Courtships & Recouplings
Is Love Island a modern day version of the Regency era Debutante season?
I’m not an expert on Regency era customs, nor am I an expert on producing compelling reality television.
I’m just a girl who lives for the Casa Amor drama of Love Island (UK) and has watched the 2005 version of Pride and Prejudice more times than I can count.
And I’ve noticed some similarities. Love Island follows set customs and rituals, and at the end of each season, aside from the money, a number of couples leave together, intent on beginning their lives in a new romantic partnership. The sequence of events is not unlike the courtship traditions of Regency era debutante seasons, including, in some cases, the money— in the form of a dowry.
Let’s get the basics down first. The Regency era refers to the period in England between 1811 and 1820, during which time King George III was too sick to rule, and his son, Prince George IV, acted as king “Regent.” So the era is actually the very tail end of the Georgian era, which began in 1714, and many of the customs of the time weren’t unique to that nine year stretch, but the Georgian era as a whole. We mostly associate the era with Jane Austen and her swoony love stories, which produced an entire subgenre of romance novels, like the Bridgerton series. The Jane Austen website tells us that, “A dictionary will tell you that a debutante is “a young woman making a formal debut into society.” Originally, this meant that the young woman was eligible for marriage, and part of the purpose was to display her to eligible bachelors and their families with a view to marriage within a select upper class circle.”1 Traditionally, a girl would be around 16 when she made her debut and if she had younger sisters, it was considered proper for them to wait to be debuted until she had married.
Love Island (UK) is a debutante season for the 21st century— not to be confused with the actual debutante coming out season, which does still occur in 2022, but is boring and outdated, so we’ll pretend that it doesn’t, okay? Love Island (UK) premiered in 2015 and is based on the short-lived Celebrity Love Island, but with “normal people”2 instead of celebrities. The show is on Season 8 as of Summer 2022, and films at a villa in Majorca, with one winter session filming in South Africa. In 2023, production is planning for two seasons: winter, again in South Africa, and summer, once again in Majorca. If you haven’t watched Love Island (UK) yet, the premise is simple: find a bunch of hot British people with commitment issues who could surely benefit from some therapy, force them to couple up based on who they initially fancy, and then watch either chaos or true love ensue over the course of two-ish months. The show airs every single day, so there’s a lot of content to cover. Love Island can be a little tasteless at times, feeding into our love of borderline-trashy reality television that also has a heart of gold. Islanders paint themselves as players, heartbreakers, maybe even cheaters, at first, and then over the course of the show, we watch their redemption arcs in real time as they fall in love and confront their own toxic traits in order to form a stronger relationship. Our first impression of the girls is them arriving at the villa, clad in bikinis, riding in topless jeeps, walking in slow motion. There’s usually a close-up of anything that jiggles. They’re wearing sky-high heels or wedges. In some seasons, the trend is thong bikinis. In other seasons, underboob reigns supreme.
I’m setting the scene for you so you can see that, at the end of the day, this isn’t so different from a young woman in Regency England’s debut into society, in which she would be presented to the Queen of England3 in her finest gown. Fashion played a large role in a young woman’s debutante season, and this ritual was especially important. According to the Jane Austen website’s article, Exploring the Regency Debutante, “Gowns worn for a court presentation to the Queen had to conform to elaborate standards, and even constituted their own category of fashion called court dress, which was highly formal. In particular, being prepared for the ritual included that the lady either carried feathers (usually in the form of an ostrich feather fan), or wore them as part of her headdress.”4
What was appropriate for a ball with country dancing would not be appropriate for presentation to the Queen; what one might wear to the Opera would differ from what they’d wear to promenade, and so on.
Fashion is also of the utmost importance on Love Island (UK). The islanders exist in a perpetual cycle of bikini, mini dress, skimpy pajamas, repeat. The Islander-to-Influencer pipeline also ensures fast fashion Instagram sponsorships once their time on the island comes to an end, and in some cases, can launch careers in fashion, like season 5’s Molly-Mae Hague, whose brand deal with Pretty Little Thing evolved into her tenure as Creative Director of the brand. There are entire Instagram accounts dedicated to sourcing the outfits worn by islanders so viewers can purchase them, and when Love Island came under fire for its contributions to the disastrous effects fast fashion is having on the climate5, production responded by hiring a new stylist, Amy Bannerman6, and partnering with eBay to promote sustainable fashion. In both cases, fashion is a way to adhere to social niceties, and whether the fashion is an empire waisted gown or a cutout mini dress from I Saw it First, the clothes worn reflect a status and an acknowledgment of the need to perform for others.
And, oh boy, are they performing for others. In the Georgian period, the watchful eye of society would have been reflected in pamphlets and newspapers hawking society gossip, which used thinly veiled pseudonyms to talk about potential marriages and, all the more interesting, potential scandals. One notable scandal sheet was The Female Tatler, authored anonymously by a Mrs. Crackenthorpe, not unlike the fictional Lady Whistledown in the Bridgerton series.
