Summer is starting up again, and with it America’s collective obsession: Love Island. Drop ten attractive twenty-somethings in Fiji and wait to see what happens (then pretend to be surprised by what happens). Within a week, everyone hates each other, someone leaves the villa, and the internet finds a reason to be angry with every member of the cast.
Despite all of this, when the season ends, each Islander gains millions of followers and thousands of dollars in brand deals.
I’m part of the mind-meld that seems to happen every first week of June. I love meeting the year’s Islanders and watching the drama unfold. I watch every episode in my living room, much to my family’s annoyance.
What I’m trying to express here is that I’m not judging anyone for engaging with the show or the content. I think it’s silly to create think pieces about how Love Island is ‘slop’ or ‘scripted’; it’s reality TV. No one is watching this show to feel like they’re learning. No one thinks Love Island is a genuine example of what it’s like to fall in love.
That said, I think the culture around Love Island needs to shift. In particular, how we treat the girls who go on this show. There’s always anger over whether the girls are there for love or fame. Still, these girls are experiencing an entire country watching them, judging them, and hating them. All while navigating an entirely unique experience.
And these girls, upon exiting the villa, are, in many cases, cyber-bullied for years after their season of the show. In season 6, Kaylor Martin appeared as an original Islander on the show. She quickly garnered a reputation as a sensitive crybaby, who expected too much of the man she was paired up with (Aaron Evans). Aaron let her down over and over again. Each time, Kaylor forgave him. Each time, the internet got a bit angrier.
Maybe Kaylor wasn’t perfect on the show. Maybe she overreacted. But, again, it’s reality TV; why are you watching it from a moral high ground so far up you can’t see the neon colors of the villa?
The important thing here is the fact that, to this day, you can go to Kaylor’s page and see people making fun of her for her sensitivity on Love Island.
A lot of the bullying in Love Island didn’t really kick into high gear until season 7. Season 6 was Love Island’s breakout season—when discussing Love Island, the standard remains on season 6, when it was at its best for most fans. In the summer of 2024, everyone was watching Love Island.
Essentially, the season 7 cast was set up for failure from the beginning. Season 6 was the darling of America. Most of the season 7 cast were fans of the season, and it was obvious. Oftentimes, moments of 7 felt like poor satires of viral moments on 6.
Fans were quick to attack the original girls of the season, in particular Huda Mustafa and Chelley Bissainth. They became ‘crashouts’ or ‘bullies.’ Both girls stayed on the show up until the final two episodes of the season, leaving fans with plenty of material to harass the girls over.
Huda received judgment for her actions in response to her initial couple, Jeremiah. I’’m not going to pretend like Huda didn’t go comedically over-the-top over him. Still, the level of hate she received, and continues to receive, is simply not proportionate to her actions within the villa. There were cries to get her removed from the show while it was airing. These cries were accompanied with insistence that these cries were out of concern for her. But if it was ever really about concern for Huda’s mental well-being, why did the hate continue into the beginning of this summer? Why does she continue to receive attention for all of her actions? I think it’s clear, at this point in time, that Huda’s fans (and haters) are attached to the idea of a ‘crazy girl’ they can latch on to.
On the other side of things, Chelley’s time in the villa was cluttered by accusations that she was a mean girl to other girls in the villa. Huda’s fans in particular attacked her. Viewers latched on to moments of Chelley rolling her eyes at someone. Or on an out-of-pocket comment that felt rude. Chelley certainly wasn’t the nicest person to grace the villa, but she never bullied anyone. The internet had a sort of superiority complex over Chelley (and her closest friend in the villa, Olandria Carthen). It became fans’ personal mission to identify all of Chelley’s flaws. The idea was that because Chelley was bullying, they had every right to bully her right back. After her time in the villa, Chelley more or less left the public eye. I can’t say I blame her.
It’s too early in season 8 to fully identify who will become victimized this year, though girls like Melanie Moreno and Beatriz Hatz seem to make themselves contenders. Still, my plea to fellow viewers is to lighten up on these girls. They face a high-pressure situation, and producers constantly watch them, edit them, and manipulate their actions for your entertainment.
I love Love Island. I love talking about it with my friends and voting on the app over the next episode. And I love the girls who go on the show.
You can stream Love Island on Peacock, Disney Plus, or Hulu, or purchase episodes on Amazon Video.
