Cluster

Reality TV in the Social Media Economy / Multiracial Twitter Wars: Rage Baiting and Anti-Blackness in Love Island UK

By Corrine Collins
Image by Ralph, AI artist. Courtesy of Pixexid. CC BY 4.0.

The hit UK reality dating TV show Love Island takes sexy, mostly straight, singles, puts them up in a luxury villa in a holiday destination, and tasks them with finding love.1 The singles are required to couple up, share beds, complete challenges, and win the public vote for a cash prize of £50,000. Love Island’s draw is obviously the drama: producers send in “bombshells” to disrupt established couples, create challenges that pit people against each other, and make islanders vote against each other. Although the show has become more racially diverse over the years, contestants of color frequently struggle to find love due to racialized dating preferences and Eurocentric beauty standards.2 Love Island is heavily structured around multiple forms of viewer participation and social media directly influences the show’s content. LI has its own economy: you can buy a LI water bottle with your name on it, play an in-app video game, and live-tweet each episode before joining a post-show Twitter discussion space or watching an influencer’s YouTube channel for clips, analysis, gossip, and former-contestant interviews.

Love Island’s instrumentalization of social media has created a Twitter culture that people “tune-into” alongside the show itself. These dually passive (watching) and participatory (tweeting) cultures are part of a successful production strategy to increase LI’s reach. The show’s producers have emphasized that “social media is part of the success of ‘Love Island,’” and have admitted that they use social media monitoring to “change the editorial.”3 As digital-first television programming made for traditional media, Love Island has created a social media feedback loop that fuels engagement.4 While contestants are regular citizens, not celebrities, recent seasons have cast more and more social media influencers, and most islanders can confidently go into the show knowing it will increase their online followings. Finalists are not only in the running for the cash prize, but also lucrative brand partnerships and potential high-profile jobs with fashion companies as a result of their exposure: for example Season 8 runner-up and social media influencer Molly Mae Hague secured a brand partnership with fast fashion brand Pretty Little Thing in 2019 and was named their UK and EU Creative Director in 2021, earning a seven-figure salary.5 Despite Hague’s insistence that we “all have the same 24 hours in a day,”6 the disparate success of the islanders on and off the show reflects trenchant anti-Black racism and misogynoir, which Moya Bailey defines as “the uniquely co-constitutive racialized and sexist violence that befalls Black women as a result of their simultaneous and interlocking oppression at the intersection of racial and gender marginalization,” in media.7 Misogynoir is especially visible in the show’s treatment of, and audience responses to, dark-skinned Black women. LI’s social media feedback loop allows producers to feed, and be fed by, the public’s perceptions of islanders, and to capitalize on shock and outrage, or what some call “rage baiting” or “rage farming.”8 Because these responses are frequently racially polarized, between Black Twitter and white Twitter (mockingly named “Fiat 500 Twitter”), the producers can use anti-Blackness and misogynoir to generate engagement. LI does this in two specific ways, by producing or denying racial outrage and a duty of care to Black contestants, and by giving Black islanders (especially Black women) the villain edit, or less positive airtime, which functions to divide Black contestants’ principal supporters, Black Britons. 

In the summer season of 2021, Danny Bibby’s introduction to the island caused public outcry as fans discovered he had used a racial slur on Instagram. Fans called for Danny’s removal from the villa on the grounds of racial misconduct, especially as Danny was set to go on a date with Black islander, Kaz Kamwi, upon his entrance to the villa.9 In response to calls for his removal, Danny was allowed to remain in the villa and release a brief apology statement to the public,10 and the producers selected Jay Z and Kanye West’s “Ni**as in Paris” as the opening music for the next episode after the outcry.11 British TV regulator Ofcom received almost 1,500 complaints about Danny and the song choice,12 and he was dumped through public vote a few days later. The producers’ song choice at once acknowledged and fueled Black Twitter’s outrage which in turn generated engagement. While reality TV frequently offers caricatures and manipulated images of characters of color as reality, and race is often a point of contention between participants, in Love Island, this is done off and on screen.13Black Twitter is instrumental for Love Island’s ratings,14 and the show benefits from Black Twitter’s outrage. 

