Love Island, a popular British reality television show, just wrapped up its sixth season. The show has grown increasingly popular in the United States after all six seasons were added to Hulu. The U.S. spinoff of the show was met with a lot of criticism, as fans of the British version were disappointed that a lot of the drama was watered-down to fit U.S. broadcasting guidelines. Despite this criticism, the show was renewed for a second season. But how does Love Island compare to one of the United States’ most popular reality television franchises, The Bachelor?
The 24th season of The Bachelor, which wrapped up airing in mid-March, has been met with a lot of criticism. Many claim that the show is not as entertaining as it has been in seasons prior. For me, after binge-watching four seasons of Love Island, The Bachelor pales in comparison to the British show in many ways.
Firstly, in format. The premise of Love Island is that 10 singles start in the villa, which is in Mallorca, Spain, for the summer series; they then start in Cape Town, South Africa for the winter version. Contestants continually rotate in and out of the villa based on fan voting. The show is filmed and broadcasted almost in real-time, with about a two-or-three-day lag. The winning couple is voted for by the public and wins a 50,000 pound cash prize at the end of the show. Additionally, the show is broadcasted six days per week for between six and eight weeks, meaning there are around 50 episodes per season. While this may sound overwhelming, the amount of time spent with the contestants allows you to really get to know them and invest in their love stories.
The Bachelor and The Bachelorette, which focus on one person dating about 30 people and narrowing it down to one, relies on fans doing outside research on contestants to really invest in their story lines. In my opinion, The Bachelor franchise takes itself too seriously and tries to make the show seem extremely dramatic, which makes it feel very fabricated at times. Additionally, since viewers know that there are camera crews following the contestants at all times, there is no way to trust that contestants are being genuine. In the Love Island villa, there are no onsite camera crews—only about 70 hidden cameras that are strategically placed to catch every conversation the islanders engage in.
Beyond just the editing and overall format of the shows, another thing that makes Love Island so entertaining for Americans is how different the show is from anything that would be broadcast on American networks. Swears aren’t bleeped out, and the islanders can feel free to talk about anything (a lot of which would be considered too crass to be shown on American television). Additionally, the witty English phrases used by the islanders, like “crack on” and “factor-50,” make the show wholly entertaining for viewers both in and outside of the UK.
Overall, Love Island is just a more entertaining reality show, and I highly recommend it to anyone in need of a light, binge-worthy watch! I am curious to see what The Bachelor franchise will do to combat its recent criticism and if the second season of the U.S. Love Island will try to incorporate more from its British counterpart.
Happy binging!
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