‘Love Island USA’: The Biggest Differences Between the U.K. and U.S. Versions
America, are you ready? The US version of Love Island is about to start. The drama, tears, breakups, and makeups, will be coming to a television screen near you on Tuesday, July 9th.
What is ‘Love Island’?
For those of you who haven’t watched any of the other versions of the U.K. show, Love Island is a reality dating show on steroids. The season starts out with five girls and five guys who have to pair up with one another solely based on looks. Once the couples are happy and feel safe in their pairs, another islander is invited onto the show to shake things up.
The premise of the show is to couple up or leave the island. Unlike other dating series, viewers never really know when there will be an elimination or a “dumping” as it’s called on the show. Just because a contestant is single for one week, doesn’t mean that they will automatically go home. Contestants are only sent home if they are single after a dumping.
Being single isn’t the only way to be eliminated. Throughout the season, the viewers will get the chance to vote people off of the show as well, so no one is ever really safe.
What will be the biggest differences between the U.K. and U.S. versions of the show?
Much of the show will stay the same. The Islanders will still have to couple up to stay on the show. But there will be a few key differences.
First of all, Caroline Flack will not be making the journey to America to host the show. Instead, Arielle Vandenberg will be guiding the singles this summer. Vandenberg has been on How I Met Your Mother, Greek, Meet the Browns, The Ugly Truth, and Bones. She also hosted Car Show on the mobile app Go90.
The Love Island host also conducts Snapchat Interviews called Snap Hangs, weekly with celebrities such as Julianne Hough, Sophia Bush, Nina Dobrev, Derek Hough, and James Valentine from Maroon 5.
“As a huge fan of the show, I can’t tell you how excited I am to be hosting Love Island this summer,” she told The Daily Mirror.
In addition to a new host, the show will also have a new location. Instead of sending the Islanders to Majorca in Spain, the villa will be in Fiji.
The show is also expected to be “less raunchy,” according to the Daily Mirror as it will be airing at 8 p.m. and American television is typically more stringent about what can be shown than European television.
Will the show be successful?
The U.K. version of Love Island has been so successful that the series has spanned to several other countries. Not many shows have the pull to keep viewers coming back multiple nights a week to see what happens.
If we are judging by the success of the show in other countries, then the U.S. version should also be a hit. But predicting success this way, leaves out one major factor, the American public.
American audiences haven’t reacted so well to similar shows. Recently, Paradise Hotel, a show with pretty much the same premise as Love Island, was canceled after just a few episodes due to lack of viewership.
Hopefully, Love Island won’t suffer the same fate.
