Love Island, an addictive reality TV show where a group of young, single, and attractive “Islanders” live in a luxurious villa while searching for love. If they fail to form a romantic connection with their partner, they face the imminent risk of elimination. However, if a couple succeeds and wins the hearts of fans, they could potentially win $50,000 each. The original UK version rakes in around 4-5million views a season, with its USA counterpart reaching a whopping 1 billion minutes viewed across the first nine episodes of its most recent season. The formula of the show is a guilty pleasure, and we can’t seem to get enough of it. 

Escobar and Ortega’s Removal from Love Island USA  

With the first UK season kicking off ten years ago, fans have grown to become heavily involved in the show each summer. Voting off Islanders and voicing their opinions on which couples are the fakest, funniest, and most boring in mass online communities across Instagram, TikTok, X (Twitter) and Reddit, and often becoming investigators into the lives of contestants, leaving no stones unturned when exposing their digital footprints. 

With the Islanders’ fates in the hands of fans across the globe, it comes as no surprise that the online community have resurfaced an old post from Love Island USA’s Cierra Ortega where she uses racist language to describe Asian people. The outrage led to her abrupt removal from the USA’s current season due to a “personal situation”, as narrated by the show’s voiceover Ian Stirling, while producers scrambled to cover up their sloppy background checks.  

And this wasn’t even the first controversy. Earlier in the season, Yulissa Escobar was removed due to resurfaced social media posts of her saying the N-word.  

The Anti-Black Women Agenda of Love Island UK  

As Love Island USA has been thrust into the spotlight due to its first-ever contestant removals over racism, the UK Love Island’s Season 12 once again manages to bypass ongoing scrutiny for its decade-long mistreatment of black women. This year around, we witness once again two token black women, Alima Gagio and Bilikis Azeez, endure isolation, rejection and invalidation. 

Season 12 kicked off with a unique first coupling, where female contestants chose their matches based on brief descriptions that revealed little about the males' appearances, shifting away from the show’s usual focus on physical attraction. 

Alima Gagigo, a Black 23-year-old woman from Glasgow, picked who was later revealed to be Blu Chegini, a white 26-year-old man from London. His bio read: "Someone who is family-oriented, has a lot of love to give and a lot of love to receive. Personality goes a long way."  

Whilst the other non-black female contestants were getting showered with compliments and flirty banter by their matches, Blu’s initial reaction to Alima choosing him was a backhanded, “Every girl looks beautiful.” Host Maya Jama prompted, “Yes, but Alima chose you.” Later in the episode, during a one-on-one conversation, Blue dropped the all-too-familiar line to Alima: “I’ll be honest, on paper, you’re not my type.” 

Despite how blatantly rude his response was compared to other male contestants, Alima was unsurprised, responding with a calm and dignified “Of course.” 

This initial scene, unfortunately, set the tone for the entire season when on Day 22, Bilikis "Billykiss" Azeez, another Black woman, entered the villa as a bombshell. Her coupling with Irish Rugby player Conor Phillips left Alima Gagio single and therefore dumped from the villa. This left, once again, only one black woman on the show.  

Bilikis is undeniably drop-dead gorgeous, which can’t even be denied by the usual anti-black undertones of the male contestants, as we witness sparks fly instantly on her date with Conor as they bond over their shared Irish background, with other contestants Shakira and Dejon even commenting on how well they’re getting along. 

However, what appears to be an undeniable connection between two attractive individuals is abruptly severed as Conor pulls Bilikis for a chat the day after they couple up to admit he feels no connection. 

Almost instantly after, Conor pursues a flimsy sexual endeavour with another Love Island contestant, Yasmin Pettet. Neither expresses any intention of long-term relationship building; simply wanting to “have fun” with one another, as Bilikis is left feeling equally as confused and frustrated as we are watching. And it doesn’t end there.  

Fans are eagerly anticipating recently single Bilikis to find her match during Casa Amor. In this phase, male and female contestants are separated and introduced to a new group of islanders. This twist serves to test the loyalty of existing relationships, enticing contestants to explore new connections.  

