{"id":4175,"date":"2025-06-11T09:15:47","date_gmt":"2025-06-11T09:15:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nichesitetool.com\/?p=4175"},"modified":"2025-06-12T12:20:26","modified_gmt":"2025-06-12T12:20:26","slug":"watching-love-island-as-a-black-woman-never-gets-any-easier","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.nichesitetool.com\/index.php\/2025\/06\/11\/watching-love-island-as-a-black-woman-never-gets-any-easier\/","title":{"rendered":"Watching Love Island as a Black woman never gets any easier"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Blu’s line wasn’t just cringeworthy \u2013 it was downright heartbreaking (Picture: Joel Anderson\/ITV\/Shutterstock)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A sigh left my lips the second I saw the Love Island cast – 10 new faces, and only one Black woman and one Black man amongst them.<\/p>\n

And it wasn\u2019t long before another disappointment that would have been a gut punch to Black women like me watching – when Alima was dismissed in minutes by her new partner Blu, who bluntly told her she \u2018wasn\u2019t his type on paper\u2019.<\/p>\n

Blu’s line wasn’t just cringeworthy \u2013 it was downright heartbreaking. <\/p>\n

As a Black woman, it’s hard not to feel a surge of frustration and sadness when you see yet another Black woman on Love Island<\/a> being relegated to the sidelines.<\/p>\n

It’s not just about one comment; it’s about a pattern of erasure and the constant feeling of being an afterthought that I recognise from my own life. <\/p>\n

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Sign up to our newsletter<\/a> and then select your show in the link we’ll send you so we can get TV news tailored to you.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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Blu told Alima bluntly that she \u2018wasn\u2019t his type on paper\u2019 (Picture: ITV\/Shutterstock)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It reminds me of all those times of not feeling good enough, or feeling like I had to always be 10 times better than white counterparts just to get half of what they are getting. <\/p>\n

Or all those compliments about my \u2018strength\u2019 and \u2018resilience\u2019 while peers received comments on their beauty. <\/p>\n

So not only does the ITV show need to up their game in terms of recruiting Black islanders, they need to be wary of how they are treated. <\/p>\n

Because Love Island’s persistent failure to appropriately look after Black women – by failing to uplift them (whether that be because of lack of suitable romantic matches or, as in past seasons, placing them among people who have disrespected them) – isn’t just a casting issue, it’s a reflection of deeper societal biases<\/a>. <\/p>\n

This has been a recurring theme across almost every season of the ITV show, with Yewande saying her name was mispronounced<\/a> in 2019, Samira from 2018 being overlooked<\/a> and feeling like she was the \u2018token\u2019 Black woman on the show, and Kaz Kamwi,<\/a> like other Black female contestants before her (Yewande and Samira included), was chosen last in the initial coupling up during her stint in 2021. <\/p>\n

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