{"id":16869,"date":"2022-06-13T19:02:00","date_gmt":"2022-06-13T17:02:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/?p=1661612"},"modified":"2022-06-13T19:25:11","modified_gmt":"2022-06-13T17:25:11","slug":"love-island-has-become-gemma-island-and-its-getting-boring","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/rss_feed\/love-island-has-become-gemma-island-and-its-getting-boring\/","title":{"rendered":"Love Island has become Gemma Island \u2013\u00a0and it\u2019s getting boring"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Lauren Morris\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Monday, 13 June 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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You know Love Island<\/a> has returned to our screens when words like \u201cre-coupling\u201d, \u201ctop three\u201d and \u201cgraft\u201d start to creep their way back into our vocabularies and with the glossary growing by the day, the 2022 season is now officially in full-swing.<\/p>\n

So far, season 8 seems to be ticking all of the typical Week 1 boxes: numerous bombshells have strutted into the villa, the first islander (Welsh student Liam Llewelyn<\/a>) has left the show and the public displays of affection are only getting sloppier, but there is one big difference between this year and its predecessors.<\/p>\n

Whether you\u2019ve been watching the show or not, by now you\u2019ll be familiar with Gemma Owen<\/a> \u2013 the daughter of footballer Michael Owen and Love Island 2022 contestant \u2013 with the dressage rider making headlines after being the show\u2019s main focal point for the last week.<\/p>

There\u2019s always been a discrepancy when it comes to islander screen time on Love Island but season 8 seems to take it to a whole new level, with the key storylines revolving around Davide Sanclimenti<\/a> bidding for Gemma\u2019s affections, Gemma choosing the Italian Stallion over Liam, and fishmonger Luca Bish<\/a> shooting his shot with her ahead of the second re-coupling.<\/p>\n

Then just when you thought the show couldn\u2019t get more Gemma-centric, the Love Island producers poured more fuel on the constant Twitter fire by flying in the 19-year-old\u2019s ex-boyfriend, rugby player Jacques O\u2019Neill, in last night\u2019s episode.<\/p>\n

I love contrived drama as much as the next reality fan and on paper, these plot points should make for juicy viewing, but the show seems more like Gemma Island than Love Island at the moment \u2013 and it\u2019s getting boring.<\/p>\n

The fact that Gemma is the most sought-after in the villa and that her dad is a sports pundit and a former footballer will be key reasons why she\u2019s featured the most on the show, but through absolutely no fault of her own it\u2019s just not as entertaining.<\/p>\n

The Chester-based teen is more of an understated character and as viewers are used to seeing big personalities on screen, the show is starting to feel like more of a snooze-fest.<\/p>\n