Love Island, as I've often said, is one of the most interesting viewing experiences that I've ever had. It was honestly just like a roller coaster. When you were up, you were up with Love Island. It was fun. It was different. You were drawn to the cast members on the show. It aired every day except Wednesday and Saturday. There was no new episode on those days because of the Aftersun show, but the rest of the week had no breaks. The show stood out because most reality shows air once or twice a week, not daily.
It was a definite experience. It was interesting to experience it with other people, and it was so interesting to see an HBCU alumna such as Olandria be a part of it with her grace, elegance, and poise. She handled being on the show, which at times can be a surreal experience, but also can have real, great human moments that I think she navigated incredibly well.
Olandria was the reason why I started watching the show. If she wasn't on Love Island, I wouldn’t have been watching from day one. I probably would have caught on once everyone was talking about it all down my Instagram stories and X timeline, but I certainly wouldn’t have been camped out in front of my TV the moment it premiered on Peacock on June 3rd. That’s because of Olandria.
I didn't even elect to write any articles or do coverage of it until I really saw her going through her various experiences in the villa. I had strong opinions on it that I was tweeting about, but I wanted to intellectualize it and talk about it in a broader context of relationships in modern society, and also the intersections of relationships and other different things, like racism and things of that sort.
I think the reunion was a perfect send-off to this season because the notion that this was “Friendship Island” was true. The connections were often so surface-level and built on physical attraction that they fizzled out quickly. There were more recaps of why connections following the show didn't work than highlights of what had worked. Mind you, it's only been a month and a half since they've been outside the villa.
I'm glad that you have a few couples that have some connection. It seems as if Taylor and Clarke are really close. It seems that Nic and Olandria are building something really great, and Ace and Chelly are amazingly close. That relationship is probably going to be the one that lasts longer than any of the others. But it just seems as if there was a lot of tension in that room and a lot of unspoken things, and a lot of people who appeared to put on for the camera but hid their real selves in the villa. Who they actually were came out when they left. I think that a show such as Love Island, because of the performative nature of our society, caused so much friction on social media and is a microcosm of who we are and where we are.
With Olandria, I really felt for her in many of the moments during the reunion where she had to confront her time being wasted by Taylor, but also her trying relationship with Huda, in which it seemed as if at one point in time they were close and they were building a real relationship in the villa, and then that went by the wayside.
I think that when Olandria spoke about the racist imagery that was created of her in support of Huda, and how that mentally affected her, it showed me something. It showed me that often black women are seen and perceived as being strong and withstanding hate and backlash. But we never think about how this hate and backlash, and negativity towards Black women affects them because of this trope of them being strong.
I think that Olandria went through it all, considering everything she dealt with from the moment she stepped into the villa. After being dumped by Taylor and then coupling up with Clarke, she was eventually voted out of the villa during Casa Amor. Later, she explored her vulnerability while being single in the main villa after being brought back, but after Cierra was removed from the show, she coupled up with Nic and ultimately made it to the final four.
I think that a lot of people, including myself, saw Olandria as a symbol of strength. But strong people have feelings. Even people that we perceive to be mature and assured of themselves have moments where they feel alone. They have moments where the negativity that comes toward them hurts them. It pierces them. I think that with a show such as Love Island, where you are the center of attention, voluntarily and involuntarily, and people run with an edited video to create narratives about who you are and what you are and why you do what you do, it wears on you.
It hurt to see Olandria start to get emotional when she spoke about the racist imagery that was created of her in response to people perceiving that she had slighted or bullied Huda. It was hurtful. It was hurtful to see that she had such care for Huda, and she felt as if it wasn't reciprocated. But I think that it goes to a broader conversation about how we're connecting with each other in real life and about how Love Island is the microcosm of it.
I think oftentimes we make friendships for the aesthetics. We don't look at who people are in a genuine context anymore. It's always an ulterior motive. It's always something more that comes with our relationships. We have every method in the world to communicate, but we don't communicate effectively. And because we're so selfish and we think about ourselves so much, we lose out on and miss how we possibly hurt and affect other people with our actions, and sometimes our inaction.
I think a lot of people forget that you don't have to act when it comes to hurting someone. Your sheer inaction can be just as hurtful. What Olandria was saying in that moment with Huda at the end of the reunion is that her inaction in repudiating the bullying and negativity that came toward her on social media was enough to understand that they weren't really friends. It's the inaction, not even just the action. It's the inaction. And I think it's such a microcosm of our relationships and how we're so self-centered that we don't understand how we hurt people, and ultimately, we hurt ourselves by isolating ourselves from good people.
I've fallen into it. I've suffered from it. I still suffer and am healing from broken friendships in which I allowed selfishness to jade me from folks that were good for me. Huda is experiencing it with both Chelly and Olandria, but especially Olandria. Seeing someone such as Olandria, who by every means appears to be a kindhearted person, who honestly wanted the best for everyone in that villa, especially Huda, hurt beyond measure.
I'm glad that Olandria got her happy ending through all of the things she had to deal with both inside the villa and out. And I'm glad the connection between her and Nic is flourishing in their own way. I'm also glad that Olandria has exited the villa to adulation from the millions of HBCU students and alumni that adored her on the show and admired the way that she represented HBCU alumni and continues through her platform to highlight education.
Olandria's journey is a perfect case study for how to be perceived on a reality show. She showed how to leave a legacy, represent your community, and, most importantly, maintain yourself through all the forces that can make you lose your way. She didn't get caught up in the fame or the money. She is fundamentally the same person who walked into the villa, but she grew and learned from every situation.
You can get caught in the fame, in the lust, in the sensuality, in the money, in the social media fame, but it doesn't seem as if Olandria's caught in that. I think Olandria is the same person fundamentally now as she was when she walked in the villa, but she grew and she learned from all these situations that she ultimately went through when she was in the villa.
Through a show that was at times frustrating and head-scratching, watching Olandria's journey made everything worthwhile. I don't regret watching it at all.
