Over the last decade, Love Island has been a staple of British reality television.
A group of singles live in a villa for weeks at a time, dressed almost exclusively in swimwear and evening attire.
Contestants fall in love, fall out of love, fall into other people’s relationships and into fast fashion brand deals. In recent years, however, there has been a drastic decrease in viewing figures from its heyday, with the most recent season opening to 1.3 million viewers in comparison to just two years prior to the 2022 summer opening to 2.4 million.
There is potential for viewers to have just gotten bored of the Love Island format – however, considering the success of Love Island’s American and Australian counterparts and similar rival shows such as Netflix’s The Perfect Match, the decline of the British version should be attributed to viewing fatigue.
At Love Island’s peak I remember each morning sitting in the common room at school filled with conversation on what had happened on the show the night before.
It was an igniter of cultural conversations, in part because of the socio-political conversation that the show aired. Season three aired contestant Camilla and Johnny’s argument over feminism and paying for dates.
Camilla, an explicitly stated feminist, is shocked and uncomfortable with Johnny’s confession that within his five-year-long relationship, his ex never paid and that he would feel ‘emasculated’ if a woman paid on a date.
This causes them to have a debate about feminism and their viewpoints on it. The politics involved in this interpersonal relationship shifts dynamics; it is an impactful storyline. Across the country people can turn around and have a conversation on money in relationships.
What does your partner believe on this topic, can your friend group come to an agreement on who should pay? Was Johnny correct in saying that feminism has gone too far?
This is an issue that can be integrated into larger, important social conversations about gender roles that can go beyond just a dating television show. Similarly season two had contestant Zara Holland losing her Miss Great Britain title after engaging in an intimate moment in the villa.
Even people who did not watch the show the night before could engage in these conversations about politics and social taboos around sex.
Love Island could fit into a larger cultural conversation on a variety of social topics that could help attract new viewers to the show. Helping to keep the show feeling relevant to national audiences.
Current seasons shy away from such topics, limiting the conversations that could emerge across viewers and non-viewers.