People can't stop talking about Huda on 'Love Island.' Will we ever learn our lesson?
You'll usually find Ariana Madix delivering cheeky one-liners and iconic clapbacks as the host of 'Love Island USA,' but she has a more serious message for viewers who are taking their criticism of Season 7 too far.
'I do want to say something to some of those people who are online,' Madix said during the June 21 episode of 'Aftersun,' the aftershow of the dating program. 'Don't be going on islanders' pages and saying rude things." She encouraged fans to delete negative posts, as the show's cast remains secluded during production. "You still have time to delete all of that because the islanders don't have their phones.'
The last few episodes of "Love Island USA" Season 7 have brought viewers a Megan Thee Stallion appearance, new connections, and another shocking dumping. But at the crux of it all has been a slew of online bullying from viewers, with Huda, a 24-year-old mom from Raleigh, North Carolina, taking the brunt of it.
In episode 7, viewers voted to split up her couple with Jeremiah and pair him with bombshell Iris, following criticism that their budding relationship was toxic. The backlash toward Huda and other cast members, such as Casa Amor's Vanna, has been widespread, and mental health experts and viewers alike caution that online harassment can have severe consequences.
Multiple contestants have died by suicide after starring in the 'Love Island' franchise, including Sophie Gradon and Mike Thalassitis, and presenter Caroline Flack. Though suicide experts explain suicide can rarely be attributed to a single factor, some involved with the show have grappled with relentless media coverage and online harassment. After Flack's death, many people called for the show to be canceled.
On June 24, the show issued a statement that appeared on-screen ahead of the episode: 'The keyword in Love Island is… love. We love our fans. We love our islanders. We don't love cyberbullying, harassment or hate.'
Friendly reminder to our #LoveIslandUSA family. ♥️ pic.twitter.com/GOmpEheYrc
Some viewers are rejecting the 'Huda hate train'
While hate comments pour in, some viewers have come to the islanders' defense.
'Dude I cry for Huda. I get why some people don't like her but the sick memes of her daughter broke me. The internet is cruel always, but the people that make those thinking it's funny is the problem,' one user commented on TikTok.
Vanna, a 21-year-old from Salt Lake City, Utah, has also received harsh criticism, with viewers speculating that she has undergone cosmetic procedures, including lip and chin fillers. Some are calling this criticism what it is — bullying.
'It hasn't even been 24 hours and Vanna's comments have been limited, y'all are BULLIES,' one user posted.
Reality TV can draw especially harsh reactions
Because reality TV is meant to be authentic and unfiltered, 'it's much easier for people who watch it regularly to connect with these characters and start to invest in them,' explains media psychologist Pamela Rutledge.
This can also lead viewers to form parasocial relationships with contestants, which, according to Elizabeth Perse, a professor emeritus of communication at the University of Delaware, is the 'illusion of friendship" with a public persona.
Once contestants return home, this attention can be overwhelming, especially when it turns hostile, says trauma and relationship therapist Jordan Pickell.
'Even though contestants don't know the commenters on social media personally, the relentless and pointed attacks can feel very personal,' Pickell says. 'Human brains aren't equipped to distinguish between real-life risks to safety and online attacks.'
From 'The Bachelor' to 'Love Island': What happens when your ex is everywhere
The intense filming environment can stir up old traumas
On shows like 'Love Island USA,' contestants are thrown into artificial high-stakes environments and completely cut off from the outside world, including their support systems.
'These are real people, many of whom likely carry their own trauma histories, now navigating an intense and highly controlled environment for other people's entertainment," Pickell explains.
When viewers broke up Jeremiah and Huda, Huda sobbed, asking, 'Does America hate me?' It seems she's this season's villain.
But being portrayed as the villain on a reality TV show can cause someone to act out in ways they wouldn't in their normal life. 'They can lose touch with their own values and sense of identity in order to perform their role for the cameras,' Pickell says.
Once contestants return home, they're forced to integrate their persona from the show into their reality, while also navigating an influx of online attention.
'Contestants may have signed up for the show, but they didn't sign up for the trauma and harassment that can follow them home,' Pickell says.
