Everyone keeps saying that KC and Aniya are the strongest couple, but the Slumber Party challenge could be the first sign we’re headed toward heartbreak.
Photo: Ben Symons/Peacock
This was a perfectly serviceable episode of Love Island. It’s just that since the recoupling has left everyone more or less content in their couples, there’s not much to discuss until the bombshells arrive at the very end, resulting in a bit of a dud of an episode, even with the gratuitous kissing.
At no point when Ariana Madix (wearing an incredible negligee dress, by the way) was explaining the Slumber Party rules did she say that kissing was mandatory. All she said was that the girls, blindfolded and with handfuls of colored paint, had to find their man by touch. This could have been accomplished just by feeling each guy’s hair — but Trinity, who was up first, went straight in for the kiss, stopping only when she got to Bryce. Then the others, perhaps hearing the now-familiar smack, smack, slurp of group tonsil hockey, followed suit. Melanie made a whole show of it, first stopping to make out with Trinity just for fun, then going back and forth between Sincere and Corbin. Only Aniya, the closest thing to a normal person we have in this villa, took the chaste route and kissed no one until she found KC.
All of this is to say that it’s not necessarily the producers who are making this season the slurp factory that it is; some of it is coming from the Islanders themselves. I have to assume wordlessly making out with one another one by one like “Duck, Duck, Goose” is more fun as a participant than it is to watch. That said, I actually think the Slumber Party game was kind of fun when it wasn’t diverging too far into the adult-film realm. It did provide some new insights into our Islanders that are worth, pardon me, exploring. Primarily, KC is now on my watch list.
Are KC and Aniya truly the villa’s strongest couple, or have they just gotten a lot less screen time than the others? I’m beginning to suspect that they are less solid than they are complacent, and KC’s Slumber Party comments have me thinking he could be another Taylor waiting for his Clarke.
Midway through the Slumber Party game, Sol and Jen, two new bombshells, equipped with red paint, hop on the bed to join in the group make-outs. Then they disappear again as silently as they came, all unbeknownst to the girls, who are still blindfolded. Once the blindfolds come off and the boys are examined to see who touched whom where, KC’s chest is positively covered in red paint. The girls all want to know who had red paint, and KC tries to say that when the paint colors mix together, it makes red. This lie is offensive on several counts. One, most of us learn in preschool that when you mix all the paint colors, you get brown, not bright red. Two, exactly how long does KC think that the bombshells are going to be kept a secret from the girls? Three, Aniya was the only girl who didn’t kiss any of the other guys in this challenge, and he’s just going to lie to her face? When Ariana promptly invites Sol and Jen to reveal themselves, she asks the Islanders how they are feeling, and KC, with more enthusiasm than I’ve ever seen from him, declares that he feels blessed. Seeing Aniya is hurt, he throws out a weak, “I mean, blessed to be with you!”
It’s small, I know. And maybe I’m being oversensitive, but all I’ve heard from the other Islanders — such as Sincere earlier that very day — is that KC and Aniya are the perfect couple. I’m beginning to fear they mean KC and Aniya remind them of their married parents, who make jokes about never having sex anymore. Earlier in the day, KC says he’s always played it safe, unlike Aniya, who’s done things like go to college. He says he feels like his life has only just started. Reminder, KC is 22. His life has literally just started. In retrospect, I’m worried this was all foreshadowing that KC thinks Aniya is the safe choice, and he’s about to make a hard play for one of the new bombshells. This would leave Aniya high and dry with no one to cry to because she is the villa’s only amateur therapist this summer.
If you have been wondering what Kenzie sees in Corbin that she didn’t see in Sean, it’s his big hands — and you know what that means, wink wink. She also compliments him on his eyes, which remind her of a lion’s, because she will not let this horrifying metaphor go. She doesn’t say anything about Corbin’s winning personality or their fascinating heart-to-hearts because, well, it’s Corbin. When they chat, it’s entirely about sex. Corbin wants to try handcuffs. Kenzie likes a 69, which Corbin has never done. All of which are facts I’m not sure I needed to know. I’ve never considered myself a prude, but I do have limits.
If you want to know what really makes Kenzie “cream in her pants” — which, at this point, sure — she says she’s been waiting this whole time for a real cowboy to enter the villa, as if Kennesaw, Georgia, were not crawling with this type of guy. As if the Love Island gods have been listening to Kenzie’s prayers specifically, they bring in Caleb, a blond North Carolinian dripping in “howdy, pardner” energy, as the third bombshell at the end of the slumber party. Kenzie is staring at him with her mouth open while still lying on Corbin’s shoulder, and I am trying to gauge the size of his hands. Either way, Kenzie is clearly not putting all of her eggs in one basket.
Bea, who has staked a lot on the hope that he will not “make her look stupid,” is still struggling to wrestle anything resembling depth from Gabe, to lukewarm results. She just gave a whole speech about how Gabe makes her feel soft and feminine in a way she rarely does, and he barely reacted. So, pressing him to give her something, anything, she can hang her feelings on, he says, “Okay, tell me about your exes.” It’s not exactly a rom-com-worthy line, but Bea will take it. She tells him about her longest relationship, which was with a man 20 years older than her. Gabe’s reaction? “So you like older guys?” Pack it up, I can’t.
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