5 reasons “Love Island USA” went completely off the rails this year

Last year’s season of Love Island USA had audiences falling in love with the global franchise after years of trying to get the American version off the ground. But as the current season 7 comes to a close, many viewers are ready to be done with what they call “the worst Love Island season ever.”

Love Island USA, for the uninitiated, puts five single men and five single women together in a Fijian villa to find love — or the closest thing to it that one can find on reality TV. It is based on the U.K. show, which premiered a decade ago this year and is in its twelfth season.

Over the course of six weeks, this initial group of islanders (OGs) are introduced to new people (bombshells), challenges, and romantic connections while the competition pool whittles down to four final couples. The public crowns a winning pair during the final and they are awarded a $100,000 cash prize.

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Following the success of season 6, which was so popular that its contestants got their own spin-off, it has been shocking to see this year’s show get so far off track. As the finale approaches this Sunday, it’s anyone’s game, which is unusual this far into the season. This is partly a result of new production choices, social media pressure, and internal decision-making among the islanders. Here are five reasons why this year missed the mark.

1. Resurfaced posts highlight casting challenges

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Yulissa Escobar was removed from 'Love Island USA' after videos of her saying the N-word resurfaced

Before the season started, fans were already skeptical about this year’s batch of islanders after digging through their social media posts. On day two of the new season, Yulissa Escobar abruptly left the show after videos of her saying the N-word resurfaced ahead of the premiere.

The villa experienced another departure right before the final week began. Cierra Ortega, who had been a frontrunner for much of the season alongside her partner Nic Vansteenberghe, exited the show after old posts of her saying an anti-Asian slur were circulated online.

Meanwhile, Austin Shepard, who had been in the villa since day one, was also the subject of much criticism ahead of the premiere due to some conservative and pro-Trump reposts. While many viewers called for his expulsion online, he was dumped from the show in an act of typical game play on day 27. Shepard has since issued a vague apology for some of his reposts, chalking them up to his “dry sense of humor.”

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The intense focus on the islanders’ digital footprints this year poses an interesting challenge for the production moving forward. As Gen Z, the first generation to grow up with social media, matures and enters the competition, how will casting directors handle the task of vetting their lifelong online presences?

Many viewers have been critical of producers for failing to catch offending social media posts before sending contestants into the show. But it can be difficult to catch deleted or ephemeral posts, such as in the case of Ortega, whose Instagram Story using a slur disappeared in 2023, two years before her season started.

There is no perfect solution for this, but the way production chooses to move forward from this year’s casting debacles will determine the future success of Love Island USA. Audiences are rightfully demanding better from their contestants, and the show has to find a way to deliver.

2. Social media reactions got out of hand

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Clarke Carraway, Gracyn Blackmore, Iris Kendall, Amaya Espinal, Cierra Ortega, Andreina Santos, and Olandria Carthen talk after an intense challenge

In the spirit of competition, things can spiral out of control, and fans this summer took things too far in the comment sections of the contestants’ social media pages. Several islanders, such as Chelley Bissainthe and Olandria Carthen, had to lock their social media comments after a particularly heated challenge. Bissainthe’s Instagram handler previously shared that the page’s comments were off “due to the harassment and threats.”

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Love Island fans, across countries, have a reputation for being intense. In the U.K., the show’s network ITV often reminds audiences to “be kind” to the islanders on the show. This messaging has ramped up over the past few years after two former players and former host Caroline Flack died by suicide. Since last year, Love Island USA has begun issuing similar reminders to keep the discussion around the contestants positive.

“Don’t be contacting people’s families,” host Ariana Madix said in a recent Aftersun episode. “Don’t be doxing people. Don’t be going on islanders’ pages and saying rude things.”

Yet, despite these pleas, some people have continued to harass islanders and their family members. After Ortega left the villa, her family took to Instagram to condemn “The threats. The cruel messages. The attacks on her family, her friends, even her supporters.”

Off the heels of Ortega’s exit, a few have even suggested doctoring and sharing fake screenshots of certain islanders using hateful language in order to get them removed from the show. At that point, one must wonder: What is the purpose of all that effort? It is a toxic way to get one person to the winner’s podium and it makes the communal viewing experience far less enjoyable. At this rate, U.S. producers may take a page out of the original Love Island’s playbook next year by banning the islanders’ social media activity in order to protect them and their loved ones from online abuse.

