A “long-standing” problem that many women of color face is brought up again as Shakira Khan bravely speaks out about her experience in the Love Island villa
Love Island’s Shakira Khan has reignited a conversation around the treatment of women of colour in ITV’s hit reality TV show, Love Island.
Speaking on the We Need To Talk podcast with host Paul C. Brunson, Shakira explained how she, Toni Laites and Yasmin Pettet labelled themselves the “outcasts” after realising they’d been sidelined by the main group in the villa.
There is a pattern here, which I don’t think anyone wants to talk about: women of color, she said, “but you could also add Billykiss to that, Malisha, Andrada, and Emma.”
It wasn’t about desire, according to Shakira. She claims that friendship dynamics contributed to her being an “outcast.” She explained that anyone who threatened the other group was systematically spies out. The outcasts banded together, they said.
READ MORE: Love Island’s Shakira Khan says divide between villa girls was fuelled by more than dramaREAD MORE: ‘Love Island is modern dating on steroids and that’s why it feels so raw’
Speaking from a similar experience of being sidelined and ignored, season 4’s Samira Mighty recently revealed what it felt like to be a Black woman in the villa. “It didn’t bother me at all, until the guys started coming in and I wasn’t getting picked,” she said.
“I remember speaking to one of the producers and saying ‘do you think it’s because I’m Black?’” she recalled on ITV The Rundown. While the producer was taken aback, Samira recognises the pattern that often appears in TV. “Why is it sometimes the ethnic people are pushed to the side and not even looked at?” she asked.
Seven years after Samira’s season, questions remain unanswered. Kaz Kamwi described how one of the first cast members, Kaz Kamwi, quickly realized she wasn’t everyone’s “type on paper.”
“The last thing I wanted was to be a box-ticker and it was hard to not take the rejection personally. Aside from being ‘petite’, I just wasn’t fitting in with what the guys were looking for ‘on paper’,” she told Grazia.
Kaz acknowledged that the weight of that rejection increased as the days and weeks progressed. She said, “I worry about the bigger impact of this and where the real damage can be done.” It sends the impression that Black women might not be desirable.
Another islander, Rachel Finni from season 7, said she felt she was placed on the show “to make them look good”, being the first Black bombshell in seven years. She told Grazia that people are entitled to be attracted to who they are, but believes the producers should’ve put people in the villa that were attracted to her.
Make sure there are some guys there who are also drawn to Black girls and Asian girls if you have a lot of guys who are attracted to blonde hair and blue eyes because it’s just a matter of ticking a box. Let people know what type of person you are, and make sure to use it in a positive way, she said.
It appears that today’s Love Island Island is more diverse than ever. Mimii Ngulube and Josh Oyinsan, the show’s first Black couple, won last year, making it a milestone in British history. However, despite having better representation than it has ever been, diversity and equity are both shown repeatedly in the reality TV dating landscape.
When it comes to Love Island UK, “We] are having the exact conversation every year. They don’t even entertain Black women who are attracted to them in the villa. Talk less of the amount of screen time available, according to a show fan.
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Another person claimed that the show’s UK version is completely abandoned because of how it treats Black women, while adding, “I think a big reason why I don’t] watch Love Island UK is how they are treating the black women.” My girls should be pursued and further desired in the USA version, which is just better for my mental health.
And representation alone isn’t enough, as the experiences of Shakira, Samira, Kaz, and Rachel show, for women of color entering the Love Island villa. Fair treatment also matters.
The Mirror reached out to ITV for comment. They said: “Love Island’s only stipulation is that applicants are over 18, single and looking for love. Our application and casting process is inclusive to all and we are always aiming to reflect the age and diversity of our audience on the show.”
Source: Mirror
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