Because Love Island viewers understand that producers manipulate storylines and mine social media for content, they have created what Xavier L’Hoiry identifies as “communities of resistance.”15 Yet, even as viewers’ online participation allows them to “co-produc[e] outcomes” by drawing attention to the unreality of reality TV, they ultimately perpetuate an interactive economy that benefits producers and their sponsors by generating further discussion of the show.16Black Twitter’s critiques of the show’s anti-Blackness does not result in any visible change in production strategies or care for Black contestants, although it has arguably influenced the recent success of Black contestants. 

One salient example of the show’s ingrained anti-Blackness and inattention to the welfare of Black women is the lack of response to racist behaviors and racialized dating preferences in the casting of the islanders. The show rarely addresses race or racism directly, but Black contestants frequently discuss the anti-Blackness they experienced in their post-island careers. After being dumped from the villa in Season 5, Yewande Biala spoke out about another contestant, Lucie Donlan, “racially renaming” her on the show, to which Lucie responded by accusing Yewande of bullying her on the island.17 Other islanders supported Yewande’s story claiming they “knew” what they were witnessing was wrong but did not comment at the time, and these incidents were edited out of the show.18Yewande’s time on the island was also affected by colorism, as contestants’ romantic preferences and types rarely included dark-skinned Black women, and despite casting directors’ focus on “diversity,” their general inattention to the racialized desires of islanders have set dark-skinned Black women up to be rejected. Further, in instances where dark-skinned Black women are coupled interracially, other islanders have frequently questioned the authenticity of non-Black men’s desires under the tacit assumption that these men could not be genuinely attracted to dark-skinned Black women. Viewers have regularly commented on these issues, but the show’s producers have largely ignored these critiques and the show has maintained its popularity. 

The most recent season of Love Island, Season 10, was arguably the most racially diverse, despite Asian contestants still being largely underrepresented. Nevertheless, even though the two darker-skinned Black women contestants, Catherine Agbaje and Whitney Adebayo, were continually coupled, other islanders regularly questioned the validity of their relationships and painted them as rude and aggressive. Online, fans noted that Whitney and Catherine were the constant subject of criticism.19 Whitney was called “rude,” and “smug” by fellow islanders and repeatedly told to “shut up” by Tyrique Hyde, another Black islander. However, while Whitney and Tyrique maintained Black Twitter’s support, with Tyrique’s couple coming in at third place and Whitney’s as runner up, Black support for Catherine waned after the decline of her relationship with Scott van der Sluis,20 revealing the ways that reality TV also constructs images that “promot[e] intra-racial conflict.”21 After Scott and Catherine coupled up, other islanders began accusing Scott of being a “game player” and choosing Catherine to stay on the show. Fans speculated that Tyrique was criticizing other Black contestants to secure the Black vote, and that the producers had attempted to disrupt a happy couple, calling for Tyrique and the other islanders to apologize.22 Although the producers seemed to have cast contestants that were attracted to darker-skinned Black women, the supposed lack of intimacy in their relationships continually reinforced racialized hierarchies of desirability and fueled questions about producer intervention.  

While the show’s format foments tension between couples, the repeated assumptions that Black women are not attractive to their partners reveals the islanders’ anti-Blackness, misogynoir, and colorism, all of which were heightened through the show’s editing of Catherine and Whitney later in the season. The doubts and conjecture appeared to influence the ways that Catherine thought about her relationship, particularly in “Casa Amor,” a multi-day test of couples that separates the boys from the girls in two different villas and introduces them to new potential partners. When Catherine chose to recouple after Casa Amor, leaving Scott single, Catherine received harsh online criticism from Black and white viewers alike. Fans called Catherine rude, defensive, and guilty for arguing with Scott after the recoupling, accused her of gaslighting him, and former islander Dami Hope, in a now-deleted tweet, said that he understood if Scott was calling Catherine a “n***** with the hard r” in his head.23 Other fans noted that Catherine received exceptionally harsh criticism compared to Tyrique, who had continually disrespected Black women, including his partner Ella Thomas, and asserted that Black Twitter’s critiques of Catherine had opened the door for white Twitter to harass and abuse her. In a post-villa interview Catherine stated that some of her words and actions were edited to make her appear less sympathetic, and that she received death threats.24 Catherine’s decision to recouple, her arguments with Scott, and her villain edit, were all preceded by the thinly veiled colorism and anti-Blackness of islanders, but audience members also responded with misogynoiristic takes that vilified Catherine and diminished her support.

