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    ‘Love Island USA’ Has a New Villain This Season: The Viewers

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    Audiences have bullied past contestants, but after an islander has become particularly divisive, the series is taking more steps to keep fans from harassing stars and their families.For viewers, the ridiculous games, steamy make-out sessions and potential relationships that appear on “Love Island USA” are as much of a draw as what happens after they air.The reality dating show, on Peacock, brings contestants to a remote villa in Fiji to pair up and risk getting dumped (and booted from the island) or recoupled with a different romantic interest. Through the show’s official app, viewers are encouraged to vote on who should be dumped and even selecting which contestants should go on dates.But one such fan vote, and a floodgate of audience response, this season has reopened scrutiny of “Love Island” and the mental health and welfare of its contestants. In recent weeks, the host Ariana Madix took the rare step of admonishing fans, as some have sent hateful messages or threats to family and friends of the islanders.“Don’t be contacting people’s families,” she said on “Aftersun,” a weekly recap show. “Don’t be going on islanders’ pages and saying rude things.”The rebuke came after viewers were vocal in response to Huda Mustafa, a 24-year-old from North Carolina who audiences voted to split from her partner Jeremiah Brown. Her reaction was dramatic, even by reality TV standards.Mustafa shouted insults and expletives at Brown, and her aggressive behavior toward the woman Brown was recoupled with prompted another contestant, Pepe Garcia, to tell an islander: “I don’t know if we should stay close or not, in case something happens.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Kim Woodburn, British TV’s No-Nonsense ‘Queen of Clean,’ Dies at 83

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      She was a blunt and bossy domestic dominatrix on the series “How Clean Is Your House?” honing a persona as the rudest woman on reality television.Kim Woodburn, the platinum-haired, trash-talking darling of British reality television who found fame as a domestic dominatrix in the long-running series “How Clean Is Your House” and in other shows of the mean TV genre, died on Monday. She was 83.Her death, after a short illness, was announced in a statement by her manager. It did not specify a cause or say where she died.Ms. Woodburn had been working in Kent, England, as a live-in housekeeper for a Saudi sheikh when her employment agency asked her to audition for a new Channel 4 reality show. The idea was that she and Aggie MacKenzie, a brisk Scottish editor at the British version of Good Housekeeping magazine, would invade the houses of slobs, hoarders and other housekeeping failures and teach them how to mend their messy ways.She was 60 years old at the time, and she nailed the audition, which involved scrutinizing a young woman’s grimy flat in West London.“Well, this is a flaming comic opera, isn’t it,” Ms. Woodburn declared in the woman’s terrifyingly filthy kitchen, as she recalled in her 2006 memoir, “Unbeaten: The Story of My Brutal Childhood.” “You look so clean yourself, and yet you live like this. Talk about fur coat, no knickers!”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Kyle Chan Is the Jeweler to Reality TV Stars

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      Kyle Chan is no stranger to Bravo viewers, and his work can be seen on celebrities, TV shows and even in an Oscar-winning film.Eagle-eyed Bravo viewers may know him as the man behind three different “Vanderpump Rules” engagement rings, or as the beleaguered best friend of the disgraced reality TV villain Tom Sandoval. But when Kyle Chan started selling handmade jewelry at the Downtown Los Angeles Art Walk in 2010, he had no idea that he would one day parlay his small stall into a luxury jewelry business famous for its connection to the world of reality stars.Mr. Chan immigrated from Hong Kong to the United States when he was 13, and started making jewelry after taking a class in high school. “I fell in love with it, but I just didn’t have the money to continue, so I started all kinds of odd jobs,” Mr. Chan said in a phone interview. “I was a waiter. I was working at an airline. I did hair and makeup.”Eventually, he scored a job at a small jewelry boutique, which he managed for seven years before moving into wholesale. Then, in the early 2010s, he met Kyle Richards, the longtime star of the Bravo reality show “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.” It was then that his career really took off.“She and her four daughters would always go to the Pasadena Rose Bowl Flea Market, so that’s how I met her,” Mr. Chan said. “She was very kind, and she would buy my jewelry, even though I would insist I’d give it to her for free. But she said, ‘No, no, no, I’d like to buy it, I want to show support.’”When Mr. Chan opened a retail store, some of his celebrity friends came out to support him, including, left to right, Jesse Montana, Ariana Madix, Tom Sandoval, Tom Schwartz and Scheana Shay.Robin L Marshall/Getty ImagesMs. Richards started wearing his pieces on the show, which premiered in October 2010, and posting about them to her millions of followers. When he graduated from making silver and gold-filled pieces into more luxury fare, she began carrying his designs at her since-shuttered Beverly Hills boutique, Kyle by Alene Too.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      ‘The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives’ Keeps Pushing Back TV’s Fourth Wall