3. Islanders rewrote unspoken rules

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Jeremiah Brown, Pepe Garcia, Austin Shepard, Hannah Fields, Iris Kendall, and Amaya Espinal during a 'Love Island USA' dumping

With all the drama and romantic exploration, this has been a pretty good season of reality television. However, it is a very strange season of Love Island.

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Here is how Love Island typically works: The 10 OG singles couple up and bombshells are introduced every few days. People get into love triangles and swap partners for the first few weeks, but are generally working toward securing a single, strong connection. People are always at risk of getting dumped by their fellow contestants or the public, which can throw a wrench in these connections. However, when cast members have the power to save or dump their fellow islanders, they will usually protect the ones who are in the most promising relationships.

This year? Not so much. The contestants have had a clear prioritization of “exploring” and have opted to dump at-risk islanders who were in seemingly more solid couples. They have constantly talked about who they think has taken advantage of the experience the most by talking to as many people as possible. This has resulted in seemingly solid duos getting separated and an upcoming final with no “closed-off,” or exclusive, connections, which has been frustrating for viewers.

Fans often wield the term “game player” against the islanders they believe are strategically coupling up, befriending, or dumping other contestants to get to the final. But despite what many people think about this year’s batch of singles, they broke every convention in the franchise, essentially playing the game, as viewers know it, wrong. This puts the contestants at risk of dumping from the public, which is a bad strategy if winning the game is the goal. Their approach to the show reflects something different: Changing dating habits.

“This season is the first time where we can see the influence of the newer generation’s view and opinion of dating,” longtime Love Island narrator Iain Sterling recently said about this year’s U.S. season. “I think relationship status, sexuality, everything's a lot more fluid than sort of the Millennials. The Millennial Love Island is sort of coming to an end where we like clear lines.”

4. Producers changed or got rid of fan-favorite challenges

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Olandria Carthen and Nic Vansteenberghe recouple on 'Love Island USA'

Love Island switches things up every year, but not everything is a hit. One of the most notable changes to this year’s season happened during the fan-favorite mid-season challenge Casa Amor.

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Casa Amor splits the existing couples up and puts them into separate villas, one for the men and one for the women. Producers then introduce a new batch of single men and women for the existing cast members to get to know, while their partners are in the dark about their actions. When the experiment ends, the previous couples find out if their partner was loyal or if they chose to pursue a new relationship.

This year, the show required every person to recouple or risk getting dumped, forcing each contestant to get into a new relationship. One boy and one girl (fan favorites Olandria Carthen and Nic Vansteenberghe, or "Nicolandria") were fake dumped and then brought back as a couple. Many fans liked that pairing, but others were overall dissatisfied with the new Casa Amor format, which many felt weakened the loyalty test that the challenge typically creates. This added to the feeling among viewers that there were no strong pairs this year.

Casa Amor also provides fodder for the popular Movie Night challenge, which shows islanders clips of their partners saying and doing things that they may otherwise have kept secret. But because everyone was technically disloyal during Casa Amor, there wouldn’t have been much to show. Producers also appeared to scrap Movie Night altogether, which was disappointing to many fans.

5. There was no love on the island

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Nic Vansteenberghe, Ace Greene, and Chelley Bissainthe take care of baby dolls on 'Love Island USA'

From controversial dumpings to explosive fights to disgraceful exits, there was no shortage of drama this season. But where was the love?

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A single couple closed off their relationship this season and that was Nic Vansteenberghe and Cierra Ortega. Ortega then left the show, so now the villa is back to none. Nicolandria have finally ended up together after weeks of fans begging for it. However, there are only days left of the show and little time left for them to display their affection on screen.

It has been difficult for fans to root for any couples this season, so they have opted to stan individuals instead. Fan favorite Amaya (Papaya) Espinal has had a difficult time finding a good connection in the villa, but viewers will likely get her to the final because of her personality alone. She is currently paired up with Bryan Arenales, who is a later addition to the villa. The duo were the first to enter the Hideaway this season, days before the final. The Hideaway, a private room reserved for the strongest couples to have a night alone, has been collecting dust all season — another testament to the lack of connections this year.

Viewers did find some respite during the baby challenge, which occurred days before the final. The baby challenge makes the couples care for a crying baby doll (or two) for a day. It brought out some much-needed silliness and affection from the cast, which has been overshadowed by the constant drama of the season. Some fans even remarked that it felt like the first episode where they could feel the love between couples. And therein lies the problem.

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