Reality shows, like almost all television programming, have always thrived on attention currency: the idea that our viewing habits can be commodified into a measure of what\u2019s hot, popular and worthy of our precious time.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n At reality TV\u2019s genesis, that looked like network ratings from millions of viewers tuning in for appointment television week after week for, in most cases, the juicy drama they couldn\u2019t get enough of. Nowadays, though, those ratings are more contingent upon onscreen drama sparking discussions, and not just in our homes, group chats and at the office watercooler. Instead, conversations have shifted to places like social media, which are designed to fuel TV gossip discourse (the good and the bad) for a much wider, more engaged, and, dare I say, obsessed audience. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n It\u2019s for that reason that many who aren\u2019t avid reality TV watchers may have found their social media timelines hijacked this summer by the annual fixation of Peacock\u2019s \u201cLove Island USA.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n A hit spinoff of the U.K. original, \u201cLove Island USA\u201d has become the most-talked-about reality series in recent memory, largely due to the unprecedented success of Season 6\u2019s breakout cast \u2014 whom fans have followed religiously online and in real life since last summer, and even now on their Peacock spinoff, \u201c<\/span>Love Island: Beyond the Villa<\/span><\/a>.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n But the same can be said of the show\u2019s <\/span>record-breaking<\/span><\/a> seventh season, which has been the subject of just as much, if not <\/span>more<\/span><\/em>, internet chatter this summer. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n With fan-favorite couples like Nicolandria (Nic Vansteenberghe and Olandria Carthen) and Chellace (Chelley Bissainthe and Ace Greene) gaining devoted followings and sparking their own cultural waves \u2014 alongside an <\/span>increasingly star-studded viewership<\/span><\/a> \u2014 \u201cLove Island USA\u201d has solidified its place as a full-blown reality TV obsession.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n But amid all that passion, something shifted between Seasons 6 and 7 that took the \u201cLove Island USA\u201d fandom into toxic territory, so much so that the show itself had to intervene.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Ahead of one episode that aired in late June, the Peacock series <\/span>issued a \u201cfriendly reminder\u201d<\/span><\/a> to viewers amid growing negative discourse online about some contestants.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cWe appreciate the fans, the passion for the series, and the amazing group of Islanders who are sharing their summer with us,\u201d <\/span>read the statement<\/span><\/a>. \u201cPlease just remember they\u2019re real people \u2014 so let\u2019s be kind and spread the love!\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n On an episode of \u201cAftersun,\u201d the \u201cLove Island USA\u201d companion talk show, host Ariana Madix also made a statement to fans, saying directly, \u201cDon\u2019t be contacting people\u2019s families. Don\u2019t be doxxing people. Don\u2019t be going on Islander\u2019s pages and saying rude things.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n This isn\u2019t the first time \u201cLove Island USA\u201d has called out such behavior from viewers. A similar statement was made last year <\/span>ahead of Season 6\u2019s reunion<\/span><\/a>, which noted, \u201cWhile we love your passion for [the \u201cLove Island USA\u201d cast], we ask that you always choose to be kind.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Still, this summer saw viewer conduct reach new lows, with online harassment escalating to rather parasocial levels due to fanbase wars and a hypersurveillance of Islanders once they exited the villa \u2014 the latter often taking place in dedicated fan communities that constantly repost Islanders\u2019 day-to-day activities, both on and offline. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n In the most extreme cases this season, fans\u2019 toxic behavior turned into outright racism toward Carthen and Bissainthe, the only two dark-skinned Black women of the main cast. The two addressed the harsh backlash they received last month on the \u201cBaby, This Is Keke Palmer\u201d podcast<\/a>, where they told the actor-host that they felt they needed to \u201ctone down\u201d in the villa to avoid being vilified. Yet, it happened anyway.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n During this week\u2019s reunion special, Carthen brought up the matter again when she expressed how hurt she felt that fellow castmate and former friend Huda Mustafa didn\u2019t check her stans over online racism they spewed Carthen\u2019s way, which Carthen said impacted her mentally.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cI truly wish you would\u2019ve prioritized that moment to address the racism and<\/em> the bullying towards me and Chelley since that was spewed out the most,\u201d Carthen said before tearing up. \u201cYour face was not plastered on fucking George Floyd\u2019s body. Mine was, and I told you that. It was that bad.