A university student is studying ‘Love Island’ as part of her undergraduate degree.
The ITV2 reality show sees single contestants enter a villa for two months in the hope of finding love – and Birmingham City University student Vicky Squires will be studying the series as part of her final year dissertation for her course in Media.
Vicky will research series one and two of the dating show, focusing on confrontations between cast members, rebellions, and scenes of a sexual nature.
The 20-year-old student will explore how the programme – which had had an average of 2.7 million viewers this year – could potentially influence the behaviour of young viewing audiences.
Vicky said: "I hope that my research will help others by highlighting how reality television influences the behaviour of others and just how powerful this can be, especially for younger audiences who might think that behaving in a similar manner will make them ‘cool’ and ‘popular’."
The show is more popular than ever and the 2018 series, won by Dani Dyer and Jack Fincham, has broken ITV2 records for the most-watched programme in the digital channel’s history.
Vicky added: "I chose to focus on ‘Love Island’ as the programme has massively grown in popularity and it’s also now like a small empire of its own, not only on the television but online and in stores with tonnes of merchandise inspired by the show."
But she is not alone, as other academic students have come forward with their own reasons for loving the show.
Ophelia Stimpson, a 25-year-old Oxford graduate, said: "It operates on a number of levels and is actually quite a clever show because it does create a theatre, which panders to ‘intelligent’ viewers.
"It actually refers to the people in it as the ‘cast’ and ‘characters’, which is interesting.
"It’s hilarious because the way it’s edited makes it look like they can only comprehend the situation in front of them, with zero emotional depth."
Uni student studying Love Island