On Love Island, even as contestants are sequestered from the chatter that surrounds their mere existence on our televisions, they feel the watchful eyes all the same. As previously stated, Love Island (UK) airs every. single. night. Not only is there an enraptured audience for the love stories unfolding on our screens, but viewers' public perception is so paramount to the show that we7 can tip the scales ourselves, by voting couples and individual islanders out, making way for new love stories to come to fruition. The opinion that the audience has of islanders directly influences their time in the Villa, and can spill into their lives outside of the villa, as well. The tabloid industry in the UK is notoriously brutal, and islanders, once villainized, are liable to be ripped to shreds.8
Similarly, the slightest whiff of scandal involving a debutante and her potential suitor could leave her ruined, completely unmarriageable. A scandal, at this time, could be as simple as being caught unchaperoned in a room together, or writing love letters9. In the course of a traditional courtship, a young couple would get to know each other in heavily supervised and ritualistic settings. Dancing together at a country ball. Promenading with a chaperone trailing behind them. There was no written rulebook for what was proper or expected in courtship. Due in part to the growing popularity of novels, specifically romantic novels, the concept of marrying for love began to gain traction among the 18th century upper class. A season, for both young women and young men, was a way to date around, in a way, and find a partner with whom love could blossom, not just a spouse whose social standing and dowry would be beneficial to the family. Because of this, the traditions became even more important to get to know a number of suitors, in order to make a match that is both socially/financially beneficial and a good fit, romantically.
Affections are encouraged among the Love Island islanders by way of challenges. Whether the girls are dressed as cops and doing a striptease, or the boys are spitting the contents of half a dozen mixed drinks into the girls’ mouths, the purpose of the challenge is maybe team building, forging stronger partnerships by way of questionable, and sometimes cringe-worthy, means. These rituals are an important and expected part of each season, and in some ways, they allow intimacy to deepen without pressure. A Truth or Dare challenge, for example, could provide someone with the revelation that their partner had cheated in past relationships, causing them to doubt whether they’re right for each other. A challenge may require a snog, which can break the ice if a couple wants to kiss outside of a challenge but doesn’t feel ready.
While coupling and recoupling is a hallmark of Love Island’s model, boys and girls are expected and encouraged to keep their options open by getting to know bombshells10. Islanders will discourage their peers from getting serious too quickly about one person, and becoming exclusive is a big deal.
In similar fashion, a debutante in the Regency era could be the subject of gossip should her dance card be monopolized by one young man. A pair were thought to be on the road to betrothal if they danced together too often, or otherwise spent an unusual amount of time together. In both cases, there is a notion that one must be absolutely sure before getting too serious, because once the wheels are set in motion, there’s little to no room for backtracking. This was undoubtedly true in the Regency era, where one wrong move could mark a young woman ruined and a man a rake11. In the villa, putting all of one’s eggs in one basket12 may not lead to ruin, but grafting13 for one person and then having your head turned for a bombshell may impact your reputation, and many have been accused of playing a game or mugging someone off14.
In the past 200 years, our societal expectations and customs have surely changed. Now, in most western cultures, no one blinks an eye if two young people are alone in a room together. We’ve graduated from laced up courtship to rampant hookup culture, and Love Island (UK) falls somewhere in the middle of that spectrum.
I, for one, am excited about the prospect of reality dating shows being the new courtship era. We look to the past as this epitome of romance, swooning over the 2005 Pride & Prejudice hand flex, and imagine that love stories like that no longer exist, because relationships come from dating apps instead of curtsies and country dances. But, in a way, love stories like that do still exist. In fact, Love Island (UK)’s success rate is proof. Despite the sheer amount of people that arrive in the villa every season, (on average, there are 32 contestants per season), the success rate for Love Island is higher than that of any other reality dating show15. In a similar vein, Bachelor in Paradise churns out more successful couples than traditional Bachelor/Bachelorette seasons do. My working theory is that it’s related to the number of options. Thirty people dating one man/woman is bound to be less successful than thirty people choosing from a plethora of options.
We love watching people fall in love, because wanting to be loved is a uniquely human desire. In the same way I internally screamed watching Anthony and Kate dance in season two of Bridgerton, I hold my breath at every post-Casa recoupling. And yes, I shed a tear at Molly-Mae and Tommy’s reunion at the season 5 recoupling. A romance doesn’t have to adhere to stuffy eighteenth and nineteenth century sensibilities, because it’s not the eighteenth and nineteenth century anymore. Love Island (UK), and other shows of the same nature, give us an updated version, with new traditions and confidence that we, too, can find love.
Exploring the Regency Debutante, Jane Austen website
As normal as professional athletes (off the top of my head, I can name a footballer, a rugby player, a boxer and a professional ballroom dancer) and social media personalities can be considered.
At some point, this particular custom of presenting a girl to the Queen was phased out. That must have alleviated some pressure.
Exploring the Regency Debutante, Jane Austen website
For more on the fast fashion/climate crisis connection, I can’t recommend Consumed: The Need for Collective Change: Colonialism, Climate Change, and Consumerism by Aja Barber enough. She narrates the audiobook, too, and it’s like having a conversation with her.
I say “we,” but I’m in the US, watching every season with a two week delay, dodging spoilers with an incredible amount of agility. I don’t get to vote. Anyway.
Not to kill the mood, but there have been multiple suicides by contestants as well as Caroline Flack, the former host. Vanity Fair did a pretty comprehensive deep dive on this.
For more on love letters & other Regency courtship tidbits: What Was It Like To Get Loved Up In Georgian England? With Dr. Sally Holloway, Getting Curious with Jonathan Van Ness
“Bombshells” = Men and women who join the villa at random times throughout the season, aiming to recouple with an already coupled islander.
A rake is basically an old-timey fuckboy, btw.
“Putting all my eggs in one basket” = building a relationship with one person; not getting to know anyone else.
“Grafting” = putting in a lot of work to get someone to like you; usually included making a girl’s morning coffee or tea.
“Mugged me off” = “embarrassed me”/ “made me look stupid”