It's hard, after a decade on primetime TV, to stop a bit of cultural fatigue creeping in. Each new season of Love Island we're promised twists and shake ups and more drama than ever before, but ultimately a format this well known will follow similar beats.
If you're a loyal Love Island fan it can feel like we see a similar host of characters enter the famous villa each summer, with the hope of finding love – or boosting their social media following. So much so that any time someone from Essex, called Molly, Tom or Sammy, or with a mildly famous relative enters the show they are accused of being a copycat cast member.
In 2023, 1.3 million people watched the summer series, down from the six million viewers the show boasted in 2019. For season 12, Love Island's opening episode pulled in 1.4 million across all devices, (attracting 1.2 million terrestrial viewers at its peak - the dating show's smallest terrestrial audience since 2016).
The interesting question then, is what viewers might be watching instead. What's even more interesting is that it looks like the answer might be Love Island USA. The first season of the American spin-off, which is shot in Fiji, aired in July 2019 with reality TV icon and Vanderpump Rules star Ariana Madix as host.
Still in its relatively nascent stages, Love Island USA is growing in popularity each year, especially on our side of the pond. Housed on Peacock, last summer the show broke viewership records during its sixth season, becoming the number one reality series in the US across all streaming platforms, with 434 million minutes viewed. As a result, Peacock green lit a spin-off titled Love Island: Beyond the Villa, in tandem with season seven, which began on 3 June.
If you Google 'Love Island' in the UK, many of the top related search queries are about the USA spin-off. Viewers want to know how they can watch season seven, what time 9pm 'ET' (Eastern time zone) is in UK time and when the next episode drops. The bad news for UK fans is that Peacock isn't available here, but each season lands on ITVX as soon as it's finished airing in the US.
So, what's Love Island USA got that the UK version might be lacking? A Reddit thread was established last summer to pose this question. 'The contrast between Love Island USA and the UK this year is mad. Love Island USA there are genuinely good vibes, good drama, good couples and everyone (for the most part) was a good person,' the post reads. 'Love Island UK on the other hand has vile human beings, I believe rigged votes, bullying, micro aggressions, mostly incompatible and fake couples, bad energy, bad vibes and it is just so hard to watch.' A quick glance at the thread beneath and most users wrote they 'wholeheartedly agree' that the USA version has 'better casting' and less 'villains' than the original.
Could it be that Love Island UK's attempts pack in as much drama as possible might have backfired Reality TV lovers want to see drama, sure, but not drama that veers into Ofcom complaint territory. While Love Island now has extensive duty of care procedures in place, including suspending Islanders' social media accounts while they are on the show, training in language and behaviour, and ongoing support before, during and after filming, perhaps there is still more work to be done to shift the tone.
If Love Island USA is being praised, and winning viewers, for being 'lighter and more fun' and less focused on tension and tantrums then that's no bad thing. Perhaps we're not tired of Love Island after all, we're just tired of unnecessary drama.
Nikki Peach is a writer at Grazia UK, working across entertainment, TV and news. She has also written for the i, i-D and the New Statesman Media Group and covers all things pop culture for Grazia (treating high and lowbrow with equal respect).