What Love Island USA can learn from the UK franchise tragedies

Love Island USA – A spin -off of the British reality series – has its most watched season to date. But its new popularity came with a dark side.

The candidates were tirelessly cyber-burning on social networks, so much so that the program broadcast a statement during a recent episode with a plea for viewers to stop harassment. His host Ariana Madix echoes the feeling, asking viewers to rethink their messages and how they could have an impact on distribution.

The show – which places everyday men and women in a Villa in Fiji to compete and find love – often helps competitors to obtain millions of followers on social networks, brand offers and appearance requests.

But the disadvantages of renown overnight have been well documented since the start of the show 10 years ago in the United Kingdom, some candidates complaining of depression, anxiety and relentless control. Two competitors died by suicide after appearing in the program, which prompted the British government to launch an investigation into reality TV.

The producers of the show say they learned years of success of the reality franchise how to better support the distribution and the team. But the experts in psychology who worked with reality TV shows say that it is a difficult battle.

Behavioral psychologist Jo Hemmings, who has worked with reality TV productions, including Big Brother, said the last five years have seen many positive changes in the United Kingdom to respond to the concerns of well-being-but these progress has not been so obvious in the United States.

“I do not think that the duty of diligence has evolved as far in the United States as in the United Kingdom,” she told the BBC. “Maybe there is not the same level of well-being, support or transparency. I also wonder that with increased political polarization in the United States, cyberbullying and threats can be more intense and widespread.”

She said that it was a question of achieving a balance when working on a reality show. The hearts of many of these shows are scandalous emotional explosions, sexual behavior, aggressive insults and confrontations.

“The producers want excitement and danger,” she said, but psychologists on the set guarantee “stability and healthy behavior”.

LOVE ISLAND, who led iterations in more than 20 countries, says it provides support to candidates before, during and after production, and continues to adjust its mental health offers to meet changing needs.

On the USA version, ITV America, which produces the show, employs a representative of the obligation, two on -site psychologists and a social protection manager who helps Icelanders as a “non -producing voice” in the villa. Throughout the shooting, all members of the distribution have a psychologist appointed to the villa – and checks can be initiated by an islander, as members of the distribution are called in the series or the doctor.

Before being thrown into the show, each competitor goes through a long verification by a psychologist. Applicants are also informed of the negative press, interactions on social networks and public perceptions.

But this awareness of mental health came from a few difficult lessons. While the show has gained popularity in the United Kingdom, some have complained about depression or anxiety after appearing in the context of distribution. Several spoke of reflections on monitoring their lives the next day.

Suicides of former competitors of Love Island Uk Sophie Gradon and Mike Thalassitis in 2018 and 2019 aroused questions about how participants are helped.

“You can earn a lot of money if that’s what you want to do, but you really have to look at the situation as a whole and think in five, six, 10, you will always be known to be about a reality TV show,” Zara Holland, who contributed to Love Island in 2016 in 2016, said in 2016.

“It was a very difficult period for me. And if I could go back in time, I really want I never went on the show,” she told BBC Newsbeat.

Social media can act as a double -edged sword for competitors. Dr. Jamie Huysman, who has advised productions on mental health care for over 20 years, noted that she had “made hell” for some. “He really dissociated us from the impact of our words.”

Competitors want a glory – but they are not the only ones to feel in a hurry by obtaining likes and online subscribers. Average viewers on social networks also pursue this same satisfaction when they make memes or messages that become popular, and they are often encouraged to be critical, he said.

Ms. Hemmings said that psychologists can encourage people to ignore those who criticize them online, but it’s difficult.

“The public can be capricious and hard,” she said. “They must remember that the contributors are young and ambitious, but could be their brothers and sisters, brothers, sisters or children.”

She noted that fame overnight can lead to a cascade of problems for competitors, which can be overwhelming.

“They aspire, but it brings a meticulous exam,” she said. “Their pasts are dissected. The ex leaves from the woodwork to sell their stories, and everything they do or say is open to criticism.”

Another complication is that “very few stars of reality are embarking on a successful media career – most of the difficulties or missing”. But having a taste of popularity can make it difficult to return to their old life.

Season 7, which has always been broadcast, has become the most observed season in the series since its launch in the United States in 2019. Sports bars are organizing watches, celebrities are online viral moments – Megan Thee Stallion, winner of a Grammy, even appeared in an episode this season and spilled with his obsession with the show.

The popularity of the show in the United States has stimulated a spin-off nicknamed “Beyond the Villa”, which should be broadcast next month and follow the Icelanders of season 6 when they sail on life in Los Angeles after the show.

But this success has also led to an increase in negative comments on the casting this season, which have been relentlessly criticized on their appearances and actions. The show has broadcast a message this week in the middle of an episode: “The keyword in Love Island is … Love. We love our fans. We love our islanders. We do not like cyberbullying, harassment or hatred.”

He followed a public plea of ​​the host Ariana Madix: “Do not contact people’s families. Do not do people. Do not go to the pages of the islanders and say gross things.”

The producers of Love Island USA did not say if additional mental health precautions would be taken after this season – but noted that they were continuously examining and re -evaluates such measures.

The members of the distribution do not have access to their mobile phones or their social media on the island, but their friends and their family responded to part of the harassment – including those who know the candidate Huda Mustafa, a mother whose relationship with her compatriot Islander Jeremiah Brown has been strongly examined online this season.

The show has regularly defended and its cohesive psychological support system. Similar criticisms were formulated towards the production of reality TV, in boiling in 2023, when the star of reality Bethenny Frankel of the Housewives franchise sounded on the treatment of stars of reality, by overlooking a “calculation of reality”.

“Networks and banners have been exploiting people for too long,” she said, arguing that those who appear on reality programs should be unionized.

The calls were followed by several proceedings contesting “Love is Blind”, the franchise “Real Housewives” and “Vanderpump Rules” – where Ms. Madix became famous – on the treatment of players in the shows.

Suzie Gibson, lecturer in English at Charles Sturt University, compared the stars of reality TV with “modern gladiators, the fight against love, fame and Instagram followers”.

“The public can live by proxy through their favorites, while hoping for the dismissal or the ridiculous of others.”