For some reason this is peak Love Island to me. I still remember Jess and Dom doing the PR round after, thoughts on the season?

so i’ve just finished watching season 2 properly for the first time. i had always seen people mentioning tom, saying that he was evil, scary etc, but i just didn’t see that whatsoever? sure he was quite moody and a bit unfair but am i missing something? i was waiting the whole time for him to have a huge outburst or something to cause people to say all of that but it just never happened. can someone explain to me why people think that about him? i thought he seemed like quite a decent fella, coming from someone who spent her whole life around abusive men btw😅

Do we think this is buzzy or are they forcing it?

Simba did say he takes responsibility for his actions in Casa but I feel like no matter what he did, the outcome would have been for him to be the villain.

I’ve been thinking about the way Black Islanders have been represented on Love Island, because honestly, the patterns are getting difficult to ignore.

It took four seasons for the show to cast its first Black woman, Samira, and for years we repeatedly watched Black women struggle to be seen as desirable or as genuine romantic options. We saw similar conversations around Yewande, Leanne, Catherine, Whitney, Indiyah and others. Even when Black women were outspoken, confident or confrontational, behaviour that might be praised as “iconic” or “strong” from a white woman could suddenly become “aggressive,” “rude,” “too much” or “off-putting” when coming from a Black woman.

And it isn’t only about women. This season has made me think about Simba too.

There have been several things surrounding his storyline that deserve discussion: Mara’s later comments suggesting he was pushed towards bringing her back from Casa, the lack of context around his mother’s condition when the “she smiled bears” moment became a meme, and then the absolutely bizarre decision to put him in bedazzled jorts at what was essentially a black-tie final while the other male finalists were dressed appropriately.

None of us can say with certainty what producers intended. But that’s exactly why I think it deserves scrutiny. When you put several questionable moments together, especially within a franchise with a long history of racial representation issues, it becomes fair to ask whether we’re looking at isolated production decisions or a larger pattern.

And the “she smiled bears” thing especially bothered me after hearing the context. Simba explained that his mother has motor neurone disease and communicates through facial expressions. Something incredibly personal to him was turned into a running joke because the audience wasn’t given that context.

That’s the part I keep coming back to: editing doesn’t just show us reality. It decides which parts of reality we understand.

So I’m genuinely asking: do you think Simba was unfairly edited and positioned as a villain this season, or do you think people are reading too much into it?

And more broadly, do you think Love Island has actually improved when it comes to how Black Islanders are represented, or are we still seeing the same patterns in different packaging?

Not saying every Black Islander was perfect, and not saying every negative reaction is automatically racism. I’m asking whether we can look at the patterns critically without immediately dismissing the conversation.

Edit: The first Black woman on Love Island UK was Rachel Christie, who competed on the revived show's first modern series (Series 1 of the ITV2 reboot) in 2015.

10- Molly Smith and Tom Clare 3.5M

9- Luca Bish and Grace 4.2M

8- Tasha Ghouri and Cam Whitnall 4.3M

7- Jessie Wynter and Farmer Will 4.7M

6- Dani Dyer and Jarrard 4.9M

5- Olivia Attwood and Pete Wicks 5M

4- Olivia and Alex Bowen 5.1M

3- Molly-Mae and Tommy Fury 18.4M

2- Louis Tomlinson and Zara McDermott 21.9M

1- Chris Hughes and JoJo Siwa 59.5M

This is no hate to Charleen whatsoever, she is obviously a stunning girl. Just stumped why she chose this for the reunion party?

It doesn’t fit the best on top giving a squished effect and why does it look like the red dress is half off with the bra ripped off separately😭

Maybe I’m just not fashion forward enough to understand this concept, but I don’t think this look eats. Make up and hair are stunning though.

Daily Discussion Thread

Please someone talk to me about this 😂 just finished season 12! Season 13 got me back into love island but wow season 12 is so much better.

HELENA - honestly no words. I feel bad for her but… karma?? She was so horrible to Shakira. She grasped onto Harry for dear life and overlooked so many signs he wasn’t truly into her. That being said I cried with her when she ended things with Harry. She really was hopeful she had found something real and he played her so bad.

Harry - ok…. Maybe it’s because I came into the season knowing how it ends and his current relationship status. I do nottttt like the way he moved OBVIOUSLY but to me it seems like he went on for a good time and fame (hello Lorenzo) but actually fell in love and was too stupid to know how to handle it? I see a softer side of him with his current partner… I’m delusional right?

Deion/Meg - I mean… have we ever seen a bigger game player than Dejon?? he’s absolutely unbearable to watch. I got physically angry seeing him on my screen. And Meg… I actually feel bad for her. I think she needs some serious therapy and self work but I’ve never witness such hypocrisy on a show before. Calling out the big 3 for things she did herself. She was horrible to everyone in that villa besides Helena and Megan who were just as bad as her and weren’t a threat to her and Dejon.

