‘Everyone’s miserable, nobody’s happy, where’s the love?’
Amber Gill on ‘Chloe Vs The World
Love Island is always messy, but this season of All Stars was particularly wild – itâs seen people treat one another so ludicrously that ex-islanders were calling it âtraumatisingâ.
The show focused so much on the drama and disagreements (mostly between the girls) that the couple who actually won the show had barely any screen time. One of the biggest triggers for a few islanders was Lucinda, whoâs personality was badly perceived and attacked multiple times. She is definitely light-hearted and ditsy, but whether she was intentionally rage baiting the other girls is up for debate. Admittedly, pieing an old friend (Samie) in the face after exploring a connection with her man isnât very girls-girl, but neither is continuous mocking and insulting a girlâs character.
It was very obvious that everybody had the public eye in mind when they were behaving, and this led to people acting with the intention of winning the likes of viewers. This didnât have the desired effect for a few of the islanders. Belle entered the villa with her âhurricaneâ narrative – the public loved her for standing on business in her last season – but took it way too far. This time she came across as aggressive, angry, and even a bully. The hurricane became unenjoyable to watch. Jessy was also motivated the entire time by how she was coming across to the public, and didnât do well at hiding it- it was the first question she asked on her phone call home. She was visibly worked up over the possibility of being disliked by viewers, something we should be recognising as concerning rather than just a bruised ego.Â
Back in the UK, Harrisonâs ex-girlfriend Lauren (who he was with on his previous series) was doing her relationship tell-all, appearing to be in the dark about Harrison appearing on the show. Not only had he lied about going back, Lauren believed that their relationship was not absolutely over and that they were working towards getting back together. As much as the public may comment otherwise, no woman is sharing details of her relationship on public platforms as a humiliation ritual- to have said what she has if itâs untrue would hold no benefit for her. This isnât just a delusional ex, this is somebody who has been hurt and wrong done by. Itâs giving love-bombing.
This series felt more than messy, it felt angry. Where do we draw the line? We are literally watching islanders debate whether their behaviour is bullying, and itâs still being aired on national television. Itâs not only the people who have agreed to be on TV who are affected, the All Stars discourse allows for people back home to be brought up too. Is it okay for ITV to let all of this happen just for the sake of entertainment? The games and challenges seemed to come at the perfect time to catalyse drama, and provided more opportunity for bullying.Â
As Belle defends, we only see one hour out of twenty four, and the show editors have unlimited control to manipulate conversations to appear in whichever way makes for the best television. But even with this considered, the actions which were aired and the reactions they caused shouldnât be promoted. Viewers were uncomfortable this series, and producers allowed things to go too far. There are real people acting and real people affected! We canât just charge it to the game.
Editor: Grace Lees