'Love Island USA' proves we're used to being watched
On Tuesday, the 26th (!!!) episode of season seven aired on Peacock, meaning the original cast members have been secluded in an open-air Fiji villa for about one month. Based on how the show typically progresses, by this time, there should be several strong connections between the islanders, couples for the viewers to root for and, eventually, to vote for as joint winners of a $100,000 cash prize.
Instead, a common refrain among viewers online is that, at this point, no one deserves the money. Calls for the producers to " cut the cameras" and " delete the whole cast" abound.
This season has made a negative impression for various reasons, chief among them being an apparent lack of sincerity. The islanders seem hyper-aware of their role as entertainers and competitors, much too preoccupied with how they're being perceived by an invisible audience to be truly honest and vulnerable with each other.
Can we blame them?
It's not only that cameras are pointed at the islanders from every angle, in every nook and cranny of the villa, during every minute of the day — it's that reality TV has reached the point where viable cast members are already accustomed to those exact conditions.
It's painfully clear that living in an age of constant surveillance has taken its toll on these twentysomethings. This season, the cast's ages have ranged from 21 (Vanna) to 29 (Zak), though most hover in the 23-27 range. Their lives have been defined by the advent and proliferation of smartphones; the rise of YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok; and with these gadgets and platforms, a new kind of celebrity known as the "influencer." These days, some genre of content creator is one of the most commonly cited dream jobs for Gen Alpha kids.
Speaking as someone who came of age in a post-9/11 world, who happily forked over my personal data to Mark Zuckerberg when I had yet to hit puberty, my generation's expectation of privacy ceased to exist pretty quickly. But when a person grows up idolizing those who found fame by broadcasting their personal lives, the value of privacy is also lost.
Meanwhile, the expectation to perform is more intense than ever. Even beyond the villa, it feels like there are spectators everywhere we go — with the way social media trends leak into real life and how people have normalized filming strangers and themselves in the hopes of going viral.
Amaya Espinal is one of the few islanders not afraid to show real emotion
Inside the villa, this expectation is dialed up to maximum levels. With the exception of Amaya Espinal — who is so raw and sincere that her willingness to express emotion has been repeatedly mocked by her castmates — the Gen Zers on "Love Island" seem to be putting up a front because they probably are; it comes as naturally to them as posing for a photo or curating a dating app profile.
This inevitably makes it difficult for the islanders to forge genuine intimacy, especially in the fires of reality TV. As April Eldemire, a licensed marriage and family therapist, previously told Business Insider's Julia Pugachevsky, vulnerability and open communication are keys to a lasting relationship. "You have to go in with open eyes," she said.
However, this doesn't necessarily make the islanders "fake." It makes them products of an environment that billionaires and tech companies created — and a tragic mirror for the rest of us.
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USA Today
36 minutes ago
- USA Today
Olivia Rodrigo, Gracie Abrams and a new dawn of 'hard launch summer'
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Buzz Feed
40 minutes ago
- Buzz Feed
19 Shocking Anonymous Celebrity Confessions About Fame
It's no secret that fame changes people. And if you've ever wondered how big-time (or low-key) celebrities really feel after becoming famous, you're about to find out. A while back, redditor u/obsessivecuntpulsive asked celebrities, "What has changed about you the most since becoming famous?" From actors to musicians, celebs anonymously revealed the shocking ways their lives have changed due to fame, and their answers range from juicy to heartbreaking. Here's what they had to say: "I'm a bestselling science fiction and fantasy author, so 'fame' is a relative term. The people who know who I am really freak out and want to ask me a billion questions about my work, but the majority of the population couldn't care less. That's probably the weirdest thing. My friends and family don't really have a lot of interest in what I write (outside of just wishing me the best with each release — most of them don't read the kind of fiction I write), so it's hard for them to take me seriously, I guess? ... A good example would be how astounded my best friend was to discover that the trailer for my most recent novel had over a million views on YouTube. He had no idea I was so 'popular.' I'm wondering where he thought my money comes from..." "Well, I'm a webcam model in the business for several years. I was invited to several adult conventions, the Playboy mansion, multiple interviews for websites — nothing too serious, but if I really wanted to pursue this further, I might become really famous as an adult entertainer. The main thing is that it messed up many of my personal relationships. Men don't want to date me (I do have a boyfriend!), and some women don't want to talk to me. I've had several men stalk me from around the world." "Privacy. It's gone. I never realized how much I took it for granted. It's impossible to do almost anything without scrutiny. I feel serious anxiety sometimes about going in public, and it makes me angry that I can't just do my thing. I have anxiety problems sometimes and feel like I'm going to faint or hyperventilate if I don't step outside for some air. That's impossible now." "I'm a world-renowned chef. I don't have my own TV show or anything, but I have been featured on a few food TV shows and a few shows on The Cooking Channel. Anthony Bourdain has stopped by one of my restaurants in the early days of no reservations. My secret: I absolutely HATE most of the food I cook. I cater to the rich, snobby crowd, and it's amazing how sheep-like these people can be. I could take a pile of dirt, but as long as I say it's been 'braised' and finished off with some 'truffle oil' served with a tablespoon of 'caviar,' they'll 'LOVE' it because of those random key words thrown in there. These people are so pretentious." "You realize who your true friends are, and not just by the people who try to take advantage of who you are. Also, by the friends who stay with you even when things get tough or when they don't understand what's going on. The people who resent you for what you've become are not your real friends any more than those who try to cozy up to you because of what you've become." "I had to gut my personal website and take down a ton of stuff I had up for years. I also discovered that your (real-life) friends and family don't like it when you talk about them during interviews and/or livestreaming events. I also don't 'feel' famous, because most people have no idea who I am outside of my sphere of influence." "At first, it was fun. Then, you find you can't turn it off. I mean, everyone wants something from you. If you don't