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      Reality TV had long advised casts to pretend the cameras (and producers) weren’t there. But for the Mormon influencers of MomTok, the business of being on camera is central to the plot.The women of MomTok, the 20- and 30-something Mormon influencers who make up the cast of Hulu’s “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives,” built their livelihood on upsetting codes of conduct.The series’s first season was birthed in the wake of a “soft swinging” scandal involving some of its couples. A few of the cast members drink alcohol. Some abstain in keeping with the Church’s doctrine, but interpret its teachings on ketamine use more loosely.In the show’s second season, which finished airing this month, the group routinely flouted what, in eras past, had been a cardinal rule of reality TV: Don’t break the fourth wall.“It’s not a shock that I was a fan favorite,” Demi Engemann pointedly told her MomTok peers in Episode 6. The group had just learned she tried to persuade producers to kick off her co-star Jessi Ngatikaura to secure a higher contract for this season. “I feel like I’m an asset, I should fight for more.”That prompted Taylor Frankie Paul, the unofficial founder of MomTok, to push back about her own negotiations over the very show on which they were appearing.“I’m the that one that’s actually struggling because I’m open to the [expletive] world,” she said. “If anyone deserves to be paid more it’s me and I’ve never even asked for that.”

      @secretlivesonhulu The girls are fightinggg 🫣 #TheSecretLivesOfMormonWives ♬ original sound – secretlivesonhulu We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      ‘Love Island’ Contestant Yulissa Escobar Leaves Show After Racist Comments Surface

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      Yulissa Escobar, 27, was abruptly dropped during Episode 2 after clips of her using a slur in a podcast were resurfaced. The season’s debut week also saw tech issues.“Love Island USA,” the reality dating show that sends singles to an island villa to pair up in hopes of winning a cash prize, is known and often appreciated for its messy plots onscreen. But this week, as Season 7 of the show premiered, most of the chaos took place offscreen. Some offscreen drama also reached the show’s predecessor, “Love Island UK.”Contestant Dismissed for Racial SlursFor starters, one of the contestants, Yulissa Escobar, was summarily dropped from the show after video recordings of her repeatedly using a racial slur in a podcast interview were dug up by online sleuths and then reported by TMZ.The clips created an uproar among fans online before the premiere on Tuesday, but the series is aired with a one- or two-day delay, and Escobar, a 27-year-old Cuban American from Miami, still appeared in the first episode.Before the premiere, fans were vowing on X and TikTok to vote Escobar off the show as soon as they had the opportunity. On the first night of the show, Escobar was also criticized by some viewers for wearing an outfit that they deemed appropriative of Chinese culture and using chopsticks to pin up her hair. At about the 18-minute mark of the second episode, which was shown on Wednesday, the narrator, Iain Stirling, abruptly announced that “Yulissa has left the villa.” She had been paired with Ace Greene, and later in the episode Stirling noted that Greene was single.Escobar could not immediately be reached for comment. Ryan McCormick, a spokesman for Peacock, which streams the show, declined to comment on why the producers had removed her.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Mike White, ‘White Lotus’ Creator, Will Return to Cast of ‘Survivor’

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      Mike White, a noted reality-television aficionado, first competed on the show in 2018.Mike White, the acclaimed screenwriter, creator of the hit HBO series “The White Lotus” and reality competition show veteran, will be returning to “Survivor” for its 50th season.The “Survivor” host Jeff Probst announced White’s return on “CBS Mornings” on Wednesday.“In between writing and directing seasons of ‘White Lotus,’ Mike White is back,” Probst said.White first appeared on “Survivor” in 2018, during the show’s 37th season, and lasted on the island for 39 days, finishing in second place. Although “The White Lotus” wouldn’t premiere until three years later (White has said the show, an acerbic anthology series set at an exotic hotel chain, was partly inspired by his observations while on “Survivor”), he was already a well-regarded filmmaker, having written the film “School of Rock” and created the HBO series “Enlightened.”Conceived of and filmed during the Covid pandemic, “The White Lotus” became a breakout hit for HBO and catapulted White to a new level of fame. He won Emmy Awards for both writing and directing in the limited series or anthology categories for the show’s first season. The finale of the third season — which aired this spring and starred Parker Posey, Carrie Coon and Walton Goggins — was watched by more than six million viewers.Before “Survivor,” White competed on “The Amazing Race” with his father in 2009 and again in 2011. In a 2021 interview with The New Yorker, he attributed his love of reality television to its ability to distill real human behavior and conflict.“For me, as a writer of drama, I aspire to do what reality television already does,” he said. “To create characters that are surprising and dimensional and do weird” stuff and “capture your attention.”The landmark 50th season of “Survivor,” which is scheduled to air in 2026, will feature several returning cast members, including a Season 1 contestant, Jenna Lewis-Dougherty, and the five-time competitors Cirie Fields and Ozzy Lusth. Filming is scheduled to take place this summer. More