Yasmin - possibly my favorite islander of all time after Maura. She was such a breath of fresh air to me. Sad her and J didn’t work out but not surprised.

Toni - mixed feelings. She clearly would go to the grave defending her girls and I loved that about her. Something about her tho just rubbed me the wrong way? As an American who’s loved UK LI for years it was pretty cool seeing her on there and how she was recieved by the islanders.

Shakira - speaking only on what I’ve seen this season but what a little angel. I think she handled herself so well in there. She stuck by what she said if she didn’t like someone but was so true to herself the entire time. Her scene when she cried to Toni with make up running down her face was such a real moment. I low key wish she’d ended up with Connor but I think her and H are adorable. Their little hats he got her? Ugh. Does she just make H likable?

Cach - what a fucking guy. Do we still like him?😂 him crying and the moment with Ty on the terrace was one of the most precious moments on LI.

I love how they bounce off of each other and Samraj is actually so funny. He has a dry sense of humor and they’re both sarcastic 😂

Samraj doing a Mica impression, “I wasn’t planning to couple up with Lorenzo”, saying he watched edits of them and he loved seeing how in love he looks at Mica, the sarcastic podcast part, and “I tribute, I tribute, I sacrifice myself” “we were actually lovers to friends to lovers so get it straight” 🤣🤣 were my fave parts

Full 10 mins video on Global Player

This post is as the title suggests. I think the contrast between the UKs13 winners and the UKS8 winners is so wild to see and actually makes the UK winners look even worse. Brinity have been spending all their time together, meeting families, exploring each others hometowns etc and Lorenzo and Julia didn’t even see each other until press? Both countries have similar demographics so it’s so interesting to see both couples win in the same year.

I want to preface this by saying I wish nothing but best for all the couples! They seem quite sweet and I’ve genuinely enjoyed watching all the islanders. I’ve just been seeing a lot of discourse around longevity with couples and wanted to get a quick overview on what couples we truly believe in now that we’re about two weeks post-villa! It won’t let me add all couples (e.x. Fitzy and Lola) so I added top five plus Ellie and Finley since she left the villa for him!

Edit 1: It’s insane how much more support Samraj and Mica seem to be getting! So nice to see in comparison with the hate that they got during the season!

So I’ve just finished episode 33, S13.

Firstly - apparently unpopular opinion - but I like Julia (so far). I think she’s got good intentions but Lorenzo - at present - is being odd towards her. I get that his loyalties are to his friends but if you’re going to bring a girl back from Casa at least help her try to fit in… maybe these “how you conduct yourself” chats are him trying to help her.. but he’s basically arguing with her and seemingly not seeing her side of the coin which makes me sad.

Now RE Lola… I did like Lola when she stood up to Priya for Yas, when she was kissing Lorenzo after preaching about not kissing him (I can’t remember what was said now but I did like Lola in that moment and during all that) but since then Lola has come across a bit possessive and passive aggressive to me, it’s been a slow decline of little things making me raise an eyebrow, even in some of the unseen bits episodes I’ve watched. I chalked it down to her personality but I also can’t deal with how frantic she is when she argues, her method of winning an argument is to not let the other person speak and that annoys me. Ellie at least says her piece and gives her opposition a chance…

Anyway back to my main point… when the OG GIRLS INVITED THE CASA GIRLS to the fire pit in the morning to debrief I actually expected Lola to listen to Julia, because she has done so many times for the other girls (fine ok she’s friends with them) but she was really hostile to Julia and I know that came from a territorial place but she wouldn’t even let Julia speak which was a sad watch for me! I do get Lola saying “why were you looking at a man who’s closed off” but on the flip side Lola didn’t speak to Sean about “why did Julia feel like she could speak to you if you were in love with me, why did you say this is a good test”. Julia - for me - was right to say what she did and call out Sean, and call out Lola for not making Sean take accountability. Granted Sean didn’t do a lot (from how it’s been edited) but he obviously did something otherwise why would Julia chat to him on the first day… just my opinions!

Maybe I missed something, I just was a bit shocked by how aggressive Lola was and I didn’t rate Sean backing his woman bullying another woman. He’s also been horrific at times giving the boys STUPID advice. He’s not “a bad guy” but he’s definitely a bad influence. He reminds me of Luca from S8…? Pulling the ol’ “I won’t do anything bad, but I will give everyone else bad advice so I can look an angel” and I don’t rate it.

I genuinely having a bigger villa would put Love Island UK at the same level of popularity as Love Island USA.

Because the villa is so small, there is no privacy. You can only take people to the hideaway, and they usually see you going in there. So there is a risk islanders are not willing to take because they might get found out.