say hello, someone gets offended. If you aren't in a good mood, you just aren't allowed an off day. As long as you provide the expectations people have of you, everything will go smoothly (even then, sometimes it will be rough). When you don't provide that expectation, people judge you for it. I mean, one might think that you shouldn't be so affected by what people think of you, but it has real consequences with fame, especially in the entertainment business. So, you play the role so much, and you are supposed to just smile, wave, and ignore the taunts. It just affects you despite your efforts to be sane and normal. Also, on top of that, there is no privacy. You always feel like you are in an exhibit at a museum." "I'm not a celebrity on the scale of movie stars, but chances are, you've played a game that my company or I developed. My company really grew during the smartphone boom in 2008, and there were some pretty epic changes: 1) NO TIME! I used to sit in an office, coding away, building stuff for other people, and daydreaming about building my own company, watching traffic cops give out tickets. I still have vision, but much less energy. 2) Money issues. Who would've thought making millions means way more management issues? It almost feels like having less freedom to buy whatever I want, although there's not much left I want to buy." "I'm always on edge because people are always staring at me; when I'm stopped at a traffic light, walking into a room, sitting down, typing this on my phone, someone is always watching, taking a photo or a video while pretending to type a message or talk on their phone. People are nudging the person next to them and not-very-subtly alerting them to my presence. It's like being naked in public, like living your entire life up in front of the class, making a presentation, or giving a speech to an auditorium full of strangers." "My sister-in-law is semi-famous. Not everyone-on-Reddit-would-know-her famous, but famous enough that she can't often go shopping without signing autographs. Anyway, I'd say it hasn't changed her much, and she's just as kind and humble as she always was, but she's a little paranoid about stalkers. Rightfully so, she's had a few fans that've become completely obsessed with her, doing the creepy notes and showing up at her house thing." "What amazes me is how much people expect of you — ESPECIALLY in America, it's never enough. When we play shows in other countries, kids are overjoyed to get one picture or just talk to you for a second. But in America, you could take six pictures with every kid, individually sign every item of clothing, and if you leave one person missing, you are now the rude one." "My mom and dad are famous in Turkey, so I was born famous. It had its perks, but you often feel like you are a shadow of them. But I had a ton of money, so I never hated it. School was easy. I live in Los Angeles with my husband right now." "Having friends who have become famous, I give them their room to be themselves. We don't hang out anymore, but we're always happy to see each other. The problem with being out in public is that they constantly feel they are being watched and judged. It's hard to have a bad day, since that will be the story that creates the narrative that the public will then seek out, which the tabloids are more than happy to propagate. Not to say there isn't a nice side to it. As a touring musician, there is something about people wanting to talk to you and recognizing you that feels amiss when I'm initially off the road. A simple case of this is approaching women, where that becomes a total non-issue. I look the part in everyday life, but there is something different when people have gone to see you play." "I'm not quite a 'big time' celebrity, but I did experience a very mild level of fame. I was on a season of The Real World on MTV. Not much had changed, except I got many friend requests on Facebook, accepted them because I was an idiot, and then Facebook cut me off. Whoops. So then, I went back and unfriended a bunch of them. I got recognized here and there, but not that often (Jersey Shore had eclipsed Real World in making MTV 'celebrities'). I got to go to a couple of awards shows (all on MTV) and made a decent amount of money as well. People at parties were generally nicer and flirtier. "I realized who my true friends are. I also stopped reading the newspaper. Now, I (honestly) just read links from various subreddits to become informed about the world. The biggest change is that no matter how outgoing you once were, you start to value your time alone or time with people who knew you before you became famous." "My dad was a pro skater in the '80s who competed against the likes of Tony Hawk (he actually knows Tony fairly well), and has been a local celebrity of my area since I was young, but mainly for the skateboard factory he operated in the area When I was in elementary school, I felt like most of my friends only hung out with me because of my dad, as they were skater kids, and I wasn't (my dad never pressured me, and I couldn't quite figure it out, either). Of course, almost all of them are still my friends today, but because I maintained a good standing with them." "I'm not a celebrity — not by a long shot. BUT I am a notable figure in a certain underground music scene. I get to play festivals worldwide, and in those little spheres, I am technically a celebrity (to the few thousand people attending the festival). It feels really nice being 'known.' But it turns right off once I enter the general public. I couldn't imagine being a 24/7 bona fide celebrity. A lot of that would suck. People expect me to take pictures and be nice to them all the time, which is easy. I'm a nice guy, but everybody has a bad day, and sometimes, people aren't receptive to that and simply don't care." "I was recognized at a bar once (I'm a videogame writer) in my hometown, and the guy shook my hand and was really excited to meet me. It was very humbling. Nothing else much ever happens with being a not-really-well-known game reviewer. I don't mind at all." And finally... "I was a very minor celebrity in my home country in the mid-'90s. I was on TV a bit and working hard to be on more. I knew a lot of actual celebrities, and many people who became famous later or around that time. I'd get recognized occasionally, and that was okay, but the worst part was seeing people change their attitude toward you when they didn't know at first, and then figured it out. It always made me a little queasy when people went from polite, vague interest to actively sucking up to you. So, anyway, I hung out with the hip crowd at all the trendy watering holes, went to movie premieres and gala openings, brushing elbows with some international celebrities while quaffing free alcohol. And then, I was hit with a life-threatening disease. That was an eye-opener of monumental proportions. All these people I'd been partying with five nights a week just disappeared." Wow. Have you or someone you know experienced fame? How has it changed your life the most? Tell us in the comments, or if you prefer to remain anonymous, use the form below.
Yahoo
44 minutes ago
- Yahoo
The Boys Wraps Production on ‘Grand Finale' — When Will Season 5 Be Released?
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