Banish the new semester blahs with the latest season of the hit reality show
By Laney Konz, Guest Writer
College: The days consist of waking up early for classes, sitting through lectures, trudging across campus in all types of weather, eating the delicious cafeteria food and spending nights slumped over a desk.
As we sludge through the monotony that plagues the routine of a college student, it’s no surprise that we crave excitement and drama to spice up our lives. Thus, I am here to offer you a solution that has yet to fail me in curing my boredom: Love Island.
Pop culture is often scrutinized by Gen Z for being shallow, mainstream and characterized by an absence of uniqueness and substance. Nobody wants to admit that they like something that is trending out of fear of conformity and a strong desire to be “quirky.”
As a Zoomer myself, this crippling fear held me back from watching Love Island for years. To all my fellow Gen Zers, put aside your pride and flip on your streaming device, because Love Island will quite literally rock your world.
The show itself is very easy television; there isn’t a complex plot that requires close attention, which is the perfect type of show to put on as you plow away at your growing pile of assignments.
The eighth season of Love Island UK — the latest iteration of the hit series that finished airing last month — has been a rollercoaster of emotions. Even halfway through the season, I think I developed chronic neck pain from the whiplash that Andrew Le Page and Tasha Ghouri’s relationship gave me.
At first, you find yourself watching the show as a joke, as the entire premise of the show is comically shallow.
Essentially, you are watching ridiculously attractive people (with heavy, meme-worthy accents) attempt to find love in a confined villa. The contestants walk around in bikinis and swim trunks all day, leaving you baffled that nobody has any sign of bloat from eating a meal.
As the show progresses, the drama heats up as real emotions get involved. Once couples are formed, new people are introduced into the villa, giving the men and women the option to explore new connections and potentially recouple with the newbies.
The show has weekly challenges where the islanders are given promiscuous tasks that they must complete, all with the goal of stirring the pot and causing jealousy.
Another factor in each season is Casa Amor: The original contestants are separated for a series of days, and their relationships are put to the test.
New men and women are brought into the two separate villas, and the OG islanders are given the chance to recouple with the new islanders. Whether the relationships between the original couples were real all boils down to how they behave in Casa Amor. In this season of Love Island, the public votes who wins based on their favorite couple, which ultimately comes down to who they think is the most compatible.
Love Island is certainly not the type of show you watch when looking for a deep, meaningful discourse or intellectually challenging themes, but it definitely excels in entertaining viewers. If you were one of those kids who grew up watching reality shows like Breaking Amish, Dance Moms and Cake Boss, I can assure you that Love Island will fill you with nostalgia and give you the drama fix to get you through the week.
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