Bilikis forms a connection with Boris Vidovic, a Casa Amor boy from Slovenia, and successfully recouples with him, securing his position in the main villa. 

Once again, they seem to be hitting it off as we watch flirty private chats and kisses unfold. Yet, as the couple gets less and less screen time, the pair abruptly reappear a few days later and have hit a dead end. Bilikis endures yet another rejection, with Boris explaining that he’s lost the initial “spark”. Bilikis rightly confronts Boris for using her as a placeholder to get him into the main villa, yet leaves the conversation amicably. 

Within mere minutes in the same episode, Boris pulls Casa Amor bombshell Emma Munro into the hideaway, where they quickly progress from attempted flirty conversation, exhibiting next to no chemistry, to intimate kisses in the hot tub. 

Misogynoir on Love Island 

Watching Alima and Bilikis’ journey this season has undoubtedly irked viewers, as all their romantic endeavours were abruptly shut down with little to no reasoning other than not having a “spark” or not being their “type on paper”.   

After witnessing the tokenistic removal of Alima to introduce Bilikis, neither sharing the screen for longer than one episode, and the jarring disrespect of Conor and Boris as they desperately thrust themselves at the only other available non-Black women immediately after rejecting Bilikis, longtime Love Island viewers know this is not the first time we have had to witness such blatant anti-Blackness.  

Every season of Love Island UK has only had one or two Black female contestants per season, whether intentionally tokenistic or simply because of fewer black women wanting to apply, from not wanting to endure such blatant racial bias disguised as a lack of romantic connection. 

Misogynoir, coined by Moya Bailey, was developed to describe “the specific hatred, dislike, distrust, and prejudice directed toward Black women,” and presents itself as a recurring theme of Love Island UK by continuously painting Black women as undesirable, rooted in implicit racial bias.  

Bilikis endured being led on and rejected by three men. Despite always calling them out for not allowing the connection to develop, she never expresses the necessary amount of frustration, handling each conversation with dignity and grace. Whether it is because she doesn’t want to be labelled the all-too familiar dismissive title of the “angry black woman” or she simply can’t be bothered to waste her energy, the misogynoir of Love Island is blinding, repetitive and cannot continue. 

Behind the scenes, Black women continue to endure unequal treatment on the show, which fails to acknowledge their natural hair. For instance, past contestants like Kaz Kamwi from Love Island Season 7 have reported being compelled to wear wigs. On days when filming was not taking place, Kaz had to manage her own hair while her white counterparts had access to stylists. This trend is evident, as every dark-skinned Black woman who has participated in the show has exclusively worn wigs. During an episode of the Cocktails and Takeaway YouTube show, Tanya Manhenga from Season 9 expressed her belief that the absence of natural hair among Black female contestants stems from pervasive anti-Black attitudes towards them. 

Love Island Needs to Do More  

As a black woman who enjoys the show, the treatment of black contestants, whether intentional or not, needs to change. The show itself is not the pinnacle of racism, but rather a microcosm of what Black women deal with when dating in Western societies, particularly the UK. However, due to the show’s immense popularity, more needs to be done to dispel these harmful Eurocentric notions of beauty.   

Witnessing year after year the mistreatment that Black women must endure is exhausting and incredibly disheartening. Bilikis is a bubbly and gorgeous person who spent her first few days in the villa almost non-stop smiling and laughing. Now, nearing the end of this year’s season, she barely gets any screentime aside from being shown in group conversations merely as a background character. 

Love Island producers can give Black women a real opportunity to find a compatible partner by casting male contestants with more diverse preferences who are genuinely interested in Black women. 

Also, here's a reminder: Black women have black hair, which should be celebrated and embraced. Last year, the season received over 3,600 complaints about racism and bullying. Love Island producers need to do more to promote diversity and equality, so Black women feel seen, heard, and appreciated. 

Amelia Akonnah is a second-year student studying a dual degree in Media and Social Sciences at UNSW, majoring in Politics and International Relations and Journalism with a passion for writing and film.