Meet the ‘Love Island’ subreddit moderators

Welcome to the r/LoveIslandTV villa.

Embedded is your essential guide to what’s good on the internet, from Kate Lindsay and Nick Catucci.

Absolutely buzzing for this interview, aren’t I? —Kate

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Where you’ll find me every night before bed xx

For a newsletter all about the internet, I’ve found a way to bring up the U.K. reality TV series Love Island more often than you would think. But for me, watching Love Island is a primarily internet-based experience. Every night (or as my boyfriend says it, “every night?!”) I’m navigating VPNs, avoiding spoilers on Instagram, and religiously checking the r/LoveIslandTV subreddit after each episode. 

This year was the first season Love Island officially partnered with Reddit, making the sub (with its 137,000 members) the de facto place for episode discussion, as well as exclusive videos and AMAs with producers and former cast members. It’s chaotic to follow in the best way, with the mods keeping everything in check.

To my utter delight, the 13 moderators of the Love Island subreddit agreed to chat with me over Reddit direct message ahead of the show’s finale (don’t remind me) this coming Monday. The volunteers live across a number of time zones, and there's at least one moderator online at all times, going through flagged posts in the mod queue and answering mod mail. The mods alternate responsibility for day-to-day things like discussion threads and, thanks to the official partnership, have also had the opportunity to do more elaborate duties, like hosting AMAs. 

“We all consult with each other if we’re not sure what to do about certain issues, warn each other about certain problems/users, coordinate mod announcements and AMAs, and sometimes just vent about things going on in the sub,” the group tells me (all 13 mods collaborated to write the responses to my questions). “It can get overwhelming so it’s really nice to have such a supportive (and hilarious) group of people who are having the same experience.”  

In this interview for paid subscribers, the mods and I chat about the work that goes into running a sub as active as this one, the particulars of the Love Island fandom, and their favorite moments in the sub from this season.