A meta-narrative of understanding that reality TV is designed to entertain above all else has been woven into the fabric of Love Island since the beginning – particularly through Iain Stirling’s commentary, which centres the tone around the British belief that in order to express your fondness for something you must take the piss out of it. As writer Jael Goldfine put it in an interview with Stirling for GQ, the show is “one big inside joke with the audience [...] You don’t have to buy into any of it to enjoy it.”
That transparency has always been part of the fun with Love Island, but problems arise when it starts to tip into cynicism. As viewers, we’re very willing to sacrifice our disbelief at the altar of amusement, but what happens when a programme whose popularity relies on its audience setting aside so much to begin with isn’t actually fun to watch?