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Beloved dating competition Love Island has a few new things in store when the next season premieres: not only will Maya Jama be joining the series as the host, replacing Laura Whitmore, but the contestants will also be faced with one pretty big change: use of social media will be banned while they’re on the show, including anything posted to their accounts by friends and family.
Despite the changes to the series, the premise remains the same: a group of hot singles (a.k.a. Islanders) are dropped onto a tropical setting (usually Mallorca, but this winter they’ll be headed to a new location in South Africa) and must couple up in order to form alliances and remain in the villa. If they don’t have a partner or don’t gain the love of the viewing audience, they run the risk of being eliminated from the show. Along the way there are plenty of challenges that also make their time in the villa more difficult (including the behavior of their fellow Islanders and the voting audience at home) but along the way, more than a few Islanders have found romance and relationships, and the show has spun off into more than 20 countries. Before the new season arrives, here are few shows like Love Island to check out while you wait.
'Too Hot To Handle'
Netflix’s Too Hot To Handle transports ten horny and very hot singles to a tropical island where they are then told that they’ll have to abstain from sex in order to win a cash prize. With cameras everywhere, no one is allowed to slip up, because petting (ew) or kissing of any kind leads to money being deducted from the final pool of prize money. It’s just that everyone is so horny that they can’t help themselves! The show is literally based on the Seinfeld episode “The Contest,” and it demands that these young adults think about what’s more important to them: instant gratification, or cash?
'Are You The One?"
Are You The One? first premiered on MTV back in 2014, but after coming to Netflix, the show has enjoyed a resurgence in popularity. The series claims to be “the most ambitious matchmaking experiment ever attempted” and matches couples based on a mathematical algorithm. Contestants have 10 chances to leave as 10 perfect matches, but love is not their only reward, there’s also a cash prize if they successfully find their mates. After Season 1, the show even brought on all sexually fluid contestants, so contestants had nearly double the potential matches.
'Single's Inferno'
On Netflix’s Korean dating show Single’s Inferno, nine hot, young singles meet and mingle on a tropical island. If they make a love connection and pair up, they get to go to a luxurious resort called Paradise, a resort where they not only can enjoy a little bit of luxury, but they can share more intimate details about themselves, too. But if they don’t, they have to stay behind have to rough it on the island known as Inferno, where they can’t use their phones, they must cook for themselves, and they’re not allowed to reveal key details about themselves like their professions or their ages, so they have to use their physical traits and their general charms to woo one another. Of all the shows on our list, Single’s Inferno is easily the most PG, and the contestants are much more subtle and unassuming than those on other shows.
'Love Never Lies'
In Netflix’s Love Never Lies, couples with trust issues are dumped into a tropical location and then tested with temptation. They’re asked questions about their pasts as well as their behavior on the island, and then given a special ocular lie detector test called Eye Detect. The ones that are the most honest about their behavior stand to win a handsome €100,000 prize. Those who lie? Well, the cash and their relationship might just wash out with the beautiful Mediterranean tide.
'Married At First Sight'
Each season on Married at First Sight, three to five couples are matched up by a team of experts (including spiritual advisors, therapists and a sexologist), and are sent to the church for a wedding before ever meeting one another. They spend a honeymoon together and then eight weeks getting to know one another before deciding whether or not their marriage is worth keeping. Though the premise might sound extreme, the show has a pretty decent track record for couples who actually stay together for the long haul.
'Love Is Blind'
Similar to Marriage At First Sight, Love Is Blind is a “social experiment” show, one which challenges contestants to get engaged without ever meeting face-to-face, then get married just a few weeks later. Hosted by Nick and Vanessa Lachey, the show has also had its share of successful, long-lasting couples, including season one couples Lauren Speed-Hamilton and Cameron Hamilton and Amber Pike and Matt Barnett.
'Bachelor In Paradise'
Bachelor In Paradise is the lighthearted spinoff within The Bachelor and The Bachelorette franchise. This show is all about sexy singles hanging out on the beach and looking for summer flings…or perhaps something more. Featuring contestants from multiple seasons of previous Bachelor iterations, and guest hosts like David Spade, Lance Bass, and Titus Burgess, the show offers plenty of reality dating drama and tropical escapism if that’s the kind of show you crave.
'Back In The Groove'
On the Hulu dating show Back In The Groove, three women in their forties check in to a tropical resort called The Groove Hotel, which is also inhabited by 24 younger men. Over the course of a month, the women whittle down this dating pool of virile youths in the hopes that they’ll find a younger man to revitalize their dating lives. The show is hosted by Taye Diggs, patron saint of older women getting their grooves back.