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n In these cases, it doesn\u2019t help that platforms like X (formerly Twitter), Instagram and TikTok egg on this extremist behavior by giving fans direct access to the people they watch nearly every day of the week. But Uttara Ananthakrishnan, assistant professor of information systems at Carnegie Mellon University, told celebrity.land this is a result of social media and reality TV working in tandem to increase engagement, rather than addressing what\u2019s most concerning.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n It\u2019s a two-fold problem, the professor said, that begins with reality TV offering a voyeuristic glimpse into the everyday lives of show contestants, which are technically scripted for entertainment. The juiciest storylines are decided by producers, who then package them into moments designed to spark the most engagement on social media.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cYou create this environment where you want [these moments] to go off the TV platform and go into all these other channels where your primary engagement is going to come from,\u201d Ananthakrishnan said. \u201cAnd the more divisive your main show or your main plot is, the higher the buzz that it creates on a different platform.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cSo, it\u2019s sort of engineered to provoke reactions on what is already a very volatile channel in itself,\u201d she added, \u201cwhich is social media.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Essentially, it\u2019s a feedback loop fueled by algorithms that reward outrage by amplifying the most polarizing content. And with groups of passionate viewers pledging their allegiance to their favorites, online commentary has become less about the show itself and more about defending their chosen side, whether they\u2019re right or wrong.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n That would explain why some viewer responses often feel so personal \u2014 and so extreme \u2014 even when directed at contestants they\u2019ve never met. But as Ananthakrishnan pointed out, there\u2019s more at play than just emotional projection.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n There\u2019s also the fact that reality shows are structured in a way to give audiences a \u201cmirage of authenticity,\u201d the professor noted, where the degrees of separation are intentionally collapsed to make them feel like they genuinely know the contestants on a personal level.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cMost of the time, the stars of these reality shows go on to these [social media] platforms and interact with their audience as the person that they are portrayed to be on [TV],\u201d the professor added, \u201cwhich then leads to this perceived authenticity of these characters or the way that this bond has been created.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n But in the case of \u201cLove Island USA,\u201d those blurred lines of reality can also be attributed to the fact that the show gave fans more voting power this past season to decide contestants\u2019 romantic fates. That in itself makes viewers act more entitled because they\u2019re actually invested in the onscreen drama, not as spectators, but as active participants.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n And this is where parasocial relationships come into play \u2014 this one-sided connection between fans and the person they supported all season long. In pop culture terms, we call those folks \u201cstans\u201d \u2014 derived from Eminem\u2019s 2000 song \u201cStan\u201d \u2014 who glorify and defend their favs to no end, to the point where any negative comment, or even the slightest critique, is met with immediate vitriol. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n These relationships, of course, aren\u2019t exclusive to reality TV. In today\u2019s era, stan culture primarily exists in the celebrity and entertainment realms (think of Beyonc\u00e9, Nicki Minaj and Cardi B\u2019s fanbases, for instance). However, the side of the spectrum devoted to reality TV fandom is just as powerful, in part, because contestants who appear on shows like \u201cLove Island USA\u201d are much more accessible.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cYou\u2019re seeing them in a much more immersive way than when you watch a sitcom that is scripted and has this artificialness to it that we don\u2019t see in the same way,\u201d said Maureen Coyle, assistant professor of psychology at Widener University, who also pointed to social media as a factor. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cIt blurs that line between this person I know in real life and this person I see across the screen,\u201d she added, \u201cand we treat them as fundamentally the same in our own psyche.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n That\u2019s sort of what reality shows are counting on from their viewers. <\/span>Despite its name, reality TV, as many know, often fails to paint a full, raw picture of what\u2019s actually happening in real life, since the ultimate goal is to entertain. Hence, you usually hear stars complaining about receiving unfair edits, which sometimes fuel false narratives about them. