'Love Island is different for women of colour - Shakira Khan isn't the first to prove it'

Love Island’s Shakira Khanhas reignited a conversation around the treatment of women of colour in ITV's hit reality TV show, Love Island.

Speaking on the We Need To Talk podcast with host Paul C. Brunson, Shakira explained how she, Toni Laites and Yasmin Pettet labelled themselves the "outcasts" after realising they’d been sidelined by the main group in the villa.

“Me, Toni and Yas call ourselves the outcasts but you could collectively add Billykiss to that, Malisha, Andrada, Emma and there’s a pattern here, which I don’t think anyone wants to talk about - women of colour,” she said.

For Shakira, it wasn’t about desirability. She says being an “outcast” came from friendship dynamics. “Anyone who was a threat to the other group was orchestrated out,” she explained. “We banded together - the outcasts.”

READ MORE: Love Island's Shakira Khan says divide between villa girls was fuelled by more than drama

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Speaking from a similar experience of being sidelined and ignored, season 4’s Samira Mighty recently revealed what it felt like to be a Black woman in the villa. “It didn’t bother me at all, until the guys started coming in and I wasn’t getting picked,” she said.

“I remember speaking to one of the producers and saying ‘do you think it’s because I’m Black?’” she recalled on ITV The Rundown. While the producer was taken aback, Samira recognises the pattern that often appears in TV. "Why is it sometimes the ethnic people are pushed to the side and not even looked at?” she asked.

Samira’s season aired seven years ago, but the same questions are still being asked. In 2021, Kaz Kamwi described how, as one of the original cast members, she quickly realised she wasn’t anyone’s “type on paper.”

“The last thing I wanted was to be a box-ticker and it was hard to not take the rejection personally. Aside from being ‘petite’, I just wasn’t fitting in with what the guys were looking for ‘on paper’,” she told Grazia.

As days and weeks went on, Kaz admitted the weight of that rejection grew heavier. “I worry about the bigger impact of this, and where the real damage can be done,” she said. “It’s a message that Black women may be seen as undesirable.”

Another islander, Rachel Finni from season 7, said she felt she was placed on the show "to make them look good", being the first Black bombshell in seven years. She told Graziathat people are entitled to be attracted to who they are, but believes the producers should’ve put people in the villa that were attracted to her.

"If you’ve got a lot of guys that are attracted to blonde hair and blue eyes, make sure you’ve got some guys in there also attracted to Black girls and Asian girls, don’t just throw people in there for the sake of ticking a box. Let people be specific about their type and know you’re not being derogatory by using it in a positive sense," she said.

It appears Love Island Island is more diverse today than ever. Last year even saw the show’s first Black couple, Mimii Ngulube and Josh Oyinsan, win, marking a milestone in UK history. But while representation is better than it’s ever been, we're shown time and time again that diversity isn’t the same as equity within the reality TV dating landscape.

"[We] are having the exact conversation every single year when it comes to Love Island UK. They don’t even bring men in the villa who are attracted to Black women. Talk less of the little screen time they get," one fan of the show wrote on X.

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Another revealed that they've ditched the UK version of the show altogether because of its treatment of Black women, writing: "I think a big reason why [I don't] watch love island uk is the way they be doing the black women. On the USA version my girls be pursued & desired it’s just better for my mental tbh."

And as Shakira, Samira, Kaz and Rachel's experiences show, for women of colour that enter the Love Island villa, representation alone isn't enough - fair treatment matters, too.

The Mirror reached out to ITV for comment. They said: "Love Island's only stipulation is that applicants are over 18, single and looking for love. Our application and casting process is inclusive to all and we are always aiming to reflect the age and diversity of our audience on the show."

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