Black Twitter’s discourse and discord can be predictive of, and influential for, the trajectory of Black contestants, and although the editing and production practices of the show work antagonistically towards Black contestants and their supporters on the outside, Black Twitter’s consistent strategizing about voting attempts to counter the ways audiences are being racially manipulated. The Twitter response to Catherine brings questions of racial loyalty or staying “on-code”—not heavily criticizing Black contestants or voting against them—into high relief as Black Twitter attempts to resist the anti-Blackness of the show while also exposing the disparate standards to which Black women are held.25While the expectation is not that everyone will agree, staying “on code” requires a performance of racial solidarity to combat the show’s tactics of racial division.

In Season 8, Dami’s betrayal of Indiyah Pollack during Casa Amor affected the outcomes of public voting after their reconciliation. The couple had not previously been in the bottom three of the public vote, but were consistently in jeopardy afterwards even though they placed third overall, the highest finish for a Black couple thus far. In a Twitter talk space fans debated whether not voting for Damiyah was racial disloyalty, given that white Britons had presumably never voted for them.26 Various tweets called Black voters to task saying that “voting for the yt cpls that don’t need your votes is the height of coonery. They already have the majority vote by default #fiat500,” and said that not voting for Damiyah was anti-Blackness.27 Whether or not viewers should support Black islanders no matter their behavior is not the subject of this piece, but rather this is an example of the ways that Black British fans must strategize for Black contestants to have a chance of winning.28

Reality TV’s business is largely shock and drama, but the staid format of “turn[ing] real people into characters, using predictable and repetitive narrative frames” reveals the racial hierarchies that undergird both production and engagement.29 It is, however, a formula that works, and even as Black Twitter attempts to battle anti-Blackness and misogynoir in Love Island’s production and viewership, the show is set up to use these very critiques as fuel for further outrage and ratings. Love Island is one of several contemporary shows that have created their own economies of participation through social media, and in Love Island’s specific case, the diversity of the show does not function to create more inclusive representations of British multicultural society but reflects racism and its ill-effects on Black Britons back to viewers and allows them to further participate. The exploitation of social media exasperation about misogynoir and anti-Blackness is an apparent part of Love Island’s social media strategy, but despite this, Black Twitter’s strategizing has created greater success for Black Love Islanders, and there have been dark-skinned Black women finalists in the past four seasons of the show. But are these triumphs actually breadcrumbs that convince viewers to come back for more, or signs that Black Twitter can successfully play Love Island at its own game and secure a winner? And who wins if they do? Tune in to find out.30 

