Love Island USA Fans Think Producers Forced Nic & Olandria Together
But nobody’s complaining!
Any reality show aficionado is well-versed in production intervention. By now, we’re used to carefully curated scenes, edited soundbites, and spur-of-the-moment rule changes that conveniently benefit the producers’ favorite. But rarely is it as obvious as the latest Love Island USA Season 7 twist. Despite fans calling out a blatant production stunt, nobody’s actually that mad. Sure, maybe it’s fan service, but the payoff is just too good to get upset about it.
The (alleged) manipulation began at the end of Episode 20, when fan favorites Nic and Olandria were both eliminated from the island... only to discover they were going to be given a second chance in the villa. However, the show would only let them re-enter if they did so as a couple. Basically, their options were couple up, or GTFO. Obviously, they chose the former.
This bit of salvation came off as pretty devious, considering fans of the show had been loudly shipping Nic and Olandria (even dubbing the imagined pairing Nicolandria) on social media for several weeks — even though they were never in a couple, and only rarely interacted in the villa. But once the show pretty much forced the near-strangers to get all lovey-dovey, the shippers finally got the content they’ve been craving. No longer would they have to settle for slight Nicolandria crumbs in challenge kisses and stolen glances. Once they came into the villa as a bonafide couple, the two steamed up the screen with the full-on makeout sesh that fans have been begging for.
Of course, longtime reality TV fans could recognize a production stunt to coerce two fan-favorites into a couple that might not have happened without behind-the-scenes interference. But because Nicolandria had become such a popular ship (and because that kiss was so hot), nobody seemed to mind.
Even the viewers that recognized the pairing as “fan service” celebrated the show doing its big one to give the passionate fandom the romance they’d been yearning for.
Nicolandria, you may have started as a pipe dream that had to be forced together by a production team, but now that you’re real, that’s all that really matters.
