It happened about three weeks into season eight of Love Island USA. Six female contestants, separated from their male counterparts as part of the dating show’s infamous Casa Amor twist, were made to watch footage of their exes making out with strangers.
After the torturous livestream ended, the women began to scream and shake their fists at the sky, furious at the betrayal they had just witnessed. As they became angrier, the sequence hit a boiling point when contestant Kenzie — a blond nursing school grad from Georgia with a competitive dance background — dropped to the ground in rage-fueled splits, holding her fist in the air as she twerked aggressively on the floor. In the background, her castmates cheered her on.
Watching the scene unfold, incredulous, I felt my jaw drop as the realization dawned on me: Is this show…funny? It was followed by an even more staggering thought: Is this show being funny on purpose?
In the world of dating shows, Love Island USA might be considered the younger, embarrassing sibling of processors like ABC’s The Bachelor or Netflix’s social experiment Love Is Blind, where the end goal is marriage or at least a committed relationship. Instead, Peacock’s hit dating show — a spinoff of the UK’s storied franchise — is more focused on having a fun summer while looking hot in a swimsuit.
Since the dating show format was exported from the British broadcaster ITV to Peacock in 2019, Love Island USA has quickly become known for being unserious. Contestants are put through situations that are akin to humiliation rituals, whether it be challenges that leave them covered in slime or recouplings that bring on public rejections. The playfulness is exaggerated even more by the show’s narrator, Iain Stirling, who never shies away from roasting cringeworthy conversations in his deadpan Scottish accent. He remarks on the behavior of the young contestants as if he’s David Attenborough watching tigers hunt in the wild.
open image in galleryBut season eight’s goofiness levels have reached an unprecedented peak that defies the very foundations of the reality dating genre. While there are undoubtedly real romantic relationships that are building (Team Brinity forever), and the contestants are obviously still vying for the $100,000 prize pot, the competition aspect of the show has taken a backseat to the ensuing antics.
It could be the cast of characters. Not only is Kenzie hitting the splits at every available opportunity, but there are ongoing dynamics that one would expect to see in a Neil Simon play. A contestant named Sincere is canonically insincere, assuring his partner, Melanie, that he had no interest in exploring a connection with Bombshell islander Sol while doing the exact opposite. A “bromance” between contestants Zach and Bryce has raised eyebrows over their tendency to talk to each other rather than explore their own connections. And this season has also produced some amazing one-liners. Breakout star Trinity Tatum issued a brutal shutdown (“Um… I’m not f***ing with it”) in response to the prospect of her partner pulling another girl for a chat. When asked if she was aware of her partners’ conduct in the villa, Paralympian athlete Beatriz, who has a prosthetic leg, replied bluntly: “I’m not blind, I’m just missing my leg.”
Of course, it’s not all fun and games off-screen. This week, 21-year-old contestant Alannah was axed from the show after resurfaced social media posts showed her allegedly using a racial slur. Earlier this season, 25-year-old Vasana from Oregon was also pulled from participating for a similar reason, just days after she was featured in the cast announcement. Last summer’s season was also plagued by its own racism scandals. Behind the scenes, questions are being raised about the rigor of Peacock’s vetting process when selecting contestants.
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On screen, though, the show’s editors seem to be more willing than ever before to make a mockery out of the spectacle within the villa. Clips of cast members lying to each other are intercut with scenes containing the exact opposite information. Footage of the boys meeting new bombshells in the Casa Amor villa was interpolated with clips of their unknowing partners, back home at the main house, fantasizing about a future that never came to be.
The music choices have sent this year’s silliness into a complete fever-pitch, too. In nearly every episode, dramatic moments are immediately made silly by needle drops that are almost too on the nose. One viral moment came when host Ariana Madix asked a Bombshell contestant at risk of elimination to stand up…and a choir of voices belted only the lyrics, “Stand up!” One person wrote online: “These editors are having too much fun with the music,” as another said. “The music is always oddly specific to what’s happening.”
It gets to a point where the comedy cannot be denied — especially when X feeds are flooded each night with a new round of memes inspired by the latest shenanigans. But why has the show only gone all in on the jokes now? Following the success of season seven of the show, which became Peacock’s most-watched series with a record-breaking 18.4 billion minutes streamed, the show’s execs might be eager to try something new for the sake of further virality.
Or maybe, in the oversaturated market of dating shows, the editors understand that the abounding gags and goofiness make the glimpses of authentic moments shine even more. After all, this season has gone viral for a reason, and it’s not the romance.
If you’re watching Love Island USA for real-life dating, then you’re missing out on one of TV’s best comedies right now. It doesn’t require much thinking. When you’re finished watching, don’t bother ranting about your least favorite contestant in an angry Reddit post or publicly bemoaning the state of modern dating. Just laugh instead. Everyone else is.
Love Island USA airs each night except for Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET on Peacock.