Love Island: Why I Can't Stand It!

June 3rd saw the start of Love Island. Whilst everyone is already loving who's going to go off with who and be literally glued to ITV2 for the next 8 weeks, I do have a confession to make - I bloody hate the show!


I have tried to watch it once before, I'm not like one of those kids who won't try a kiwi because they don't like the look of it. When I did watch it though, I turned it off after about 8 minutes because I could literally feel my IQ level dramatically hit the floor as time went on. Now, I'm not the brightest bulb in the lamp, but I felt like Joey Essex after a few minutes of watching it. Some of the things that were being said on there just blew my mind - and not in a good way.



Reality shows like this have never appealed to me. Gripping TV isn't seeing who's going to have a shag on TV. Well, not for me anyway. I don't want to know who's texting who or who's getting pied off and why a girl called Mary (just some random name) is pissed off at Jim (another random name).


Sometimes I think it highlights the vanity in people and how bitchy and nasty people can be. I know a lot of people who do watch the show and live for it when it comes on in the Summer and that's fine, I have nada problem with people watching it. However, when you start talking about it to me, I will literally tune myself out and my thoughts will drift to what I need to get from Tesco on the way home.


One thing that gets me is how it promotes body confidence. Love Island usually have men and women on there who are slim or who have mega six packs. We're yet to see a plus size person enter the villa. Sending in model-esque people in can send off a message to the younger generation that this is what we're supposed to look like. I think it can put pressure on teens to constantly look good. I think it would have for me, I was quite impressionable at that age and I know I would have been easily influenced by this, even now to this day. Let's turn the tables and look at this another way though, good on the girls for being body confident enough to show off their bodies for all the UK to see, I know I couldn't do it!


This series is been surrounded with controversy prior to it starting. With the two suicides from Love Island contestants in the past after they left the show, that has kind of overshadowed the launch of this show this year, with the Jeremy Kyle show being axed because of the suspected suicide of one of it's participants, a lot of people were discussing the future of Love Island as it has had deaths from a couple of their contestants. A lot of people were calling for it to be axed too (myself included). The thing is, because Love Island is SO incredibly popular with the nation, also it's raking in the money for ITV, it won't get cancelled. A little hypocritical and unjustifiable if you ask me.


I seem to wear this Primark tee for blog content these days


Love Island producers must be loving the fact that the show is so popular and it constantly gets people talking throughout the Summer and beyond that. I for one won't be tuning in once again this Summer, I shall be muting a lot of certain hashtags on Twitter for the next 8 weeks or so!


This is how I see Love Island from my perspective, you may not agree with me and that's ok, I don't expect a lot of people to do so!


I like to think that I am not the only human being in the UK that doesn't like watching it! If you are someone who doesn't like watching it, please message me on social media and let me know!



Lucy

17 comments
  1. I'm so relieved to not be the only one! I bloody hate Love Island. It's just a bunch of fame hungry people who are obsessed with their looks and watching it just makes me angry. Like you said, I think it sends out the wrong message to young people that you have to look a certain way and with all of the hard work brands have done the last few years at trying to promote body confidence and using real people in their ads etc it's just frustrating to see that one of the biggest shows on telly hasn't cottoned on yet. My Facebook and Twitter feeds are already being spammed with memes and god knows what else and it's only been a week! Great post, very cathartic to read - so nice to see that someone else shares my opinion!

    Amy | sassycatlady.com

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    1. I feel like my Twitter feed is just full of Love Island and it gets on my bloody nerves! I'm glad I'm not the only one who hates it as well Amy!

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    2. Tried watching Love Island every year..but nah, not for me - I just can’t get into it! It makes me cringe. How can people get off with people the hardly know? Especially on National TV. And then change partners so readily? It’s so tacky, I can’t understand the popularity. It’s good to see people here who think like me.

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  2. I am with you with Love Island. I just don't think it promotes healthy relationships or health full stop. The impact it has on body confidence and the lack of mental health support for the contestants is just shocking.

    xoxo
    Jess
    The Crown Wings | UK Travel & Lifestyle Blog

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    1. It does have a bad impact on people Jessica, I think a lot of people are starting to see that now xx

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  3. I don't live in the UK, but I never liked those romance "reality" shows from the US either! It may have to do with the fact that I'm demisexual (maybe even asexual), and find that "hookup" crap to be annoying to begin with, but either way, I feel like my IQ drops just watching the promos for these shows. They never do bring plus size, or even average people onto the show; it's always the super fit, super skinny people. That really doesn't send a good message to teens or even adults watching the show; and I'm going to assume most of the people who watch these shows ARE teens or young adults in the 20s or 30s. Honestly, part of me thinks shows like this are at least partly fake or staged; though that doesn't mean it can't still mess someone up mentally.

    Thanks for reminding me that I can just mute the hashtags though, haha. I'm always rolling my eyes when that stuff pops up on my feed. I don't care what other people watch, but I'd rather not have to hear them talk about these shows.

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    1. I can think it's all mostly staged and faked Katherine, that's what draws viewers in to watch these shows, like you said, it can mess up people mentally

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  4. OMG Thank god I'm not the only one to not watch it. I feel the show promotes negativity and it is not diverse with body images and race. I also don't like the idea of the show, people shack up with each other for money. Is that what we want to show the younger generation? I hardly watch reality shows these days as they don't interest me though I do admit i watched a reality show recently The Circle and enjoyed it. But that show had a kind of message to it. But other than that i am not a reality show fan.

    Kriti
    Musingsofkriti.wordpress.com

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    1. Aww you’ve just summed it all up amazingly Kriti! This show influences the younger generation the wrong way!

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  5. I don't think I've ever watched it - but just seeing it in the media is enough for me to say "nah". I'm so with you on the uniformity of the bodies that they are promoting and how it feeds into the unhealthy body image we are currently struggling with as a society.

    I'm in two minds with the increase of eating disorders being due to better screening/more diverse diagnostic criterion or whether there has been a literal increase because of shows like this.

    Oh well, thank goodness for Amazon Prime to stream decent box sets instead of the telly is all I can say!

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  6. I have never watched Love Island, I kind of avoided it. I'm not really interested in the drama and people's stupidity. I think actually the way these people act are sort of 'exaggerated' in front of the cameras. They are just little chess pieces for the producers. Maybe in real life, they have some proper characters, who knows. But naaah, I'd rather watch something that gives me some kind of an educational wholesome purpose.
    Laura / https://www.laustworld.com

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    1. I completely agree with you Laura, I do think a lot of what we see is put on by the people in there!

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  7. OMG. Darling, I am so happy that I'm not the only one - I cannot stand Love Island and I really don't think it should be on our screens at all, more so now after what happened to Jeremy Kyle it's one rule for one... 💜

    With love, Alisha Valerie x | www.alishavalerie.com

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    1. Absolutely Alisha! You can’t have one rule for one and not the other! x

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  8. Lucy this blog post is music to my ears. I asked my family and friends about love island on Facebook a few weeks back as I honestly don't understand the show. Many of them don't watch it and don't get it either. I remember watching it a few years and trying to understand what the fuss was about and I just don't get it. I feel it magnifies so much which is already damaging young people and society today. I am also glad to see I am not the only one who feels this way. Great post.

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    1. It's nice to know that I'm not the only one who can't stand the show! I'm like you, I don't understand how people can find it so entertaining!

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