Why I obsessed over season 6 of ‘Love Island: USA’ (and why you should, too)

I have never seen any other season of “Love Island: USA” besides season six.

Historically, I avoid reality shows if I can. I tend to get bored with “The Bachelor.” Home renovation shows aren’t my thing. I don’t possess a strong desire to determine if something is real or cake.

But this summer, several of my friends raved about season six of “Love Island: USA” and convinced me to watch it. Finally, at the end of the summer after the season ended, I went back to the beginning to see what all the fuss was about.

Something about the islanders in the villa kept me coming back for more.

In case you didn’t find yourself binging the show this summer, I’ll give you a quick rundown. Twelve contestants (called “islanders”) enter a villa in Fiji: six women and six men all in their 20s. They “couple up” (men with women) almost immediately.

Throughout the show, the islanders participate in challenges and fun games that often force them to answer controversial questions about their fellow islanders. These games — along with living in such close quarters — induce many dramatic situations.

New islanders (called “bombshells”) enter the villa sporadically and attempt to break up existing couples. Recouplings ensue and often lead to some islanders being kicked off the show (or “dumped” from the island). In the end, the couple who receives the most votes from the public wins $100,000, which they always choose to split between the two of them.

My friends were not the only ones telling me to watch this season. Online it got loads of attention. I had to be careful to avoid spoilers on social media.

Islanders got brand deals and it seemed like everyone constantly posted TikToks about this season. People I follow on Instagram reposted the islanders’ posts on their stories as if they were common celebrities.

All of this attention really made me wonder what made this season so appealing to people my age.

Maybe the most obvious appeals of the show are the relationships and the drama that arises when someone betrays their partner. I genuinely felt sad when couples I rooted for broke up. I shouted at the TV a couple of times when people acted unfaithfully.

Immediately after finishing the final episode, I found myself stalking the Instagram pages of all of the final four couples to make sure they stayed together. Emotional investment in the islanders' relationships might be embarrassing, but it makes me happy to see when other people feel happy in a relationship.

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The friendships really made me keep coming back — especially the female friendships.

Traditionally, reality shows and the media in general pit women against each other because producers think it causes the most drama. In “The Bachelor,” a group of women literally compete against each other for the same man.

But this season of “Love Island” seemed to foster more female friendships than usual. The women constantly looked out for each other and were not quick to turn on one another. Even if two women did get in a spat, it could usually be resolved by “pulling someone for a chat.” As a young woman, watching their camaraderie had me walking away feeling empowered instead of stereotyped.

Finally, what draws young people in general to this show could be that college can feel like “Love Island” sometimes. We have little to no supervision, and it seems like all that matters at times is who is dating who.

Yes, the show focuses on the couples, but doesn’t this season also represent most, if not all, of the human emotions and experience, at least in your 20s?

You form romantic relationships. Those relationships face challenges. You end romantic relationships and start new ones. You form friendships. You confide in those friends. You have disagreements with those friends. You form deep connections with some people and have to let some people leave your life. You get angry and happy and sad and you feel those things over and over again.

I won’t pretend to be blind to the economic motivations behind making this show so entertaining. The streaming service, Peacock, wants to make money. The advertisers want to make money. The cast themselves want to make money. In fact, they already made money off me and my friends (and they will make more money because I have now convinced you to watch it, too). But can’t we just ignore that for a little and let it exist as an entertaining, silly, emotional TV show we can gossip about?

Soon, I convinced some other friends to jump on the bandwagon. I went over to their house recently to find them laying on the couch watching the show. We chatted during ad breaks, argued about our favorite couples and fawned over the cutest islanders.

And isn't that what life is all about?

francim7@miamioh.edu