‘Love Island USA’ crowns winning couple following tumultuous seventh season

0

 





“Love Island USA” culminated a tumultuous summer full of explosive breakups and shock exits in its season finale Sunday.

A public vote (spoilers ahead) crowned Amaya Espinal, 25, and Bryan Arenales, 28, as the winning couple of its seventh season.

The Peacock reality series has had a chart-topping run since the season premiered on June 3. “Love Island” brings young singles together in a remote villa in Fiji to explore connections with the ultimate goal of finding love.

Espinal and Arenales formed a connection late in the season, bonding over their shared Latino culture. Espinal, a New York City native, is Dominican, and Arenales is of Puerto Rican and Guatemalan descent, according to his Instagram page.

“I often said how much I wanted to provide that safe place here for you, but little did I know that you would do that for me, too,” Arenales said during his final speech before the winners were announced. “You said I was the water to your fire, but you are my peace to this madness.”

Each contestant in the winning couple was randomly picked from two envelopes, one of which contained the $100,000 prize and the other nothing. Arenales got the full prize and chose to split it evenly with Espinal.

Olandria Carthen and Nicolas Vansteenberghe were the runners-up, and Huda Mustafa and Chris Seeley — who went through an awkward and emotional breakup during the finale — came in third place. Iris Kendall and Jose “Pepe” Garcia-Gonzalez placed fourth.

The show’s host, Ariana Madix, also announced that the entire cast of Season 7 will come together again for a New York reunion, which will be released on Peacock on Aug. 25, she said.

A season of shake-ups and scandal

The show, an American spinoff of the UK series, has shaken up reality TV, becoming Peacock’s most-watched entertainment series on mobile devices, according to NBC Universal.

It became a breakout success and captured mainstream attention last summer, and this season grew into a true cultural phenomenon.

“Love Island: Beyond the Villa,” a new series spinoff, premiered Sunday and follows Season 6’s main cast as they navigate relationships, life, and newfound social media fame in Los Angeles.

This season also came under fire as two contestants — Cierra Ortega and Yulissa Escobar — left the villa following resurfaced posts in which they used racial slurs.

Ortega, who was half of one of the season’s strongest couples with Vansteenberghe, left the villa just a week before the popular reality show’s finale after old posts resurfaced that contained a slur against Asian people. She apologized for the resurfaced posts in a nearly five-minute TikTok video on Wednesday.

Friday’s episode saw the elimination of Ace Greene and Chelley Bissainthe, setting the stage for the finale. Green and Bissainthe were the only couple to maintain a relationship throughout most of the show.

A ‘Dominican Cinderella’ story

The final four couples each went on dates during the last episode before the winners were crowned.

Espinal and Arenales were given a photo book with pictures of each other throughout their lives, culminating with photos from their relationship during the show. The two bonded over family traditions.

“With you, I don’t ever cry out of sadness. Every time I feel like a heightened emotion with you, it’s always just like happy tears,” Espinal said.

The date ended with Espinal and Arenales taking a picture, a final memory from their time on “Love Island USA.” The couple then made their relationship exclusive, noting they will only focus on each other when they leave the island.

“I feel like I’m a Dominican Cinderella when I’m with you, and I finally found my perfect glass slipper,” Espinal said during their date.

How ‘Love Island USA’ works

Stripped of their phones and connection with the outside world, five men and five women arrive in the villa and couple up based on initial romantic interest. Throughout the season, the show introduces a steady stream of bombshells, new contestants who are brought in to disrupt existing relationships and build new storylines.

Contestants are routinely dumped from the villa, either by a public vote or by the islanders themselves.

Under constant surveillance, contestants partook in kissing competitions, heart rate challenges and drama-inducing games ripe for viral moments. Halfway through the season, established couples were temporarily separated for Casa Amor, the show’s ultimate test, and encouraged to explore new relationships with a fresh group of single contestants.

Amaya and Bryan, from late arrivals to America’s sweethearts

Espinal made waves when she walked in as a bombshell early in the season and has been credited for some of the season’s most viral moments.

“I never said I was perfect. I never said I didn’t have any flaws. But at least I’m pretty, and at least I’m a little funny, and at least I’m my own best friend,” Espinal sang to herself in the makeup room, which prompted various covers online and inspired a Google pop-up message when you search up her nickname, Amaya Papaya.

The New York City native, who labeled herself a “sensitive gangster,” tested various connections, including Greene, Austin Shepard, and Zak Srakaew, that all fizzled out. Her previous partners on the show said Espinal, who is Dominican, expressed affection too quickly.

A connection sparked between Espinal and Casa Amor contestant Arenales late in the season after he defended her, saying that “coming from a Hispanic household, calling someone babe, mi amor, mi vida, that’s just how we talk.”

“Every time I talk to you, like, my energy is up. I’m walking out smiling. That’s what I want in my life,” Arenales told Espinal during their final date.

Espinal said Arenales lets her express her emotions freely, a difference from her previous connections, which she said “made me feel misunderstood and as if the love I had to give to the world needed to be watered down, but every decision led me to find my personal prince charming.”

Arenales ended his speech by calling Espinal, “mi diabla, mi alma, y mi loquita,” which translates to “my devil, my soul, and my madness.”

It used to be that dating was as simple as deciding between dinner, a trip to the movies, or an arcade. Now, understanding the dating scene has become intermingled with smartphones, matchmaking apps, and one’s ability to navigate thorny social issues like racial preference in a mate.

