For viewers, the ridiculous games, steamy make-out sessions and potential relationships that appear on “Love Island USA” are as much of a draw as what happens after they air.
The reality dating show, on Peacock, brings contestants to a remote villa in Fiji to pair up and risk getting dumped (and booted from the island) or recoupled with a different romantic interest. Through the show’s official app, viewers are encouraged to vote on who should be dumped and even selecting which contestants should go on dates.
But one such fan vote, and a floodgate of audience response, this season has reopened scrutiny of “Love Island” and the mental health and welfare of its contestants. In recent weeks, the host Ariana Madix took the rare step of admonishing fans, as some have sent hateful messages or threats to family and friends of the islanders.
“Don’t be contacting people’s families,” she said on “Aftersun,” a weekly recap show. “Don’t be going on islanders’ pages and saying rude things.”
The rebuke came after viewers were vocal in response to Huda Mustafa, a 24-year-old from North Carolina who audiences voted to split from her partner Jeremiah Brown. Her reaction was dramatic, even by reality TV standards.
Mustafa shouted insults and expletives at Brown, and her aggressive behavior toward the woman Brown was recoupled with prompted another contestant, Pepe Garcia, to tell an islander: “I don’t know if we should stay close or not, in case something happens.”
The next day, Cierra Ortega, a contestant, told other villa residents, “When she charged at Iris yesterday, I was [expletive] scared.”
Some viewers were similarly spooked.
“I truly, truly think producers need to pull Huda from ‘Love Island USA,’” a fan said in a TikTok post representative of audience reaction. “Obviously lots of us wanted to see the crash out, we thought it would be entertaining and to be honest, none of this is entertaining.”
The “Love Island” universe has prompted scrutiny of how it supports contestants who face mental health issues. In 2018, Niall Aslam, a contestant on Season 4 of the U.K. iteration who has Asperger’s syndrome, was removed from the show after nine days and sent to a hospital after exhibiting atypical behavior. He was later told he was having a stress-induced psychotic episode.
After two U.K. contestants died by suicide — Sophie Gradon in 2018 and Mike Thalassitis in 2019 — following their exits from the show, the British Parliament opened an inquiry into the ethics of reality TV and the duties of broadcasters to protect talent.
In February 2020, the host of the British version, Caroline Flack, also died by suicide after producers replaced her. This came amid tabloid coverage of an assault allegation made against her by a former boyfriend.
ITV America, the production company behind the show, shared in an email the resources it provides contestants before, during and after they appear on the show.
Ahead of filming, contestants undergo assessments by psychologists and, while in the villa, each Islander is assigned a psychologist, who is on-site, who watches the footage and has weekly check-ins with the contestants. The contestant or the psychologist can request more check-ins. The crew also includes a welfare manager and human resource representatives.
Leah Kateb, a contestant from Season 6, said on the Call Her Daddy podcast last year that she considered leaving the villa multiple times and said the show’s “psych sessions,” where contestants can speak to a licensed mental health professional on set, helped her to process what was happening in the villa.
Connor Newsum, a contestant from the same season, said that many of his sessions focused on keeping distance from fan sentiment.
“Those therapy sessions that I had were really good at building a little bit of a barrier between that understanding that this is just, like, an impassioned fan that maybe doesn’t even know you as you,” he said in an interview. “Over time, I feel like I’ve developed a little bit of a tool kit and maybe just some thicker skin.”
But social media users this season have also gone beyond the usual commentary.
Noah Sheline, the father of Mustafa’s 4-year-old daughter, posted a TikTok story that read: “At the end of the day I hope everyone remembers we’re human. Her going on that show to find love, or whatever you think it was she’s doing, remember she’s still human, she has a daughter, and a life.”
Other online commentary has targeted islanders’ physical appearance, speech pattern and sexuality.
In response, a disclaimer at the beginning of an episode that aired last week warned against cyberbullying. “The keyword in Love Island is … love. We love our fans, We love our islanders. We don’t love cyberbullying, harassment or hate.”
A similar message was shared across “Love Island” social media accounts.
But the show’s messages haven’t stopped fans from going so far as to dig up a contestant’s yearbook photos to prove she’d had cosmetic procedures done. Separating fans from nasty commentary may take more effort.
If you are having thoughts of suicide, call or text 988 to reach the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline or go to SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for a list of additional resources.
Shivani Gonzalez is a news assistant at The Times who writes a weekly TV column and contributes to a variety of sections.
The post ‘Love Island USA’ Has a New Villain This Season: The Viewers appeared first on New York Times.