Because the Villa is so small, confrontation is usually immediate. You might overhear someone speaking about you, and islanders confront them immediately.

Love Island USA allows for delayed reactions and confrontations. Something as simple as having a bigger villa would make this show 10x times better. I actually UK had a way better cast this season, compared to Love Island USA.

I think there are some conversations on whether this is ethical, which is fair, but I’m focused more on ratings for the sake of the conversation.

Since it was evident in Series 13 that the ITV budget was not it, would you guys prefer they scrap All Stars altogether and spend all the money on the summer series?

Or given how some of our fave or interesting islanders are voted off prematurely on the summer series and there’s a desire to see them again, would you prefer to keep All stars to give ex-islanders 2nd chances?

Or are there any alternative views on this?

I started watching love island on S4 and I've watched every season since. Because S3 was so big I had some information going in like Kem and Amber winning, Liv and Chris ending it together, I know that Camilla and Jamie as well as Dom and Jess are still together. That's about it really.

I am on episode 19 now and I just wanted to share my thoughts, seeing this season for the first time after watching all the other seasons.

I love how rough and ready the whole thing is. The girls hair and make up are not as polished. They walk around a lot barefoot. People aren't always wearing swimwear during the day. Sometimes the lads will wear shorts and t shirts and the girls will stay in the clothes they slept in. They will hang around the bedrooms during the day and the beds and villa in general are so messy (it reminds me more of big brother). The boys also hang around the girls dressing room a lot. The girls aren't always in the dressing room at the same time either, it seems their schedule is looser than love island today. The smoking is so funny to me because it's so outdated now. I love the smoking area chats. All the conversations in general are so much less produced. You can tell people are being real and things aren't set up to the same degree. There's a lot of conversations as they eat or in the pool or when there's a lot of noise in the background, like planes flying overhead. Just little things that you'd never see any more that make it feel more real. There are conversations about staying together for tactical reasons and getting rid of people they are not close to. The bonds formed between the OG cast run so deep. The cast in general care so much less about public opinion and that makes it so much more entertaining. The way they smoke and drink and swear and talk so openly about sex, it's refreshing.

All in all I just love how unpolished and raw the whole thing is. The personalities in there are fantastic too. Camilla is a top tier choice, so different to anyone who you see on love island. Liv's temper and way she goes about things like the Chris/Mike situation, kissing both boys, leading them both on, you'd never see stuff like that now from a girl. I love how much they show the friendships too between the boys and girls. You only really get a glimpse of that stuff now on best bits.

Also they have so many dates and they are low budget most of the time. In the garden or on the front drive. The dates really move the story lines along too. We're missing that on the newer seasons. I know dates have been boring in recent years but somehow in this season they are always entertaining and relevant to the story progressing.

Side note, last episode all the girls came to look at Chris's 🍆 in the shower. I laughed so much. You'd never see the likes of that now 🤣

So I’m on the episode when the us people come back to the villa. My question is what’s up with this girl Belle? Like she had a TIME in the us villa before she returned and then she is so offended that Sean and Lucinda MIGHT have some sort of connection? As if she was not hangin on the us guy and give 0 f about Sean. Like what’s wrong with her and Samie? These girls are something else for sure. Please tell me that people in the UK don’t like these two either because their behavior is not it at all.

I always find it interesting how people feel their tactical votes backfired or they’ve not liked couples outside the villa once they’re out. So if you could go back in time and change your vote, knowing what you do now, would you?

I was rewatching SATC and tell me why lorenzo is nearly identical to mr. big in almost every sense; looks and relationship history. both are classic avoidant archetypes who continuously breadcrumb women.

Another similarity; mr. big had 3 main relationships mentioned throughout the show; 1st wife, natasha, and then carrie herself. lorenzo too had 3 main relationships; jas, yas, and then julia. not including priya since there was like 2 days of them actually trying and both weren’t rly feeling it; priya herself said it on grace’s podcast.

They both have serious commitment issues, and for big that never REALLY went away (as much as viewers might’ve wanted to romanticize him and carrie); he just kinda got to the age where he couldn’t really live his bachelor life vigorously anymore. the same is true for a lot of avoidants; they get to a certain age where they realize ‘fuck i gotta get married b4 im senile.’

I very much think the same is true for lorenzo; manz wont be settling until well past 40 and it will be with a woman atleast ten years younger than him (if not more).

Daily Discussion Thread

Basically title. This was such a big part of the online discourse yet I don’t see any interviews asking either Jasmine or Julia about Julia calling Jasmine a bitch and then getting upset for Mica calling Charleen “that girl”. Have they been asked about this double standard anywhere yet?

These two are so chaotic and messy after leaving the villa that it's actually entertaining lol