“Love Island,” a widely popular international reality television franchise, is emblematic of the complexities of modern dating. It has also sparked heated discussions among fans about the desirability of Black women and darker-complexioned people both on and off air.

The show, which aired the finale of the seventh season of its U.S. version Sunday and is airing the 12th season of its U.K. version, casts conventionally attractive “islanders” who are generally in their early to late 20s for a six- to eight-week stay in a luxury villa. Men and women compete for long-lasting relationships and a cash prize.

But as the show’s daters face challenges meant to test their bonds, as well as elimination by villa mates or by fans’ vote, notions of who is and isn’t desirable frequently come up for viewers and contestants alike. In the end, many fans are left with the perception that racial bias, colorism, and misogyny are especially inescapable for Black women on reality dating shows.

“The diversity in the U.K. is terrible,” said Oghosa Ovienrioba, a content creator from London. “It’s very anti-Black.”

It’s not simply that Black women are picked last for coupling or eliminated first on the U.K. or U.S. versions of the show. Many fans say there’s a recurring theme of suitors dumping or ditching Black female contestants when there is a fairer-skinned option. Black female contestants have also complained of not doing well on the show when they don’t lower their standards for intimacy with a suitor, as though they are lucky to even be considered dating material among more desirable mates.

Even with these viewer frustrations, Ovienrioba said she prefers “ Love Island USA.”

“I feel like the dark skin Black women on that show always find men who fit their vibe, who respect them, who are attracted to them, desire them, treat them like queens,” she said.

‘Love Island’ U.K. irks fans over treatment of Black women

In the U.K. version, fans have counted multiple instances where Black female contestants were left as the last choice when couples were picked, or they were first to get eliminated and dumped from the villa. Many have also noted that it took eleven seasons before a darker-complexioned Black woman was declared the winner.

Now in its 12th season, Love Island U.K. is still dogged by allegations of male contestants’ bias against Black women. After 23-year-old Alima Gagigo, a Black woman, chose to couple up with 26-year-old Blu Chegini, a white man, he said, “I’ll be honest, on paper, you’re not my type.”

Gagigo responded, “Of course,” as if those were words she was not surprised to hear.

There is no evidence that Chegini was referring to Gagigo’s race or ethnicity. But the exchange was enough to confirm what some in audience felt was an implicit bias against Black women in the villa.

“Love Island’s only stipulation is that applicants are over 18, single, and looking for love. Our application and casting process is inclusive to all, and we are always aiming to reflect the age and diversity of our audience on the show,” a spokesperson for “Love Island U.K.” said.

Black American contestants, too, say their complexion impacts their treatment

JaNa Craig, a contestant on “Love Island USA’s” beloved sixth season, which aired last summer, landed a spot in the final four couples by the end of the competition alongside Kenny Rodriguez, who entered the villa 13 days into the season. Her bubbly personality made her a fan favorite.

Although she initially worried about how viewers felt about her, the positive audience reaction culminated in her being deemed the “baddest girl in Love Island history,” which means hot or beautiful in slang terms. Still, she felt some male contestants may not have been interested in her and Serena Page, another Black female contestant, because of their skin complexion. Page went on to win that season of “Love Island USA.”

“The very first time I felt special was when the very first guy picked me because he had three options. Other than that, I always felt like I was getting the short end of the stick,” Craig said. “Even though we know our worth and we know we’re beautiful, we still felt like — not good enough.”

Ultimately, Craig felt proudest when she heard from other Black women who said they appreciated her representation on the show, given the perception that Black women are less desirable on dating shows.

“I felt honored by the amount of Black girls who were like, ‘JaNa, you inspire me,’” she said.

“Love Island USA” producer Peacock, which on Sunday debuted a spinoff to its popular Season 6 season, titled “Love Island: Beyond the Villa,” declined comment for this story.

Desirability concerns reflect real-world anti-Black sentiments

Fans’ and contestants’ concerns about Black women’s representation on the show reflect a real-world anti-Black and misogynistic views of Black women, commonly referred to as misogynoir. Scholars describe it as both implicit and explicit contempt for Black women, much of it rooted in racist stereotypes that are perpetuated in popular culture and mass media. While Love Island contestants are not being outright racist to Black female competitors, many viewers feel the interactions Black women have had on the show have been laced with implicit bias.

Few viewers see anything wrong with “Love Island” contestants being open about the specific traits they look for in potential suitors. Tall over short, fit over average build, tattooed over unmarked.

But contestants’ racial preferences, whether real or simply perceived by fans of the show, can’t be seen as objective truth about who is or is not desirable in the world, said Alexandria Beightol, host of the podcast “Apathy Is Not An Option” at the Southern Poverty Law Center, a civil rights and legal advocacy nonprofit.

“You recognizing you have a type should also be you recognizing you are a product of a lot of mass media,” Beightol said.

The show’s producers should see the show’s popularity as an opportunity to dispel and not reinforce notions of beauty, especially ones harmful to Black women and darker-complexioned people, she added.

“It would behoove you to have some producers that look like some of the women on there who can kind of anticipate some of that drama,” Beightol said. “They do frame those women as beautiful. In the history of reality programming, they’ve busted through a lot of the implicit views that the media used to hold itself to.”

Post a Comment

Previous Post Next Post