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n But it\u2019s hard for viewers to keep that in mind when a show like \u201cLove Island,\u201d which is filmed and aired in real time, feels like it\u2019s capturing everything<\/em> we <\/span>think<\/span> is happening IRL.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a false sense that [people are] truly seeing the whole of a complex person and that what you\u2019re seeing on the reality show is all of that person\u2019s dynamics,\u201d said Tracy King, a clinical psychologist with expertise in online behavior. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think people like to think that it\u2019s just a screenshot,\u201d she added. \u201cThey like to think that that\u2019s what\u2019s there, and they\u2019re getting that insight into [what they\u2019re seeing], so they then feel they have the right to comment on it, too.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n That explains why some \u201cLove Island USA\u201d fans have become especially hostile toward cast members online lately, spawning communities where negativity only grows as more people join in, some under anonymity. As King noted, this groupthink behavior only amplifies users\u2019 worst impulses to say the most hurtful things to and about contestants.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201c[Viewers] are not really understanding that what they\u2019re saying is harmful,\u201d King said of fan comments. \u201cThey\u2019re just reacting rather than responding to what they see, and because it\u2019s online, they don\u2019t see that it has an impact.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n That\u2019s a critique many \u201cLove Island USA\u201d cast members voiced this past season, especially as fan backlash escalated into vicious cyberbullying, including attacks on <\/span>contestants\u2019 appearances<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>behavior<\/span><\/a>. For viewers, t<\/span>hat should serve as a stark reminder of just how deeply online hate can cut, especially when it crosses the line from criticism to straight-up dehumanization. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n It\u2019s unsettling to see just how toxic fan behavior has become lately. Still, again, both King and Coyle trace it back to how parasocial relationships can often distort boundaries to the point that viewers feel justified in attacking contestants who go against their favs or trigger something within themselves that they think is under attack.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cThat is why people could get pushed to saying and doing these more dangerous, aggressive things,\u201d Coyle said, \u201cbecause they\u2019re seeing it as an attack on their belief system.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n But that\u2019s why the professor says it takes more self-awareness from viewers to decide what does and doesn\u2019t warrant a reaction online, and when it\u2019s time to take a step back from our devices. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cOr as Gen Z says, touch grass,\u201d she added.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n It may take time for that mindset to catch on again. These days, online culture thrives on instant reactions, and reality TV, by design, plays right into that. But with \u201cLove Island USA\u201d now behind us (at least until next summer), there\u2019s a chance for the chronically online conversations to slow down, finally. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Maybe during that time, viewers will reflect on where they went wrong with their commentary this season and course-correct for the future. Or better yet, the show itself will take measures to address the toxicity in a way that won\u2019t feed the algorithm machine \u2014 that is, if they care enough to really address the issue.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not an easy problem to solve,\u201d Ananthakrishnan said, adding there\u2019s still a lack of incentives for reality shows to monitor their engagement online. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cThey want a lot of toxicity and hate because that there is a lot of attention [for them],\u201d she adds. \u201cBut the technology absolutely exists now to [filter] what gets put out on the internet.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n If social media platforms or reality shows won\u2019t take it upon themselves to set healthier boundaries around fan engagement, then perhaps it\u2019s on viewers to take control instead.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cPeople forget that they do have some control over their algorithms,\u201d Coyle noted. \u201cIf we notice that we don\u2019t feel good, that we\u2019re feeling angry or upset, or these toxic dynamics are happening with other people, it could be good to just tell the platform, \u2018I want less of this, or I want to pause this for 30 days.\u2019\u201d Like maybe I want to wait until the season\u2019s over before I even engage online with it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n 20 Years Of<\/span>Free<\/span>Journalism<\/span><\/p>\n Your Support Fuels Our Mission<\/p>\n Your Support Fuels Our Mission<\/p>\n![\"Olandria](\"https:\/\/img.huffingtonpost.com\/asset\/68b0b08a190000140034bcf5.jpg?ops=scalefit_720_noupscale&format=webp)
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