Love Island: I cringed in horror watching the first episode; sex doesn’t sell
I sat through the season two premiere of Love Island Australia, watching a group of stereotypically good-looking 20-somethings bonding over their own vanity. The show sets us back 60-something years, writes Mibenge Nsenduluka.
Confidential
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I cringed in horror as I sat through the season two premiere of Love Island Australia, watching a group of stereotypically good-looking 20-somethings bonding over their own vanity.
The show sets us back 60-something years and also raises huge questions about the trashiest of reality TV and whether these programs are appropriate in today’s sensitive political climate.
While I’m familiar with the premise of Love Island after watching last season, I sat in disbelief as shirtless men lustfully ogled a line-up of bikini-clad women in heels waiting to be picked purely based on their looks.
The concept, which sees a group of singles hook up in a Fijian villa while competing for $50,000 (think Wife Swap meets Big Brother uncut), is problematic in today’s #metoo era so it’s no surprise that Twitter was alight with complaints during Monday’s season two premiere.
And the exercise doesn’t look to have paid off for broadcaster Channel 9, with lacklustre launch ratings of 494,000 viewers across the five city metro market, way down on what would have been expected given the massive amount of pre-publicity and hype for the controversial dating show.
This is also an embarrassing figure given the show has been bumped from digital channel 9Go to Nine’s main platform. Last year on 9Go, it averaged 155,000 metro viewers.
Nine launched Love Island at 8.45pm, straight after family-friendly show The Block, which was the top rating show of the night with a national five city metro audience of 979,000 viewers.
Love Island went head to head with Have You Been Paying Attention on Ten, which pulled in 823,000 viewers while the ABC’s Four Corners attracted 542,000 viewers around the same time.
From complaints about tokenism, to sexism and nudity — the controversial dating show is getting lots of attention but for all the wrong reasons.
The awkward viewing began almost immediately when striking Brisbane model Cynthia Taylu, the only black, was last to be picked.
The 23-year-old Liberian-born struggled to hide her disappointment as she was brutally rejected by square-jawed model Matthew Zukowski, 24, who instead chose to go with Bondi influencer Vanessa Joli, 24.
A visibly dejected Taylu was then matched with the last man available — Melbourne DJ Sam Withers, 28, who complained that the default pairing was “a stitch up”.
Viewers flocked to Twitter to vent their frustration over the uncomfortable scene, which some claimed was reminiscent of a similar scandal on the UK version involving contestant Yewande Biala, who is of Nigerian descent.
“Cynthia is too good for them anyway it’s like Yewande all over again disappointed but not surprised,” one viewer tweeted.
“Man I know this season of #LoveIslandAU is gonna pi** me off by how they treat Cynthia. I can tell already,” a third person tweeted.
Other viewers pointed out the lack of diversity, with many taken aback by how similar contestants look — with dark spray tans, pearly white veneers symmetrical facial features and gym-honed physiques.
“I swear all these boys look the same #loveislandau,” one viewer observed.
The awkward scenes didn’t end there, as contestants are forced to live with their partner and even share beds together.
At least one pair, Vanessa and Matthew, were seen hooking up under the covers — in confronting scenes mimicking Big Brother uncut, despite the relatively early timeslot of 8:45pm.
This was followed by some nudity as personal trainer Gerard Majda, 23, flashed his bottom while cooking eggs.
Advertising expert, Nicole Reaney of InsideOut PR, said Channel 9 risks losing potential advertisers by airing such content during this timeslot.
Brands partnering with the show this season include KFC, Tradie, Deliveroo and MCoBeauty, which recently launched a collaboration with host Sophie Monk.
“It’s still relatively early for this content, a later slot, even by 15 minutes is ideal to minimise any potential negativity,” Nicole told Confidential.
“These days consumers vote with their wallets, if there is any doubt that their brand may receive backlash, then they are likely to select a more ‘safer’ advertising option.”
Last year’s series, saw several “couples” hook-up and have sex on national TV, which sparked widespread criticism.
Former reality TV star, Simone Holtznagel, was among viewers who criticised the show for being “degrading” during the season two premiere on Monday night.
“OK I’m watching Love Island. And I love it. First time ever watching. But just gonna say it — this is degrading of #LoveIslandAu,” Simone wrote on Twitter.
A Nine spokesman however told Confidential that the network is thrilled with the numbers.
“We are thrilled with the ratings with total viewing of more than 700,000 in the first 12 hours,” the representative said. “The launch episode more than tripled the audience from last year in just live TV viewing — up 200 per cent. Live streaming on 9 Now is up 400 per cent year-on-year. The sheer volume of viewers watching Love Island on 9 Now in the days and indeed weeks after each episode has been well documented and we know it will continue to grow in the days and weeks to come.”
Originally published as Love Island: I cringed in horror watching the first episode; sex doesn’t sell