Love Island USA Season 7 Is Being Ruined by ‘Sisterhood’

In this op-ed, associate editor Aiyana Ishmael argues that the efforts of the Love Island season 7 cast to recreate the commercial success of the PPG trio from season 6 is negatively impacting the natural chemistry of the Islanders and detracting from the experiences of those in and outside of the villa.

During Love Island USA season 6, audiences were sold a unicorn: stars Serena Page, Leah Kateb, and JaNa Craig forged a genuine friendship while out in Fiji searching for love, a bond not often seen during the epic throes of reality dating television.

Gone were the days of women cattily fighting over men for six weeks. We welcomed in a new era of sisterhood, one slightly more bonded than anyone had ever seen on the reality franchise’s seasons past. That undeniable love and support for each other — and their instantly iconic moniker, PPG — made fans of the series invest in anything these three girls were hypothetically selling.

Serena had roughly 2,000 followers on Instagram when the show first premiered last June, and she left the villa with over half a million, which has now turned into over 4 million followers across Instagram and TikTok, a spinoff series on Peacock, and representation from one of the largest media agencies in the country. To say that the power of sisterhood transformed the personal lives of PPG is a gross understatement.

So it was only a matter of time that Love Island USA season 7 producers, contestants, and fans alike would be searching for a way to catch lightning in a bottle once more. Only it seems that we’ve all quickly forgotten that a successful friendship takes time and work — not just twelve episodes.

Likely due to PPG’s success, it feels as though each of season 7’s female contestants are overly conscious of the fact that they’re being perceived by millions of at-home viewers, and desperately aware that the reality show — and “sisterhood” — could be an avenue out of corporate purgatory and into influencer freedom, similar to what we saw with Serena, Leah, and JaNa.