Heartbreak Island: It's all about the money
Most of Tuesday's episode was a great big ad for Fiji tourism with the contestants going off on group dates. These guys swam with sharks, in case you were wondering.
REVIEW: Heartbreak Island's tagline is "love or money", but it's clear pretty much all the contestants have eyes only for the moolah.
On Tuesday night's episode "love" was out the window. The contestants seem to have realised they're in a game with $100,000 on the line, and have started acting accordingly.
Take Harry and Georgia, for example. They've formed one of the show's two genuine romantic relationships, but after Josh and Ruby saved them each from elimination on Monday's episode, they're not officially one of the show's "couples" anymore.
Guys I think Josh wants out.
They've realised it's actually to their advantage to stay together-yet-apart because it means that if one of them is set to be eliminated, the other can "ditch and switch" to save them. It is both totally mercenary and also probably the most romantic thing to happen in the show so far.
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By now it's pretty clear that despite Heartbreak Island's offer of the chance to find true love, the contestants are pretty much all actually gunning for the money - which is understandable. I mean, would you rather end up with a relationship that's a few weeks old or $100,000?
Gennady was heartbroken yet again - though at least this time she knew it was coming.
But what it means is that we have the likes of Tavita pairing up with Kelsey because she's fit (in the "physically" sense, not the "English slang for attractive" sense) and has good hand-eye coordination, while Joshua and Weiting remain a couple despite agreeing that they have no chemistry - in order to try and win the game.
Stacy, though, is the contestant most aware of the game, as the other contestants are constantly saying in their interview bits. "I don't think you can have love and money on Heartbreak Island, you have to choose one or the other," he says.
He's gunning for the $100,000, which is a shame for his partner Shayna who seems so nice you wonder what possessed her to go on a show like this. She's clearly pretty taken with ol' Stacy, telling cameras she wants him to fall in love with her.
Tavita chose to stray from Gennady and pair up with Kelsey instead because she had better hand-eye coordination.
The only other single who still seems keen on forming a relationship is poor old Gennady, who was in tears again on Tuesday night after Tavita ditched her at the Passion Play for the more coordinated Kelsey. This was her second rejection after Joshua left her for not looking like her Tinder photo. The upside to all these hard feelings is that she's easily the most relatable person on the show.
Of course, the ones really making money on all this is TVNZ because this show is basically a giant ad for Fiji tourism. That was particularly evident on Tuesday's episode, about half of which was just the contestants going off in groups to do touristy things and talk about how much they enjoyed them. This segment did virtually nothing to develop narratives - but then again, who cares if people turn off when you've already landed all those sweet Fiji tourism dollars?
Snorkelling with sharks was one of the date options.
It seems, however, that even the show's producers could only stomach so much money-driven cynicism. At the Passion Play, Mark Dye had to play camp leader and sternly corral Harry and Georgia into partnering up properly, ending the sweet little alliance they had with Ruby and Josh.
It seems a little harsh to punish them for being a bit strategic, but I guess production had to make sure we didn't end up with a bunch of fake couples - after all, this is supposed to be a dating show, isn't it?
- Stuff
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