Exiled on Love Island
For reality contestants and fans alike, the question is now: How is this worth it?
Welcome to Embedded, your essential guide to what’s good on the internet, published Monday through Friday by Kate Lindsay and Nick Catucci. “Get Embedded” on Twitter and Instagram. 🧩
I'm excited—and worried—about the new season of Love Island. (Trigger warning: This post discusses suicide.) —Kate
That little bit of extra magic you feel in the air today is entirely thanks to Love Island. This morning, ITV revealed the first handful of contestants who will be strutting into the Spanish villa in search of love (or, as they call it in England, “good chat”) on the UK reality series. Last summer’s season was axed due to the pandemic, and I spent this past spring with one eye on my beloved @_loveislandupdates Instagram account so I could be the first to know when—if—the show was coming back in 2021.
Only one thing could dampen this morning’s reveal, and the show’s official Instagram acknowledged as much as they teased the announcement: “We hope you enjoy the show, but please think before you post.”
Anyone who has tuned in over these past few years knows exactly what they’re referring to. Last February, the show’s former host Caroline Flack died by suicide. Former contestants Sophie Gradon and Mike Thalassitis also died by suicide, Gradon in 2018 and Thalassitis in 2019. The tragedies sparked calls for the show to better protect its cast members from the difficulties that come with being in the public eye, particularly on social media.
Last week, ITV announced new protocols for the upcoming season, which include multiple doctor assessments, social media training, financial advice, and help “adjusting to life back home” including eight therapy sessions following the end of the season. This is important, but I’ll admit it’s harder to cheer on this year’s contestants in good faith with full knowledge of just how much they’re anticipated to suffer when it’s all over.
The UK has a reputation for a particularly brutal press and social media, but it’s not like the outcomes for reality show contestants in the U.S. are much better. Several Bachelor contestants with mental health or addiction issues have died since the franchise began in 2002: Alexa McAllister, Gia Allemand, Julien Hug, and Tyler Gwozdz. It doesn’t help that viewers and the press dredge up whatever dirt they can find on social media as soon as contestants are announced. At the start of The Bachelorette this season, a TikTok user broke down the political leanings of every contestant based on their public social media statements and registration records on an app called Impactive. Love Island’s newest contestant, Kaz Kamwi, already has outlets speculating about her relationship style based on nothing but her TikToks.
Reality TV has always been based in temporary, fictional situations determined by producers and editors. Participants—and by extension, fans—were similarly cleaned up and controlled. But social media popped those bubbles. Contestants are dragged off camera and into the comments and DMs and message boards. Audiences feel entitled to reality show-style surveillance well after seasons end, and they can access it.
With rabid, large-scale fanbases, reality TV encompasses much more than what can be contained onscreen, and the question for anyone who joins a cast is no longer, "Do they deserve it?," but "Can they hack it?" I don’t know if that’s something anyone is qualified to answer.
Your Internet
On Friday, we asked you to weigh in on the following My Internet question: Do you subscribe to any Substacks or other independent newsletters? What's your favorite?
Catherine recommends David Carliner's Hi! Hi Again! “It’s so funny I almost feel as if I wasn't supposed to find it sometimes, like a newsletter meant just for his friends,” she writes.
Thanks Catherine! If you missed it, read last week's My Internet with Miles Klee.