Why Love Island Season 7 Misses the Mark: The Death of Gameplay in the Age of Influencers

Following the success of Love Island Season 6, which led to more brand deals than previous seasons for fan favorites, Season 7's Love Island transitioned from a reality dating show to an influencer incubator with a villa backdrop. What used to be a guilty pleasure dating competition now feels more like "Streamer University", where influencers gather to have the spotlight shone on them to increase their following count and ink newer and bigger brand deals. It’s not just that contestants are fame-chasing; that’s always been part of the structure of any reality program. The real problem is that the producers are complicit in this shift, actively casting and scripting the show in a way that betrays the spirit of the original game. While new games are nice to see, it has also become easier to discern who the host's favorite and the production's favorite are.

Influencer Island, Not Love Island

This season's casting reeks of strategy, from the close-ups on Huda after the mail challenge when all of the girls sat down for a chat. Down to the casting of questionable contestants, one of whom they let go mid-episode two. This isn't the kind of strategy that makes good television, but it does get people talking, so... success, I guess. We’re watching people who are acutely aware of their personal brands, camera angles, and follower counts. The problem is that the contestants are not seeking a genuine connection or even a messy, chaotic summer fling. They’re walking advertisements for their brand portfolios in swimwear. Actually, they did have one person who was down for a chaotic summer fling, Hannah, but she was voted off the island.

The gameplay is gone. No one’s making moves or taking risks unless it’s to secure better screen time. “Bombshells” are being sent in, but there’s no spark. There’s no tension and no movement. There is two weeks left and only one couple has closed off. There doesn't seem to be any genuine connections that led to the drama of previous seasons. Everyone is playing like Carrington from Season Two, and it looks to be encouraged by the production team.

Producers Pulling Puppet Strings

If you've ever seen UnREAL, the fictionalized behind-the-scenes drama of a reality dating show, it makes me look at Season 7 of Love Island, and I can see similarities. The editing choices, cut scenes, and apparent favoritism suggest the showrunners already have an endgame in mind. They're not even being subtle.

The villain edits; redemption arcs for some but not others are lazy plot devices that take away from the organic feel of the show. We know that reality TV is always curated and often even scripted. However, when that curation starts feeling like a rigged game, it ruins the entire premise. What’s the point of watching people “couple up” if we already know who’s being protected and who’s being discarded? Remember Bergie?

The Rise of the Toxic Stan Culture

With the show’s explosive growth in popularity, Love Island has invited in a new wave of fans, many of whom treat the show less like a dating competition and more like a battleground for online fan wars. These aren’t just viewers with favorites. These are stans in the most problematic, obsessive sense of the word, reminiscent of The Hive and The Barbz. This toxic stan culture is prevalent across reality TV, but for a time, Love Island, while it had its toxic fans, had never reached the level it did this season.

Contestants are no longer characters in a summer love story; they’re avatars of the fans who watch faithfully and pick apart every scene. They see a little of themselves in the contestants or the projected image of self that they want to be. If their favorite is criticized, they go on the attack. Some fans now stalk the families of islanders, digging through their Instagram, TikTok, and other social media posts to leave hate comments. Some contestants have had to turn their comments off. Other fans in the fandom weaponize racism, misogyny, or classism to justify their harassment. Chelly and Olandria have received a puzzling amount of hate simply for speaking up for themselves when they disagreed with another contestant who gained popularity among fans. Chelly fans are being called "Chelly Chimps". The human cost of reality TV used to be bad press and tabloid spin. Now it's online abuse, doxxing, and legitimate threats to mental health.

When Fans Ruin the Fantasy

There’s a bigger conversation to be had about fandom culture, and it deserves its own article. But for now, it’s enough to say this: fans who police social media like it’s a war zone, harass real people for "wronging” fictional ships, and dehumanize contestants in the name of loyalty are killing the joy of the show for everyone, and I mean EVERYONE.

It’s hard to enjoy the lighthearted messiness of Love Island when you know that a single on-screen moment will spiral into days of racist trolling or organized comment section attacks. It’s not love. It’s not fun. And it’s not sustainable.

While the season is not over, I wonder if Love Island Season 7 is a cautionary tale of fame eclipsing fun, production overplaying its hand, and fans forgetting that real people are at the heart of their screens. If we want to reclaim what made the show work in the first place, it's time to step back, switch off, and stop giving airtime to chaos disguised as content. Bring back the game and messy drama, but with the fun of previous seasons.