Misogyny, Bullying, and Sexism: Why the Most Recent Series of Love Island Was a Difficult Watch

I think it’s fair to say for the majority of us, this year’s season of Love Island was difficult to watch due to the constant misogyny, controlling behaviour, and apparent bullying by the male contestants on the show. As an avid watcher of the show which has become ingrained in British culture, I have never seen this level of sexism and bullying ever in comparison to previous series and years. In the year 2022, it would be reasonable to think that programmes, particularly reality TV, would be more direct in tackling and preventing these issues from occurring. However, it seems that it’s just seen as “juicy drama” for the viewers by the producers and studio.

One of the main perpetrators of this constant bullying was Luca Bish. Earlier on in the show, he seemed fine. However, it wasn’t until later into the series that his true colours began to show. Many online started to notice the “red flags” he was showing. One of the most significant ones is his “controlling” behaviour towards Gemma. Something as little as Gemma conversing with another male contestant resulted in Luca immediately disapproving and being unhappy. It would result in deep chats on the terrace about the state of their relationship - reminder, she spoke to another boy, nothing more. Luca also resulted in over 1500 OFCOM complaints being filed due to accusations of bullying toward Tasha in one of the challenges. In a challenge titled "Snog, Marry, Pie," Luca was persistently going for Tasha, whether it would be making remarks at her expense or just saying rude things directly to her. Viewers noticed when Tasha would cry as a result of these challenges, the typical Luca response was “it’s just a game.” However, it seemed he could not apply the same mantra to himself. When Gemma took part in a challenge that led to her dancing for all of the guys (which all of the other girls had to do also), Luca lost his shit. He threw his microphone off and walked out of the building. For girls, it seems that in Luca’s world they needed to grow up and get over it. It was a different story for him and the boys though, eh? 

Despite the shit show Love Island became this year, the end result of Ekin-Su being crowned winner along with her boyfriend Davide almost made things better. However, the treatment of Ekin-Su by the male contestants (primarily Luca again) made her win feel even more triumphant and deserving. Earlier on in the series, after a short time of Ekin-Su and Davide being together, a new contestant named Jay came in. Ekin-Su was torn between him and Davide, having an attraction for both. In secret, Ekin-Su crawled onto the balcony and kissed Jay, behind Davide’s back. Of course, this caused an eruption of drama but, soon was left behind by Davide as he decided to let his relationship with Ekin move on and progress. Despite this being left in the past, the same cannot be said for the boys. Time after time, the boys felt the need to bring up Ekin and whether she is trustworthy or not in regards to this incident. However, what many viewers found ironic was that even after what the boys did at Casa Amor, Ekin was still scrutinised for what she did with Jay weeks before. Despite the fact Davide kissed a couple of the new girls whilst Ekin was away, he got off rather lightly. It felt that the boys would deflect a lot of their guilt and actions onto the girls (particularly Ekin) to make themselves feel and look better for the viewers and themselves.

Since Love Island ended, more has appeared to come out about what went on in the villa which we didn’t see on screen. Former Love Island Bombshell Remi Lambert recently wrote a lengthy post about what he dealt with in regard to Jacques and Luca and their bullying towards him. This was in response to an Instagram live in which Luca and Jacques were talking and laughing about Remi as a fake Instagram account posing as him joined their live. Shortly after Remi’s post detailing the “constant abuse” he suffered in the villa by Jacques and Luca, Jacques made a statement saying that he was currently in therapy and “apologise[s] if my behaviour has caused offence.” However, the “if” completely undermines what Remi went through, in my opinion, and holds a lack of accountability. 

Despite Love Island claiming they are prioritising the mental health of the contestants and hosts, it seems that their claims beg to differ. Of course, we can’t deny that we all love to see a bit of drama in reality TV but, the constant bullying, sexism, and misogyny is another story. It should have been dealt with long before it got to the level it did.