By Lauren Zulick ‘25
The search “Love Island USA Season 6” generates just over 3.6 million hits on Google and other popular browsers. But what is Love Island and why is everyone obsessing over it?
Most watchers call the most recent season with Ariana Madix as the host “the best reality show on Peacock, a streaming service”. With this seasons’ cast members going viral on everything from Facebook to TikTok, almost every teenage girl knows exactly what is happening in Fiji.
“Love Island USA” was created in early 2019 and has many sister shows like “Love Island UK”, “Love Island Games”, and “Love Island All Stars”. The reality show is narrated by Iain Stirling, a Scottish native who has voiced both “Love Island USA” and “Love Island UK”.
“Love Island” is like the “Bachelor” and the “Bachelorette” as both require you to “audition” or sign up to be reviewed for consideration.
Season six takes place in a villa on a private island in Fiji, with ten original “islanders” and the host. This year’s host is Ariana Madix, who you may recognize previously from “Vanderpump Rules” and “Dancing with the Stars.”
The islanders all arrive in their best outfits and glamourous accessories to couple up with one person in the villa. They face challenges within their relationship from the start and may even “couple up” with any other person inside the villa. The original couples go into a six-week journey inside the Fiji island villa.
Their goal? To find love.
During the airtime of this season, multiple new cast members appear on the show in addition to the cast members that get voted off the island by either others or the public. There are many challenges for the cast during their time on the island, some include: obstacle courses, truth or dare and a Twitter challenge.
For example, the Twitter challenge reveals tweets that fans across the globe have been saying about the islanders and the cast tries to guess who they are about. Challenges like this heat up the competition and the relationships; some stay strong through the stressors while others break apart.
The toughest challenge yet will always be Casa Amor, where the 10 cast members split up and the boys travel to another villa with five new girls, and vice versa. The boys and girls can each choose to couple up with another girl or boy or stay loyal to their original couple. This challenge lasts three to four days and is the hardest time for most of the cast. The original boys and girls get to choose whether they want to stay loyal or couple up with the “Casa boy” or “Casa girl” as there is a recoupling ceremony at the end of their Casa stay.
One of the most notable recoupling’s from this past season was Kordell and Daia.
Kordell, brother of Odell Beckham Jr., was previously coupled up with Serena but ultimately chose to pick the “Casa girl” Daia. This caused America to turn on Kordell because he and Serena were one of the strongest couples in the villa. Later, Kordell dumped Daia and went back to Serena, ultimately winning “Love Island” and $50k.
Fans all over the world fled to Instagram and Twitter to share their thoughts and feelings about the islanders and their choices on the island.
Arguably the most famous islander with now over 3.5 million Instagram followers, Leah Kateb, shares that her time on the island left her “exhausted mentally physically and spiritually”.
Watchers from around the world rallied around Leah and many other cast members while they were in the villa. Family members and friends took over the casts social media as they did not have their phones, posting moments from the villa and supporting messages for the cast.
THE BEAR FACTS 