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Endnotes

  1. The show’s format is very heterosexual, but there have been a few instances of women romantically coupling with each other across the various seasons and franchises. There have been pushes for Love Island to be less cis- and hetero-normative and more queer and size inclusive, but these have been rejected by producers as “complications” to the show’s format. 
  2. Ayomikun Adekaiyero, “‘Love Island UK’ Fans of Color Say the Show’s Diversity is ‘Tokenistic’ Despite Producer’s Promise of ‘Greater Diversity,” Business Insider, August 23, 2021, https://www.insider.com/love-island-uk-fans-of-color-lack-diversity-2021-8.
  3. K.J. Yossman, “‘Love Island’ is Edited Based on Social Media Responses Reveals ITV Unscripted Boss,” Variety, September 20, 2023, https://variety.com/2023/tv/global/love-island-edited-social-media-response-itv-1235728552/.
  4. Kristen Van Aken, “Love Island: How Digital-First Television Shaped Influencer Marketing,” Semetrical.com, June 30, 2022, https://www.semetrical.com/love-island-digital-first-television-influencer-marketing/.
  5. Nikki Gilliland, “What Does Molly-Mae’s PLT Role Reveal about the Future of Creator-Brand Partnerships?” Econsultancy, September 24, 2021, https://econsultancy.com/what-does-molly-maes-plt-role-reveal-about-the-future-of-creator-brand-partnerships/.
  6. Steven Bartlett, “E110: Molly Mae: How She Became Creative Director of PLT At 22,” December 12, 2021, in The Diary of a CEO, podcast, MP3 audio, 00:11:21-11:12:03, https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/e110-molly-mae-how-she-became-creative-director-of-plt-at-22/id1291423644?i=1000544772150.
  7. Moya Bailey, Misogynoir Transformed: Black Women’s Digital Resistance (New York: New York University Press, 2021): 1.
  8. Tonya Chen, “On TikTok, Creators Farm Rage to Get Clicks and Make Money. But it Can Be a Fast Race to the Bottom,” Business Insider, December 8, 2022, https://www.insider.com/why-creators-rage-farm-on-tiktok-and-why-its-on-the-rise-2022-12.
  9. Katie Storey, “‘I Now Know It’s Unacceptable in Any Context’: Love Island’s Danny Bibby ‘Wholeheartedly’ Apologises for Using Racial Slur as He Breaks Silence on Exit,” July 23, 2021, https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-9818875/Love-Islands-Danny-Bibby-apologises-using-racial-slur-breaks-silence-exit.html. See also CEO of Yelling (@ChantayyJayy), “Every single racit feeling Danny holds has just been amplified by 100!! He’s gonna stick a WHITES ONLY sign on the bathroom tomorrow morning!! #LoveIsland,” X, July 18, 2021, https://twitter.com/ChantayyJayy/status/1416858908837224453?s=20. 
  10. Laura Sharman, “Love Island Hit with More than 1,500 Ofcom Complaints since Danny Bibby Casting,” The Standard, July 21, 2021, https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/danny-bibby-love-island-2021-ofcom-complaints-b946960.html.
  11. The song has been changed in reruns of this episode, likely due to public outcry. 
  12. Laura Sharman, “Love Island Hit with More than 1,500 Ofcom Complaints since Danny Bibby Casting,” The Standard, July 21, 2021, https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/danny-bibby-love-island-2021-ofcom-complaints-b946960.html.
  13. Donnetrice C. Allison, “Introduction: A Historical Overview,” Black Women’s Portrayals on Reality Television, ed. Donnetrice C. Allison (New York :Lexington, 2016): xxiv;.Katrina E. Bell-Jordan “Black.White. and a Survivor of The Real World: Constructions of Race on Reality TV,” Critical Studies in Media Communication 25, no. 4, (2008): 353.
  14. Jennifer Adetoro, “Black Twitter is the Best Think about Love Island Right Now,” Refinery29, July 14, 2023,https://www.refinery29.com/en-gb/black-twitter-love-island-commentators-to-follow.
  15. Xavier L’Hoiry, “Love Island, Social Media, and Sousveillance: New Pathways of Challenging Realism in Reality TV,” Frontiers in Sociology 4 (2019): 1.
  16. Xavier L’Hoiry, “Love Island, Social Media, and Sousveillance: New Pathways of Challenging Realism in Reality TV,” Frontiers in Sociology 4 (2019): 1–2; 3.
  17. Lucy Needham, “Love Island Stars ‘Knew” Lucie Donlan ‘racially renaming’ Yewande Biala was ‘Wrong,’” Mirror, May 20, 2021, https://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/love-island-stars-knew-lucie-24149447.
  18. Lucy Needham, “Love Island Stars ‘Knew” Lucie Donlan ‘racially renaming’ Yewande Biala was ‘Wrong,’” Mirror, May 20, 2021, https://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/love-island-stars-knew-lucie-24149447.
  19. Jason Okundaye (@jasebyjason), “The way they keep singling out Whitney and Catherine is very nasty work. #LoveIsland,” X, June 21, 2023, https://twitter.com/jasebyjason/status/1671615513091268609?s=20.
