I love Love Island, please do not get me twisted. I’m not even ashamed to say that I’m one of those super-fans watching it religiously, every night (apart from Saturday’s The Weekly Hotlist, obvs). But the show’s obsession with perfection is ironically, the thing that is letting it down.
We recently wrote a piece about Gabby, and how heart-breaking, but relatable it was to listen to her express her insecurities about competing in an environment where so much value is placed on appearance and body image. It goes without saying how tough it is for women, trying to conform to what society considers sexy or attractive, but what about the men living in the villa? They also face similar pressures to what us women do. So much so, that they are reportedly starving themselves in order to look buff on camera.
It’s sad, but not totally surprising to hear that ex-islander Simon Searles, revealed to The Sun that the male islanders are struggling to feel secure in their own skin. Apparently, they’re actually more worried than the girls about how their bodies are looking on-screen.
He said: ‘Some of the lads wouldn’t eat any carbs all day as they wanted to stay ripped. They wanted to look good on camera I guess. They’d be working out like crazy during the day trying to stay in shape. They wouldn’t eat anything and then they’d have their two red wines in the evening and feel pretty drunk.
'Sometimes the boys were lightweights because of that. I didn’t see any of the girls behave the same way. Guys are obsessed with looking jacked, aren’t they?'
Granted – they do all have impressive bodies. But if you ask me, who cares if you’re looking a little bloated from having a big lunch? We’ve all been there. But I do sympathise. Feeling confident in the normal world is hard enough, but to feel confident while being under the nation’s microscope must be an entirely different ball game. The issue is, not many people consider the insecurities men must have with their bodies as extreme as women’s – but research finds that four in five men talk in a way that suggests they are anxious about their body image. Interestingly, the research also finds that as a result of this anxiety, men resort to compulsive exercise and strict diets in attempt to achieve a more toned physique.
This is of course, applicable to the islanders that are not maintaining a healthy lifestyle to fit to this idea of ‘body beautiful’. And the sad thing is, it carries through to Love Island’s male audience who want the bodies of their favourite islander – creating a vicious cycle of unrealistic beauty ideals to attain.
So, unless society as a whole, drops this unhealthy outlook on how we see our bodies, we’re going to see men and women everywhere continuing to go to the most extreme measures.
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.