By Abigail Roberts and Kaitlin Pauly
WARNING: Reading this article may result in a severe loss of brain cells.
This show may come across as a meaningless waste of time… which is not entirely debatable, however despite initial opinions on the show, once one begins to watch it, they will find themselves emotionally invested in the cast and their “love” affairs. If you yourself have not yet watched this low-budget version of “Bachelor in Paradise,” I highly recommend catching up on it on 9 Now… it is worth your time.
In case you haven’t watched this show, it consists of around 16 highly intellectual, academically-driven individuals who enjoy engaging in conversations about highly significant current affairs… such as which participants’ bikini is the most appealing.
The Iconic Scandal That Started it All
The beginning of Love Island brought Cassidy and Grant together… they seemed inseparable. However, several days in (which feels like several montha on Love Island), Grant had found an interest for Tayla… and ended up coupling up with her, disregarding the idea that his “relationship” with Cassidy ever existed, leaving a now single Cassidy distraught. This made viewers see Tayla and Grant as villains, a new couple who became more inseparable than Grant and Cassidy ever were and were happy to “finally” be together instead of hiding their feelings. This was a controversial event: Grant and Tayla’s Instagrams blew up with messages of hate… and the “snake” emoji was commented multiple times under Tayla’s posts. Erin, a highly opinionated contestant who was not afraid to speak her mind, immediately sided Cassidy and bagged Tayla (they are now best friends) … as she was reportedly breaking ‘Girl Code.’ Others, however believed this was not Tayla’s fault… and that Cassidy and Grant were only together for a few days meaning Grant did not make a major commitment and did nothing wrong.
Ultimately, in my opinion one should not be tied to another within such a short amount of time… so Grant was not wrong to change things up a bit. However, the way in which he approached the situation and continued to treat Cassidy demonstrates a lot about him as a person. For example, during a “highly-intellectual” game, in which the female contestants were rated on their performance when their lips came in contact with that of male contestants, Cassidy used a less personal measure and was rated 1/10 from Grant… followed by (and I quote): “Been there, done that.” Grant’s attitude towards Cassidy left her with reason to show discomfort whenever she was near the affectionate two: Grant and Tayla.
Did our views of this new “power couple” of Tayla and Grant reveal how we believe relationships should work… and did this small-scale version of a breakup (between Grant and Cassidy) perhaps remind us of our own experiences or beliefs?
After this event, Grant and Tayla became a strong couple who “went through many hardships” (i.e. sleeping outside in the Spanish villa. So challenging!) and stayed together throughout the whole series... (you will later find out their current status outside the villa). Cassidy became vilified by some other viewers and contestants, splitting the villa into half. She “surprisingly” went home after her frequent tears became all-too repetitive for viewers. Read more to find out what happened to Grayla, the power couple.
Some Highlights… (To Jog Your Memory)
Fight for Elius: Millie vs Franciose
Relatable scene of Natasha, who fell off an inflatable flamingo and had an awkward conversation with Josh which ended up becoming a conversation with herself…
When Josh explained “the world” to Grant and didn’t know what he was talking about, yet his confident tone led the male housemates to believe he was walking Google.
When Jaxon and Natasha dressed up as each other…
I bet you screamed when Josh and Cassidy finally confessed their feelings for each other! And cried when their “relationship” ended.
When protective Erin spoke her mind every few minutes whilst Eden and Millie were having a conversation… which would frequently turn into a fight, followed by immediate forgiveness on her behalf.
Justin and Millie’s friendship, reliability in each other and easy alliance was what we all wanted…
The resemblance between Elius and the prince from Beauty and the Beast is startling…
When the contestants roasted each other through impersonations of each other…
If I had $1 for every time someone said terms such as: “100%, genuine, here for the right reasons, down-to-earth, what’s your type?” for when Francoise said, “I’m not going to jump in to anything,” or for Jaxon’s use of the word, “obviously” … I would be able to fund two series of the show.
The cat has an idea of his surroundings …
The fight that broke out after Elius and Justin’s departure!
When Cassidy recoupled with Grant for payback …
Or the absolute best part: when the Irish man whose honest voice-over made the show and reminded us of the nature of what we were actually spending our time watching; revealed himself at the finale! (By the way, his name is Eoghan McDermott and is a TV/radio presenter. He has hosted the Voice in Ireland.)
The Part That Actually Matters: The Finale
During the finale, the three couples remaining were Erin and Eden, Josh and new girl Amelia, and Grant and Tayla. Despite multiple arguments and significant amounts of shouting, (which may have turned viewers off the couple), Erin and Eden were very confident of a win.
Grant and Tayla felt that they had been through a lot (sitting in bikinis on a Spanish island whilst staff make your food and clean your clothes is very challenging). They weren’t as confident as Erin and Eden but didn’t seem to “mind a win” (which is surprising, I mean – who would want 25,000 Instagram followers- I meant dollars?!)
Finally, my personal preference was Josh and Amelia, who were arguably the most innocent and modest couple on the island… with the least fake tan and cosmetic enhancement; and the most brain cells.
However, perhaps due to Josh and Amelia’s more recent unity than other couples (after being “thrown around like a ken doll by other girls” as quoted by Maddie Pauly in year 10), due to Erin’s spontaneous bursts of rage when Eden entered within 20m radius of Millie… or due to the fact that only three couples actually fell in love (or lust), the winning couple was:
Grant and Tayla!
Erin and Eden couldn’t hide the disappointment on their faces….
Overall, whichever couple you wanted to win, or even if you are just reading this for social acceptance by knowing the bare minimum, you can be glad that those of us who watched the show now have an extra 5 hours a week to spend on more ... productive activities… and maybe the brain cells we lost will start to grow back too!
What Happened to the Contestants?
Even though all contestants left eventually and at different times, they are now enjoying life and have stayed friends. Here are some happy snaps of life outside the villa.
But then… what changed everything? Two weeks after the finale, Grant and Tayla broke up! There was talk that Grant had a casual girlfriend whilst being on the show, despite swearing he did not. However, Grant said in an apologetic Instagram post that he had ended things with this previous girlfriend before entering Love Island, yet admitted he had lied to Tayla about being with this girl. This caused the couple to end things, and Tayla is allegedly now back together with her ex-boyfriend. However, Grant is shattered and on the Instagram video said, “I wanna fight her (her)… Tayla if we can work through this I’d really, really like that… Tayla the balls in your court, if you want to give me another chance I’d love that… if any of the Grayla fans would help me out I’d love that.”
Will the other couples who were created stay together? Whatever happens, the UK version of the show has been released, and I acknowledge those who watch it, as sitting through a Chav version of the Australian show sounds slightly repetitive to me!