Season 7 of Love Island USA held the attention of many this past summer with new and veteran viewers soaking up all the drama.
This season amassed over 18.4 billion minutes streamed on Peacock compared to only 434 million minutes streamed for Season 6.
The reality show, which is the American edition of the international franchise Love Island, consists of about 30 selected contestants of different backgrounds who are housed in a villa on an island isolated from the outside world.
For about six weeks, they spend their time trying to hook up with another contestant because the only way to escape elimination is to be part of a couple. At the end of the six weeks, the winning couple leaves with a prize of $100,000.
There were high expectations for Season 7 since Season 6 presented amazing drama, growth in relationships, betrayal, a famous trio known as PPG (Power Puff Girls), friendships with guys and girls in the villa and amazing partnerships after the villa.
Unfortunately, these expectations were not met (by either the producers or the contestants), and many fans were disappointed that the true values of Love Island were not well represented.
After the first episode premiered, predictions spread across the internet over who was going to make it to the finale between the original islanders for this season (Huda, Olandria, Chelly, Bell-a, Taylor, Ace, Nic, Jeremiah, and Austin). However, as the show continued, there wasn’t much love going around, but animosity.
Rather than couples being voted out, individuals were kicked off, including those who had made romantic connections. This made it a bit confusing as the entire point of the reality show was to find your one true love, but contestants who were finding success in this department were having their journeys cut short while others making no progress received the privilege of staying.
This was due to many couples not forming until much later in the season, something very unusual in comparison to past seasons. Genuine connections were lacking heavily between contestants, and the islanders relied more on friendships rather than love.
There were more friendships than budding romances in the villa, causing fans to question what motives contestants had for being on the show. Some believed that the participants were solely there for the cash prize, playing the dating show in a strategic way instead of its true purpose.
It seemed that some of the islanders had a different understanding of the game show. A bombshell, a player who tries to steal someone’s partner, usually enters the villa every 2-3 episodes. The idea is to test the strength and trust of the relationships that have been established.
Many couples in Season 7 kept searching for the next bombshell rather than focusing on keeping a stable foundation to the couple they already were in. This tendency was troubling to the Love Island fan base, as they felt they were being robbed of watching real couples come together.
Problems didn’t stop after the season ended.
Some of the contestants were subject to online bullying, more than in previous seasons.
The pasts of different islanders were being brought to the surface and some were cancelled.
Racist and disrespectful remarks were being thrown around, mainly towards the women participants, in an attempt to ruin their future career opportunities.
This conflict caused division among both viewers and participants. Months after each season of Love Island, the show holds a reunion. The Season 7 reunion aired on Aug. 25. Many of the cast came back with apologies or drama.
Some of the scenes were never broadcast but were shown to viewers. During the reunion, instead of drama being hashed out, it seemed to get worse. People didn’t take accountability for their actions, denying anything negative that they might’ve said in order to avoid conflict.
As a result, multiple friendships and romantic relationships created on the show were destroyed. The reunion, if anything, was more of a repeat of the season rather than a time to find resolution. This was the rotten cherry on top for viewers, as they believed they wasted their summer since all relationships that were made were now broken.
Over all, Season 7 of Love Island USA was extremely disappointing, with no love being found nor any friendships being kept alive. The only positive was the amazing memes that resulted.