Contributing: Erin Jensen, Elise Brisco
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Cosmopolitan
30 minutes ago
- Cosmopolitan
Serena Page (Braver Than the Rest of Us) Lets Boyfriend Kordell Beckham Read Her Diary
Love Island USA season 6 winners/national treasures Serena Page and Kordell Beckham are coming up on their first anniversary, and to honor that, Serena went on a date with someone else. Sort of. The reality star, who's gearing up for the premiere of the new Peacock series Love Island: Beyond the Villa, joined Cosmopolitan editor-in-chief Willa Bennett for pasta and martinis in the latest episode of Cosmo's Blind Date. If you're not familiar (which you should be), on Blind Date, Willa has to guess which famous person she's dining with through a series of questions. And it wasn't hard to figure out Serena was this week's date. (The reveal that she met her partner on TV was a major tell….) But after the guessing was done, Serena and Willa dove into the standard first date topics, like their respective astrological big 3, Serena and Kordell's first post-villa date, and the reason why Serena supports going through your partner's phone. But importantly, she believes the snooping should not be one-sided, as in, both partners get to spy on each other. In fact, she's actually let Kordell read her journal, which is truly a next-level trust exercise. Watch the full episode above to hear more gems from this dream date.
Cosmopolitan
37 minutes ago
- Cosmopolitan
DSW's Semi-Annual Shoe Sale Is FINALLY Here
Hand on the bible my perfectly curated TikTok FYP, I don't shop every sale that comes across my desk. A girl's gotta have some self control when her entire job is tracking down celebrity styles and serving the tea on Amazon's hottest deals—at least while we're maybe, probably, definitely heading towards a recession. But (you knew it was coming) that doesn't mean I'm perfect. Sometimes I slip check off my entire summer shoe wishlist in one sitting! I'm calling it efficiency, not impulsivity. After all, my latest haul will carry me straight through to Labor Day sales—so, if you really think about it, this actually means I just saved money. Girl math! ICYMI, DSW's Semi-Annual Sale just dropped and it's packed with hidden gems—if the digital receipt in my inbox has anything to say about it. Now through July 9, you (and me!)(clearly!) can save up to 65% on the entireeeee clearance section. Promo code LASTCHANCE will even get ya an extra 10% off select styles. Now, let's unpack a few of my fave finds because, besties, I've got a lot! Since I, tragically, never got my hands on the coveted Adidas x Wales Bonner collab, I snapped up this lookalike style from Steve Madden in a heartbeat. Are you impressed? I'm impressed. They're a dead ringer, and "comfy right out of the box," per shoppers. I also stocked up on wedding guest shoes for the one billion (I swear that number is accurate) nuptials I've already got on the books for this year. I just know these platforms will let me comfortably electric slide and Dolce Vita's heeled sandal def has enough traction so I can successfully catch the bouquet. Always the bridesmaid, never the bride??? Not for long, suckers! Plus, these slides—that look a lot like a designer style that starts with an H and ends with ermès—will undoubtedly be my go-to until it's no longer seasonally acceptable to show toes. I mean, hey, if anything I'm just helping the economy! My DSW haul was a public service! Send all thanks and gratitude to my Venmo, xoxo. Megan Schaltegger is an NYC-based writer. She loves strong coffee, eating her way through the Manhattan food scene, and her dog, Murray. She promises not to talk about herself in third person IRL.
Yahoo
44 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Gen Z Is Coming for Your Punctuation
Is nothing sacred anymore? Now we can't even text — text, the thing millennials practically invented on T9 keyboards — without being called out by Gen Z. The generation who banned skinny jeans and used to eat Tide pods are calling out people for breaking their texting 'rules,' which include not capitalizing letters, hidden meanings in emojis, and, yes, foregoing punctuation. One Gen X mom on Upworthy said her teenagers called her out for being 'aggressive' by using a period in a text message, which she vehemently defended. More from SheKnows Don't Be Surprised If Your Teen Asks for This New Toy That's Going Viral on TikTok Another punctuation problem Gen Zers have? Ellipses at the end of texts, which aren't meant to signal anything deeper. 'What, exactly, is going on with boomers and ellipses?' one Redditor asked, per New York Post, saying that they felt this 'comes off as passive aggressive at worst, insane at best.' As a millennial, I can see both sides. I often use periods in my texts without thinking, but I would only say 'Hey…' if I did have something serious to say afterward. I get that other generations have a different style of texting, but it does get confusing when people read into texts they shouldn't (or don't realize you're being passive-aggressive when you are!). For Gen Z, though, this lack of care for punctuation goes beyond casual text messages. One millennial wrote about how frustrated she feels when reading school essays and seeing teens leave out periods and skip capitalizing letters for Reader's Digest. Jason Dorsey, a business etiquette expert, the president of the Center for Generational Kinetics and the author of Zconomy: How Gen Z Will Change the Future of Business, told the outlet, 'There's definitely a trend where Gen Z eschews traditional grammar in written communications. We see this particularly in how they have dropped using capital letters and punctuation.' This is