Summer is here and with it comes the promise of another chaotically horny season of Love Island. In 2021, the creators of the cursed ITV2 reality series have promised that the coming season will be more diverse than ever before. This will hopefully translate to fewer white and/or insanely ripped bodies on screen, but begs the all-important question: how gay is this thing going to be exactly?
In the past, the show has been a veritable petri dish of information regarding straight culture. But the model is undeniably starting to feel a little worn, let alone kind of unrealistic.
Speaking exclusively to the Radio Times this week, ITV commissioner Amanda Stavri addressed the buzz around potentially welcoming queer relationships into the mix: “There’s been quite a few rumours circulating about featuring gay Islanders, so it’s worth touching on that really… The line-up will be announced within time and it goes without saying that we want to encourage greater inclusivity and diversity.”
But, Amanda continued, featuring queer contestants on a show focused on heterosexual romances could pose a challenge to the show’s traditional format. In case your memory needs jogging, the show revolves around each female single being encouraged to pair up and ‘recouple’ with a male single. However, 2016 saw the series’ first and only same-sex pairing when Katie Salmon and Sophie Gradon coupled up.
“In terms of gay Islanders, I think the main challenge is regarding the format of Love Island,” Amanda continues. “There’s a sort of logistical difficulty, because although Islanders don’t have to be 100 percent straight, the format must sort of give [the] Islanders an equal choice when coupling up.”
“With our dating shows, such as The Cabins, there is much more sexual diversity. The formats don’t have as much restriction as Love Island. So we’re very sort of mindful of that across our programming on ITV and dating series. But that’s the difficulty with Love Island.” But all is fair in love and war, Amanda! Don’t deprive us this way!
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