Love Island Games Season 2 Proves You Shouldn’t Fix What Isn’t Broken

Love Island USA has experienced significant growth in the last few years.

What was once a fun, flirty summer program with a small but devoted following has slowly evolved into one of the biggest summer reality shows out there for two consecutive summers.

And with its colossal success, Peacock commissioned a spinoff, which just wrapped up its second season this week.

While the premise of Love Island is pretty simple in that you sequester singles in a villa in hopes they’ll find love and walk away with a cash prize at the end of the summer, the Games spinoff takes that concept but adds in other elements.

Love Island Games takes former islanders looking for a second shot at love, but there are competitions added in to secure their place in the villa.

There are still dumpings, recouplings, bombshells, and all the things that make Love Island work, but the competitions that are very The Challenge-esque turn the series into something different.

Finding love is often treated as more of a bonus than the true end goal, which is fun for some fans who don’t believe in the power of reality television love stories, but also a turnoff for those who watch the show to see people fall for one another.

Many islanders come into Games purely to reach the end and grab the money. It’s not about building a relationship inside the villa that could translate outside of it, but instead an opportunity to find a partner to help you dominate competitions and carve a path to the finish line.

Love Island Games Season 1 Was Perfect

Love Island Games Season 1’s 19-episode season was filmed in a vacuum and then released into the world, meaning that, unlike a traditional season, the audience had no say in what happened in the villa.

We were left to watch things unfold and couldn’t exercise our constitutional right to vote on Love Island, meaning we couldn’t express our pleasure or displeasure with certain islanders and their connections.

And that was okay!

It made for a fun and unique viewing experience for some, but by allowing the audience to vote during Love Island Games Season 2, the series lost one of the things that set it apart.

Suddenly, it becomes about audience favorites, rather than an actual competition show, which is more or less what it was meant to be.

Yes, Love Island is in the title, but it’s not that.

The main objective is not really to find your person, and it’s not treated as such. Half of the episodes revolve around strategy, alliances, and rivalries more than love stories and romantic dates.

Episodes spend nearly half of their running time showing us every single angle of a duel or couples competition.

And that aspect is fine, but allowing the audience preferences to decide islanders’ fates this time around wasn’t nearly as enjoyable as watching all the islanders duke it out and make decisions on their own.

The Series Needs to Look to the Past to Secure Its Future

If the series continues, producers would do well to revert to the formula of the first season, which played out better and was a much more exciting product.

Games will never be as good as the real thing because it’s not the real thing. In many ways, the only thing it has in common with its predecessor is that the cast comes from that same pool of people.

Let Games stand out by limiting audience participation and transforming it back into a full-fledged Challenge-like show with a hint of romance.

The freshman season had a format that worked, and there was no reason to mess with that.

What did you guys think about Love Island Games? Do you like the concept? Should it come back for another season with some changes?

I need all my Love Island fans to weigh in down below in the comment section! We are big fans of Love Island and all reality television here, so we’d love for you to join the conversation.

You can watch both seasons of Love Island Games on Peacock.

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