A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
A lot of reality TV revolves around nasty behavior on screen, but the producers of one hit reality series are pleading for a little more kindness off screen. Recently, the producers of the dating competition show "Love Island USA" made a request to its fans - stop cyberbullying contestants on the series. According to host Ariana Madix, some viewers have been posting nasty messages on contestants' social media accounts and then even tracking them down and sharing their personal information.
So is online trolling simply the price of reality TV fame, or is it a problem the industry needs to take a little more seriously? And a warning to our listeners - portions of this three-minute or so conversation address suicide. Brittany Luse joins us now to chat about this. She's the host of NPR's It's Been A Minute podcast and something of a "Love Island USA" expert.
BRITTANY LUSE, BYLINE: (Laughter).
MARTÍNEZ: So, Brittany, for those who have not seen "Love Island," tell us what it is and what people find so appealing about it.
LUSE: OK, so "Love Island" is this phenomenal reality TV show that involves a bunch of sexy, young singles that are kind of essentially trapped in a villa and try to find love so that the winning couple can hopefully win $100,000. Microphones are worn by the contestants and the cameras are hidden all around the villa. And so they're constantly bringing in new people called bombshells, who are young hotties that get pumped in at random to shake things up. It's a lot of fun.
MARTÍNEZ: So the show then, I guess, thrives on audience participation, too. Viewers vote for their favorite islanders, as they're called, and they vote for who should get together, who should break up. So how has that audience participation crossed the line into something of a concern?
LUSE: One of the things that's unique about "Love Island" is that it almost runs in real time. And so the producers, they kind of rely on that audience participation, whether it's voting on polls or voting for who they want to be eliminated in the Love Island app. But this season, things have definitely crossed a line. There have been a few contestants who have had their high school yearbook photos looked up so that, you know, audience members wanted to see or, I guess, guess what year they might have gotten plastic surgery.
MARTÍNEZ: Do you have any, maybe, theories as to why people engage in this kind of behavior, specifically within reality TV fandom? I mean, it's all supposed to be about fun, right?
LUSE: It is supposed to be about fun. But a lot of audience members either feel overly familiar or fail to see these reality TV stars as real people. And I think that's when the real trouble starts.
MARTÍNEZ: Yeah, two people who appeared on the U.K. version of "Love Island" died by suicide in 2018 and 2019 respectively. A former host of the show also took her own life in 2020 and that led to the British Parliament launching an inquiry into the ethics of reality TV. What do you think the show's U.S. producers can learn from all that?
LUSE: It seems to me that they're already trying to apply some of that. You know, they did release a statement basically pleading with - demanding, essentially - audience members to stop harassing contestants who, I will say, when they are in the villa, they do not have any access to the outside world. Very often, it's their friends and family members who are manning their social media accounts. And I think that is a big important step that the U.S. production has taken. I think speaking directly with the audience seems to be at least one outgrowth of the lessons, the sad lessons, that have been learned from the U.K. production.
MARTÍNEZ: Brittany Luse is the host of NPR's It's Been A Minute podcast. Brittany, thanks a lot.
LUSE: Thank you so much.
MARTÍNEZ: "Love Island USA" streams on Peacock. And if you'd like to hear more of Brittany Luse, you can find her hosting NPR's It's Been A Minute anywhere you get your podcasts. And if you or someone you know may be considering suicide or is in crisis, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
