Where's the fun gone?
The show's losing its spark. The last week of a typical season usually includes a lot of 'feel-good' challenges like the talent show or the baby challenge. This season, we have had nothing at all. The only challenge we've had was "Not Another Podcast", and that was created to incite more drama.
Now I don't know if this comes down to the show being broke or the producers shifting their attention to drama rather than joy, but it's really ruining the enjoyment of the show. The reason why the "glory" seasons of the series are considered as such is that they had a good balance of drama and fun. We actually got to see the Islanders be themselves. Now, if we want to see an ounce of personality in these Islanders, you need to go watch Unseen Bits.
I do think this approach has done two things:
- The show isn't enjoyable to watch because they're essentially on repeat. We only see the Islanders, for the most part, in the main Villa, and barely anywhere else. The lowly produced games/challenges are in the Villa and are also there to create more drama, which then goes on to us just seeing more scenes of the Islanders, still in the Villa. There's no change of scenery for either the viewers or the Islanders, which makes the experience unpleasant for everyone.
- We don't actually get to see much of the Islanders' personalities. A lot of people don't tend to watch the Unseen Bits, meaning what the audience sees in the main series is all they have to have a grasp on their personalities. This is an injustice to the Islanders because the small scenes where we get to see the Islanders' personalities (whether that's through conversations or light-hearted challenges), we just don't have at all. I think this now coincides with the amount of hate we see towards the contestants.
I do think the producers need to find some sort of way to bring back challenges that are just a bit of fun for the Islanders and the audience, and steer away from the heavy focus on the drama, as it's just unpleasant to watch—especially considering that this is the last week, and each episode has been so drama-heavy (including the upcoming Sunday night episode where the ex-Islanders return). The show's just losing its spark, and it's coming down to the fact that the Islanders aren't having any fun.