I remember a few years ago there was a time where I wanted to go on Love Island because I dreamt of the influencer lifestyle, the lifestyle of brand deals and getting paid to work from your social media. However watching this documentary brings to light what it’s really like after your 15 minutes of fame and how, for most people, it’s not exactly what they imagined.

In this documentary we get to talk to a few of the Love Island contestants from different years about their experience and how life has been since, including one woman who had to go back to working a ‘normal job’ because she didn’t enough money from her social media to to live, as well as other Love Island stars who are trying to break out with their social media only to find a lot of backlash and issues with it due to, they believe, their race and the fact that they weren’t one of the favourites.

One of the most interesting parts of this documentary was when they spoke to one of the couples who won Love Island and it seems that people only care about them as a couple. As individual people brands don’t even want to know but as a couple they love them and want to work with them continually. They have a gorgeous flat in Manchester that has views over the whole city and you wonder if they ever did break up or have a rocky time in their relationship, how’s that going to affect their livelihoods? Because it seems based on what they say they only work as a package deal, so how much pressure does that put on the relationship that’s already quite new and diving into this world of fame when you know you’re only worth something when you’re with that other person? I can’t imagine having to stay with someone just for the money because you know as soon as they’re gone you’re going to lose everything.

The part that the producer of this documentary took away was that it seemed to the people that actually had a passion for what they were doing were the ones that were successful, it didn’t really matter what they did in Love Island as long as they were passionate outside of it. Yes, Love Island was the thing that gave them the boost but, especially for Wes who has become a rapper and has done very well with his music career, as well as another Islander who has gone on to work with many top brands just because of her name, shows that if you actually care about what you’re doing then you’ll be successful. But if you just go on Love Island thinking you’ll solve all your problems then it will not work. It really shows that regardless of what you’re doing in life it does take hard work and determination to get you somewhere, wherever that may be, and there is no quick fix even if a show like Love Island seems to be the answer.

I really enjoyed this documentary, I haven’t watched Love Island recently due to it being on for so long and taking up so much of my time but knowing who I was in the past and how religiously I used to watch it it’s very interesting to finally pull back the curtain and see what it’s really like after the show, and how what you expect from it isn’t always what you get. In some tragic cases it can lead people to suicide because of that and I can’t imagine thinking that your only way out is to leave the world completely, because what you were told you would get through the show isn’t what you got at all, and sometimes what you wish for isn’t what you need and can actually be the downfall of you.

What do you think of Love Island?

Until next time.

Published by shonaharding

Media graduate with a passion for reviewing film and TV. View all posts by shonaharding