normal, he explained, adding, 'Language is fluid, and conventions change all the time as societal norms evolve.' It's all fine and good … if you can keep up. My Gen Z sister asked me if I was being aggressive when I said 'lol' at the end of a sentence, which is a habit from even before texting. She said 'lol' and the happy face emoji are both passive aggressive; whereas she will use the skull emoji or say 'im dead' instead to signify that she 'finds something so funny she literally died' (not literally). It's mind-boggling to say the least, which is why half the time I just call her so she can be super clear on my intentions. We need more advice to wrap our minds around the teen texting etiquette, so we reached out to our SheKnows Teen Council for more tips on the hidden meaning of texting, and if punctuation is actually out or not. Hopefully their answers will clear some things up for all of us! Esmé, 19, says she doesn't 'think twice about it' when her parents use a period, as 'they would use a period without understanding current connotation.' (Esmé's parents: same!) But she does take it as 'passive aggressive' if someone younger than 30 uses it. It seems like wondering if someone is mad at them was a common theme among the teens we talked to. 'My mom always texts me using periods and it makes me think that she's pissed off at me,' Ajani, 20, says. 'I've told her about how it comes across as a little passive aggressive but she's yet to stop. It throws me off because she also uses periods when she is actually mad at me so she's constantly sending me mixed signals.' Corbin, 13, shares, 'If somebody texts with a period, then they're probably mad. Like if they just said, 'hey' or something without a period I would think it was casual, but with a period they just seem a little bit mad.' (Although, he doesn't feel this way about a text from his parents 'because I know they're old,' he adds.) 'When someone ends a text with a period, I usually immediately assume that they are trying to be ironic/dramatic, or they are mad at me,' Sophie, 19, says, adding that she doesn't feel the same with her parents because 'they like to text with punctuation.' 'Ultimately, it mostly just depends on the person you're texting,' Sophie continues. 'For example, if someone who usually doesn't use punctuation sends me a message with a period at the end, it signals to me that something is different.' Exclamation points and question marks are OK within reason, according to Esmé, although she reiterated that she 'never uses periods.' She explains, 'I feel like question marks are just a grammar thing that feels normal but exclamation points are like a version of an emoji just to show that I'm super excited.' Corbin says that while he uses 'question marks a lot' with his friends, he hasn't 'see a period or an exclamation mark in a text from my friends in a long time.' 'My friends and I don't tend to use grammar or even capitalize our texts, while my parents and teachers use correct punctuation,' Sophie says, adding, 'I think that the unspoken consensus in our generation is that as long as the other person understands what you mean, it works.' She uses punctuation when she wants to give out a deeper meaning behind her texts, such as exclamation points to 'help soften a message.' 'It's like adding a smiley face to the end of a text in a way,' Sophie says. And the opposite: 'When I'm mad, I tend to use a period instead of an exclamation point because it has such positive connotations.' Coby, 15, doesn't use a period when texting with friends unless 'maybe if its two sentences or more.' He also has feelings on other punctuation: 'Exclamation points are a bit much because you can't really portray emotion through a phone so using an exclamation point to do it is, like, overkill. … If my parents text me and they use punctuation it doesn't seem weird because I know that's just how they text.' Ajani says, 'The crying emoji 😭 is the most commonly used amongst everyone that I know.' Gen Z 'only uses this emoji 😂 to be ironic when something isn't funny,' says Esmé. However, she does use other emojis and GIFs. 'My friends are much more emotive [in texting], sending emojis, multiple exclamation points, and GIFs,' she explains. 'They also obviously use more slang and text shorthand than my parents. I think my friends and I will text shorter thoughts but more of them — like separate texts but five at a time where my parents are more concise and keep it in one longer text.' While Sophie admits that grammar and punctuation 'can help minimize the likelihood of a misunderstanding,' she also thinks it's good to understand how other people will take your texts. 'It's important to understand and adapt to different people's ways of texting,' she says. For me, I've found myself adapting my texting style when texting with my Gen Z sister. I'll use way more casual sentences with little-to-no punctuation (and take out all the 'lol's) compared to when I'm texting friends or my husband. If we can meet them in the middle when it comes to texting, maybe Gen Zers can meet us in the middle when it comes to using more formal language and grammar for school essays and in the workplace. At the end of the day, you can text the way you want to (proper grammar and all), but just know that teens are going to be silently judging you for it — or potentially questioning any hidden meanings. There's no harm in just being considerate of others and understanding how your 'Hey.' might make a teen feel compared to just: 'hey'Best of SheKnows Bird Names Are One of the Biggest Baby Name Trends for Gen Beta (& We Found 20+ Options) These Are the 36 Celebrities with the Most Kids 15 Celebrity Parents Whose Kids Went to Ivy League Schools
