Over the course of the past few decades, reality shows have become an inextricable part of human life. They’ve taken over the contemporary media landscape to the point where it’s nearly impossible to flick through television channels or browse your favorite streaming service without having to wade through a sea of reality content. It comes in a variety of different forms. A show might follow a gang of kind-hearted amateur confectioners baking sweet treats in a tent or a similarly English cooking master bellowing at harried chefs.
Alternatively, some reality series fill a house with a dozen or so alcohol-swilling twenty-somethings and let the inevitable chaos ensue. However, the most beloved form of reality television may be the dating show, in which folks sign up to try and find the love of their life, though their potential spouse is simultaneously dating countless other suitors.
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For a long time, there was a certain amount of subtly involved in reality programming. The Bachelor, for example, was around for a while before it was insinuated that the contestants were sleeping with one another. To this day, their dalliances are contained to the coyly named “Fantasy Suite.” However, since the dawn of the Jersey Shore era, the standards of decency have changed considerably. Perhaps no show in the history of reality television is less subtle than the relatively recent Fboy Island, which is heading into season three. Here’s what we hope to see!
FBoy Island Needs to Establish a Clear Set of Rules
HBO
The rules of FBoy island are a little bit more complicated than other reality shows. Essentially, each season begins with three women and 24 men. 12 of the men are self-identified fboys; in the show’s lexicon, this essentially means that they are womanizers who signed up for the show solely to win the cash prize. The other 12 are nice guys who have ostensibly come on the show in order to forge a relationship with one of the women. In each episode, men are eliminated and reveal which type of guy they came on the show as. At the end of the show, the woman must choose who they want to pursue a relationship with. If they choose a nice guy, the couple splits $100,000 right down the middle, but if they choose an fboy, the man can either split the prize money or keep it all to himself.
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Though this format has remained relatively unchanged, there are several rule changes that could improve the show. First, later on in the series, the men are all made to reveal if they are an fboy or nice guy, which ultimately disrupts the game itself. This midseason reveal should be done away with in future installments. Furthermore, the finale of both seasons featured a twist that completely invalidated the format. At the end of season one, fboy Garrett, after being chosen by Sarah, opted to keep the whole of the money. However, host Nikki Glaser revealed that he would not be allowed to keep it, and it would instead be donated to a charity of Sarah’s choosing.
In the second season’s finale, it was revealed that the women could keep the money for themselves, and Tamaris chose that option. Both of these finale twists made the events of their respective seasons meaningless. Garrett played the game perfectly and was penalized for it, and Tamaris never had to play the game at all. A potential third season will need a clear set of rules from the jump.
New Challenges and Skits With Eliminated Contestants
HBO Max
Ultimately, the fates of the respective fboys and nice guys are in the hands of the three women. However, the show also features challenges that range from dance-offs to spicy pepper confessionals. A new season could expand on these challenges, perhaps introducing physical contests designed to get the men riled up with competitive energy.
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Additionally, after the men are eliminated, they go to one of two locations: nice guys go to a gorgeous villa, while fboys go to a seaside shantytown called Limbro. Some of the best moments in the show are skits between Nikki Glaser and the eliminated contestants, so it would be nice to see a potential third season utilize these bits more often.
Will There Be an FGirl Island?
One of the potential directions that FBoy Island could go in for a potential third season is a complete gender swap. FGirl Island would see 24 women competing for the hearts of three men. In order to get folks on board with FGirl Island, the show’s creators would need to bring on some familiar faces The most obvious choice is Casey Johnson, a fan-favorite fboy turned nice guy who fell just short of finding love in both seasons.
FBoy Island, if nothing else, is a wildly entertaining show and is managed to attract scores of viewers, many of whom likely view it as the ultimate guilty pleasure watch. It features gorgeous folks of both genders and enough cringey content to keep even the most jaded media consumer entertained. Hopefully (to misquote what Nikki Glaser says to womanizers at the elimination ceremony), FBoy Island will not become FBye Island.
