up the whole week again. On those kinds of days, I can't handle too much heavy material and then a program like Love Island is perfect.

Except that I'm getting a bit annoyed again this season. Love Island really wants to be inclusive and does that in the most transparent, and at the same time least effective, way. And I want to talk about that.

Last season we had Rosa, who was so fun, positive, and confident, but had a size more. Well, I don't even want to call it a ‘size more’. She had an average size, one that is typical among the Dutch. The fact that the average on Love Island is two clothing sizes smaller, the creators themselves have ensured that, and so Rosa had to provide a good counterexample.

That intention is of course great; to also have people who might be a bit more relatable in the program. Only, dear creators, the chance is of course very high that you will still have Rosa as an outsider when all the other girls are size 34 and the men are all muscle bundles. And that's exactly what happened: she was friendzoned by everyone and eventually went home. Well, much richer in fans, that's true (and yeah, probably that's why most people participate).

But then this season. The creators went a step further with their attempt at inclusivity, this time in the form of Tene (a black woman with a shaved head — which looks really bizarrely beautiful on her — so not the ‘standard’) and Gideon, who has the skin condition vitiligo. Side note: Gideon is a model in daily life and fully toned, but still, it's good to see that there is more attention for vitiligo, because I think a lot of people don't really know what it is.

So the intention is definitely there, but again they forgot one little thing: they have no one in mind to match with either Tene or Gideon. And so it happened (spoilers) that both Islanders were sent home yesterday by the rest, because they hadn't found a romantic connection yet.

So creators, here is a request. Third time's the charm maybe? That you pull a group of Islanders next year who are just as fun, sweet, and nice, but much more like we see walking around on the street? And of course, that's size 34, but also size 40. And that's a guy who hangs out at the gym, but also a guy who prefers to hang out on the couch. Make a nice mix of that, so that everyone actually has a chance at a fling.

That attempt at inclusivity has only made it seem like you have less chance at love if you don't fit the mold in the past two seasons. I don't think that's the intention, right? Personally, I think it would be much more fun to watch normal people instead of two handfuls of models and/or influencers.