There’s a lot of information to ponder from the last night’s episode of Love Island:Tanya brought Martin back from Casa Amor, Olivia and Kai faced off in a heated face off as did Jessie was shocked by Will’s lack of loyalty to. While the show was awash with drama and chaos there’s a persistent issue that we must be able to address, and this is the treatment given to people like the Casa Amor girls in recoupling. While this particular one was extremely unpleasant to behold, this has been a grim, gloomy trend.
It’s no secret that the Casa Amor recoupling is traditionally one of the biggest events in the year. It’s full of drama incredible one-liners (Indiyah’s “may the best heartbreaker win” is a classic) and occasionally a sweet bonding ( Molly-Mae and Tommy’s is obvs number one).
However, there’s another aspect that isn’t talked about often with regard to Casa Amor. This is how painful and embarrassing it can be for Casa Amor girls to have to wait to be chosen, and then denied in real-time.
Most often, girls arrive and spend up to three days of hard grafting and they’re usually rewarded. The boys who started the process are known to kiss and hug their girls, rub it on all over with compliments, and even suggest that they feel a connections and the possibility of reconnecting with them. Then it’s the moment when the actual recoupling occurs. The boys will massively reverse and then return to their initial girl, hoping that their off-putting behavior is forgiven or glossed over. This is also known as The Liam, Lillie and Millie situation.
It’s true that this is an activity however it’s also a cruel one. It’s not just about the girls. Casa Amor girls can be dismayed, perhaps insecure and feeling as if they’ve been taken advantage of. The former Casa Amor legend Coco Lodge spoke to Cosmopolitan UKthat she as well as the Casa girls of last season “kinda felt used”.
Coco said: “It feels horrible waiting to see if you are chosen, because you honestly have no clue which way it could go.”
The last episode was the most awful thing we’ve seen. The girls sat in a line, holding one another’s hands, in anticipation of seeing if they were picked as the boys and the women who came back to the villa are looking at them from the flames.
When the recoupling was in motion The boys began to talk of them like there weren’t present, often referring to the females being “tests”. It’s dehumanizing to say the least.
Host Maya jama was asked how the week was going to the guys. Will said: “I think it was a good test.” Tom added “It’s been tough you know, it’s tested me… I can’t lie.”
Casey chose Claudia to get back together with, instead of Cynthia whom he’d been getting acquainted with over the last couple of days. He claimed that he didn’t believe that any women “were as special as my woman Claudia.”
It was a brief but brutal comment that emphasized how little respect that the men had for the fresh women that were arriving. Yes, you may believe that your partner is wonderful however, it doesn’t mean that you have to be so snarky about the women around you, particularly one who you’ve spent the last couple of days drinking.
In the following episode, after reconnecting Samie, Tom reconnected with Samie, Tom said he had to kiss Lydia to test himself. He said, “that’s just me, I needed to do that” however this was at the cost of Lydia’s feelings.
The new Islander Layla said: “isn’t fair to either woman” to be able to kiss someone for the sake of mulling over your feelings about somebody else.
At the conclusion of the episode at the end of the episode, when Will admitted to Jessie that he had kissed Layla and apologized to Jessie. He confessed to having failed her and himself. However, his apology for Layla by Will was, in a strange way not there. Instead, it was Jessie to apologize, praising Jessie for being such a gorgeous girl, and providing comfort to Layla. Does that make sense?
Will clearly upset was taken care of by his colleagues Islanders however, when Cynthia was crying over Casey, Claudia and Casey were being observed laughing. Although they claimed that it was “something else”, it’s an unpleasant environment to hear the laughter of the person you liked the most and the girl that he’s now back together.
It’s not as bad as the boys who are new to Casa Amor. The girls might come acquainted with them, but the level of fake promises, kissing people just for the sake of it , and justifying it all as a “test” is very rare among the girls. Although Tanya’s story has caused controversy, at the very the very least, when she tried to establish the possibility of a real connection and kissed Martin and brought Martin back to the villa.
In the final episode, the boys who were dumped said how amazing the experience they’d experienced. A few girls were crying.
The mass recoupling technique has become an essential plot device on TV that frightens women who are new to this Love Island game and creates an intense real-life, hyperreal situation. We can all appreciate the drama and tension Casa Amor can bring but when it ends with women feeling exhausted every season, does it worth it?