  20. Gelo (@skinnylilbih), “the way tyrique speaks to women is alarming. buy you guys will ignore it and give catherine, whitney, molly and abi ten times more hate. and we all know why,” X, July 25, 2023, https://twitter.com/skinnylilbih/status/1683804789187149824?s=20. See also – (@JasUK_), “Everyone shocked that they came 3rd. But have you forgotten Tyrique’s rude mouth towards women?! That triggered a lot of people and hasn’t been forgotten. #loveisland,”X,  July 31, 2023, https://twitter.com/JasUK_/status/1686122125290033152?s=20.
  21. Jack Glascock and Catherine Preston-Schreck, “Verbal Aggression, Race, and Sex on Reality TV: Is This Really the Way It Is?” Journal of Broadcasting and Electric Media 62, no. 3 (2018): 430. 
  22. Mketsewad3 (@_Sik_a), “As soon as Tyrique gets a whiff of another couple being more likeable than him and Ella he proceeds to tear them down. Did it with Catherine & Scott and doing it now why Whitney & Lochan. He’s the biggest game player in there. #LoveIsland,” X, Jul 20, 2023, https://twitter.com/_Sik_a/status/1682127039237636098?s=20; alien superstar (@RobynDMarley_), “Tyrique intentionally sabotaged Scott & Catherine because he saw them as #1 competition. He’s not trying to do the same thing to Whitney and Lochan – sorry but he’s not getting away with this shit again #LoveIsland,” X, July 20, 20223, https://twitter.com/RobynDMarley_/status/1682013449969172482?s=20. Laura Parkin, “Love Island Erupts into an Explosive Row after Tyrique accuses Scott of ‘playing games’ with Catherine while fans demand an apology,” Daily Mail, June 30, 2023, https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-12252629/Love-Island-erupts-explosive-row-Tyrique-accuses-Scott-playing-games-Catherine.html.
  23. heebie jeebies era (@SoNastyandRude), “Why is Catherine gaslighting Scott. She came in defensive and guilty like sis what are you doing. He did that all for you #LoveIsland,” X, July 6, 2023, https://twitter.com/SoNastyandRude/status/1677045885404864514?s=20;. SP (@septimusajprime), “Catherine gaslighting Scott is really unfair because if it was the other way round and he did that, she would not be happy. How can you try to make him feel bad for being loyal to you? #Loveisland,” X, July 6, 2023, https://twitter.com/septimusajprime/status/1677046237319643136?s=20; .Josie Copson, “Dami Hope Issues Apology after Making Joke about Love Island which Used N-word,” Metro, July 7, 2023, https://metro.co.uk/2023/07/07/dami-hope-issues-apology-joke-love-island-n-word-19090035/.
  24. Furvah Shah, “Love Island’s Catherine Agbaje Accuses Movie Night of Manipulating Her Words,” Cosmopolitan, July 21, 2023, https://www.cosmopolitan.com/uk/entertainment/a44610197/love-islands-catherine-movie-night-edit/; Habiba Katsha, “Yup, Dark Skin Black Women Still Need to Prove Themselves on Love Island.” Huffington Post UK, August 2, 2023, https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/dark-skin-black-women-still-need-to-prove-themselves-on-love-island_uk_64be9125e4b0dcb4cab9cb0d.
  25. Habiba Katsha, “Yup, Dark Skin Black Women Still Need to Prove Themselves on Love Island.” Huffington Post UK, August 2, 2023, https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/dark-skin-black-women-still-need-to-prove-themselves-on-love-island_uk_64be9125e4b0dcb4cab9cb0d.
  26. Angela Bryden (@AngelaBryden2), “If seeing Dami and Indiyah vulnerable instead of Luca and Gemma isn’t enough for Black Twitter to get their head straight. I what is. Yt ppl will not vote for Damiyah. Get it together. #weonsmoke #TALSKWITHASH #LoveIsland,” X, July 26, 2022, https://twitter.com/AngelaBryden2/status/1552037673132515329?s=20.
  27. SHiiKANE (@Shiikane), “Voting for the yt cpls that don’t need your votes is the height of coonery. They already have the majority vote by default #fiat500 Black contestants never have a decent career after the show Bcos WE DON’T SUPPORT THEM #LoveIsland #TALKSWITHAH #damiyah,” X, July 26, 2022, https://x.com/Shiikane/status/1552061543566680064?s=20; Arlene (@arelend_), “If you don’t vote Damiyah you’re anti black x,” X, July 31, 2022,  https://twitter.com/arlened_/status/1553852367963054080?s=20.
  28. Habiba Katsha, “Yup, Dark Skin Black Women Still Need to Prove Themselves on Love Island.” Huffington Post UK, August 2, 2023, https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/dark-skin-black-women-still-need-to-prove-themselves-on-love-island_uk_64be9125e4b0dcb4cab9cb0d.
  29. Leigh H. Edwards, The Triumph of Reality TV: The Revolution in American Television. ABC-CLIO, 2013: 17.
  30. This piece was written before Love Island UK season 11 aired. This season saw a Black couple win the show for the first time: congratulations Mimii and Josh!

  • Corrine Collins

    Corrine Collins is an Assistant Professor of English at the University of Southern California. Her research focuses on representations of interracial intimacy in twentieth and twenty-first century African diaspora literature, foodways, and popular culture. Her articles and essays have appeared in The Journal of Commonwealth Literature, Women’s Studies, Tulsa Studies in Women’s Literature, Gastronomica: The Journal for Food Studies, Public Books, Air/Light Magazine, and the edited volume Mixed Race Superheroes.