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      ‘Duck Dynasty’ Patriarch Phil Robertson Dies at 79

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      He founded the duck-call business that became the foundation of his family’s reality television empire.Phil Robertson, the patriarch of the hit show “Duck Dynasty” and the founder of a duck hunting gear business that became the foundation of his family’s reality television empire, has died. He was 79.His death was confirmed by his son Jase Robertson in a social media post late Sunday that did not specify a cause.Jase said on the family’s podcast last year that his father had early-stage Alzheimer’s and other health problems.Mr. Robertson was one of the stars of “Duck Dynasty,” an A&E series that stars his family — Mr. Robertson and his wife, Kay; their sons; the sons’ wives; an uncle and some grandchildren — and revolves loosely around their duck hunting gear business.Mr. Robertson was born on April 24, 1946, in Vivian, a rural town in the northwestern corner of Louisiana, as one of seven children.He attended Louisiana Tech University on a football scholarship and after receiving his bachelor’s degree in physical education and a master’s in education, spent several years teaching in Louisiana schools.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      ‘Love on the Spectrum’ Delivers on the Promise of Reality TV

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      The Netflix series, which follows a group of autistic people as they search for love in their hometowns, feels good to watch, but don’t just call it feel-good TV.You know the story: A superstar surprises a fan on a talk show, and the online crowd goes wild, sending the clip viral. But when the affable actor Jack Black surprised Tanner Smith on “The Kelly Clarkson Show” in April, a particularly poignant and joyful alchemy was conjured.“Jack! Jack! I’m so excited to finally meet you,” Smith exclaimed as they embrace. “You’re so handsome, you’re looking good, Jack!”“I love you on the show, and I can’t wait for the next season,” Black told Smith, referring to the Netflix reality series “Love on the Spectrum,” which recently wrapped up a memorable third season. “I’m so happy for you for having all of this success,” Black said. “To meet you in person is really amazing for me, too.”Smith is a beloved star in his own right. Online — his handle, tannerwiththe_tism, nods cleverly at his having autism — he has about 2.5 million followers. It’s a number that is not unusual among his castmates, all of whom are autistic.On the viral clip, one commenter called Smith “easily one of the most beautiful humans to walk this earth.” Another wrote, “This was a moment where humanity remembered what love, truth, and presence really looks like.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Reality TV Wades Into Cross-Generational Dating Pools

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      Bravo’s “Love Hotel” and ABC’s “Bachelor in Paradise” are widening the age range of prospective love matches.Age-gap relationships are nothing new when it comes to depictions of older men in TV and film plots. But a wave of recent releases, including “Babygirl,” “The Idea of You,” “Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy” and “Lonely Planet,” have zeroed in on romantic and sexual relationships between women in midlife and younger men.Two new reality dating spinoffs are now catching up. Bravo’s “Love Hotel,” which premiered Sunday, features three over-50 “Real Housewives” — Luann de Lesseps, 59, Gizelle Bryant, 54, and Shannon Beador, 61 — looking for love among eligible bachelors whose ages range from their 30s to their 60s at a luxury resort in Los Cabos, Mexico. (Ashley Darby, 36, rounds out the group of bachelorettes.)In the first episode Bryant asks Wale Alesh, 38, if he wants children. When he responds that he does, the cameras cut to Bryant in an interview filmed after. “Gizelle doesn’t have a uterus, so that means we aren’t compatible,” she says, speaking in the third person.Meeting Jay Bramble, 46, Bryant explained: “My three daughters are in college. I have the house to myself, so I just walk around naked.” He responded, “You’re living the dream.”Bryant, who is divorced and who dated the “Winter House” cast member Jason Cameron, 38, on a past season of “The Real Housewives of Potomac,” said it’s important that audiences see mature women living vital love lives. “Hey, ain’t nobody dead because they have, like, jumped over 39,” she said in an interview.Bryant added that the program gives the women a chance to show “we can spend whatever days we have left in a happy place with somebody that, you know, you really want to rock out with.”

      @bravotv Be cool, the wait for #BravosLoveHotel is over. #CountessLuann ♬ Luanns Right Back from Bravos Love Hotel – Bravo We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More