A Brighton-based Babestation model has warned that Love Island could do “more harm than good” if it introduces LGBTQ+ contestants without making significant changes to the hit ITV show’s core format.
Sabrina Jade, 27, says viewers are more than ready to see bisexual contestants and same-sex couples in the villa. However, she believes simply dropping queer Islanders into the existing structure risks creating poor, tokenistic representation.
Her comments come after Richard Cowles, chief executive of Lifted Entertainment, hinted that an LGBTQ+ spin-off is something producers have discussed over the years.
The Danger of Chasing Ratings
Sabrina welcomes discussions around greater inclusivity but stresses that the community shouldn’t be used as a simple ratings tool.
“A shake-up might help the mainstream show, but LGBTQ+ people should not be used as a token, or for shock value, to get higher ratings,” she explained. “The community will detect if it is false and pull away. It needs to be handled really well and in a way that is safe for the people taking part.”
She didn’t hold back on the potential fallout of getting it wrong, adding: “I think I, and a lot of queer people, would rather Love Island stick to its format than put forward a harmful representation of our community.”
Breaking the Gender-Dominant Format
The debate around queer representation in the villa isn’t new. In 2021, ITV commissioner Amanda Stavri cited “logistical difficulty” when discussing gay contestants. But Sabrina argues the issue isn’t the relationships themselves, it’s the rigid structure of the show.
“Love Island is a very gender-dominant show. The men tend to stay together and behave in one way, and the women stay together and behave in another,” she pointed out. “If you were going to create a queer version, you would have to mix that up and create the dynamic in a different way.”
Instead of producers balancing the villa based strictly on gender quotas (bringing in a boy because there are too many girls), Sabrina suggests they look at shared traits and attractions.
“You might need to say, ‘A lot of people here like tattoos, so our bombshell will have tattoos,’ or look at the other qualities contestants are drawn to.” While it might feel logistically challenging, she believes that with queer influence behind the scenes, it definitely wouldn’t be impossible.
A Queer ‘All Stars’ Solution
Several former Islanders have publicly discussed their sexuality after leaving the villa, despite only pursuing heterosexual relationships on camera. Megan Barton Hanson and Amber Gill both came out as bisexual after their appearances, and Curtis Pritchard recently described himself as sexually fluid.
Sabrina suggested a queer edition of Love Island All Stars could be the perfect solution, offering a second chance for past contestants who felt they had to hide their true selves.
“LGBTQ+ people have been on Love Island before and some have felt pushed into the category of straight,” she said. “For those six weeks, they had to be straight-presenting and could not talk at length about their bisexuality. All Stars could bring back contestants who felt they had to erase that part of themselves the first time.”
Learning from Past Mistakes
While pointing to the eighth season of MTV’s Are You The One? (which featured a sexually fluid cast) as proof that audiences love queer dating formats, Sabrina warned that producers must learn from past missteps.
“It is a cult classic in the queer community because it gave representation to pansexual and bisexual people,” she noted. “But you could also see producers and matchmakers struggling to understand what each contestant wanted and what their type was. It was sad to see people my community identified with being mishandled.”
Ultimately, Sabrina’s message to ITV is clear: do it right, or don’t do it at all. “Inaccurate representation can cause more harm than carrying on with the status quo.”