Love Island USA gently rocked my soul to sleep and now I might like reality TV

I don't love reality television.

I mean, I think I enjoyed the first few seasons of American Idol back in the early 00s – watching genuinely talented performers compete is delightful! But something about the cruelty of early reality television got to me: the mockery in the American Idol auditions process, the obvious future therapy young reality ‘stars’ would eventually need, and, of course, shows like Superstar USA – one of the more inhumane ‘competition’ shows of this era – where people who thought they sang real good were secretly competing for the title of Worst Singer Ever.

Even beyond a show’s possible explicitly cruel baked-in premise, I cannot handle cringe content – even The Office was hard for me to watch. Watching actual humans with clashing values or personalities hate each other for real (well, maybe not always for real, who can say, not I), or betray each other for money like on Survivor, is not my idea of a fun time.

Also, if I’m being honest, I held some elitist attitudes around scripted television as high art and reality TV as vapid trash. This despite the existence (and my enjoyment) of plenty of vapid trash scripted TV, and a multitude of hope-filled, well-structured reality shows like the recent Queer Eye (another show I love). EVEN SO, reality shows about finding love are definitely the absolute dregs of the reality genre, right (looking at you The Bachelor)?

WRONG! (Well, maybe still right, but who cares because) I am SHOCKED to announce that I kind of loved Love Island (USA) - which ended just over a month ago.

********Minor spoilers for Love Island*********

Instead of watching 20-somethings fight about petty nonsense and flirt badly, I watched a bunch of seemingly well-meaning and put-together people interact with introspect and generally approach forming connections thoughtfully. All this in an extremely controlled environment with zero privacy (“America has been watching your every move” intoned Arielle, the host of the show. “Praise Be” whispered the wind in silent reply).

For me, this made for a gentle reality television experience where the drama was rarely tense (except for your drama, Weston), but alternately earnest and kind of boring. From Zac and Elizabeth’s blossoming young love to Alex and Dylan’s clownishness to Ray’s joyful bubbly energy, I kind of enjoyed just hanging out with these people each episode. And I felt actual sadness when some of them were upset (Kyra calling herself a “stupid bitch” when she made some, in retrospect, poor romantic decisions was instantly relatable to anyone who has ever experienced any amount of self-doubt).

And it wasn’t just for the romances! Beyond some shared crush-related tension, everyone was genuinely sad to see others go home. A lot of beautiful friendships formed, with many manly tears shed - I’m all in on Yamen and Cashel’s post-show bromance (evidence of which can be found on their respective instagrams).

(But maybe this is all pretend and I am very reality show naïve? Naw, this is real, it can’t possibly be performance for the sake of advancing modelling and influencer careers, or branding, RIGHT? Right!).

Even the show’s varied attempts to inject drama were quite gentle. Personal secrets and America’s Twitter reactions caused some mild upset, but mostly it just seemed to amuse or annoy the cast, who accepted their fates with grace, dignity, and uncomfortable smiles.

However, lest some of you miss realty show drama, Matthew Hoffman (the show’s faceless narrator) delivers the funniest and realest irreverent snark, lovingly mocking everything and everyone from contestant hypocrisy, to weird camera work, to the show itself.

At the end of the day, Love Island was a gentle show with a mostly genuine heart that made me feel like reality TV might be okay sometimes to enjoy.

Then again, maybe that’s why the ratings sucked and nobody else watched.

What did y’all think about Love Island (USA)?