As dedicated Love Island viewers will already know, Thursday’s (12th July) episode saw Samira Mighty, the first black female contestant, leave the villa after being devastated by the dumping of her partner, Frankie Foster.
However, since her emotional departure, there have been many questions around the lack of screen time given to this interracial couple, with many viewers doubting the depth of their relationship until seeing how heartbroken Samira was. Controversially, it has also been revealed that a key moment of the West End actress’ relationship with student Frankie wasn’t included in the nightly edit of the show – as they spent a ‘steamy night’ together in the Hideaway.
‘It’s weird for me because obviously it’s a big thing for everyone in the villa. Everyone was cheering us into the hideaway, everyone was happy for us,’ 22-year-old Frankie said in an interview with The Sun.
Seeing as producers often include similar pivotal moments from the likes of Megan Barton-Hanson and Wes Nelson, as well as the small details, it brings into question the topic of race representation within dating shows, and whether the Love Island producers had a particular agenda for how they wanted to present their sole black female cast member.
On Twitter, suggestions that her role in the villa was purely to be the ‘sassy black friend’ – a part that black women in films and TV shows are often given.
‘Editing out 99% of a black girl’s experience in a TV show to portray her poorly and unfairly is called: white privilege & black exclusion.’ – @Vivian_Iroanya
Editing out 99% of a black girl's experience in a tv show to portray her poorly and unfairly is called: white privilege & black exclusion. #LoveIsland Proud of you Samira👏 pic.twitter.com/p8OvHdEBpr
— Vιvιαη says BLM (@Vivian_Iroanya) July 12, 2018
‘Excuse me, @LoveIsland producers can you explain why you purposely didn’t air Samira and Frankie’s relationship, including their hideaway night? Something that would have massively influenced public perception and subsequent voting.’ – @esthergbenz
It has also been suggested that Love Island producers never had the intention of portraying Samira as a genuine love interest, but rather as an attempt for Love Island producers to add a ‘dash of colour’ to the show, in order to make themselves look inclusive:
It's clear that Samira's 'part' on @LoveIsland was the sassy, black friend. Even in their intro video for her on YouTube they call her sassy. They had no interest in helping her to find love hence why we got hardly any footage of her & Frankie. They were ticking boxes that's all
— Luana (@sharprednails) July 12, 2018
‘It’s clear that Samira’s ‘part’ on @LoveIsland was the sassy, black friend. Even in their intro video for her on YouTube they call her sassy. They had no interest in helping her to find love hence why we got hardly any footage of her & Frankie. They were ticking boxes that’s all’ – @sharprednails
Samira Mighty and Frankie Foster
Sadly for Samira, her chance of finding love in the villa was taken away for her before it had had the chance to fully form. Throughout the duration of her and Frankie’s relationship, viewers were barely given a glimpse into the depth of their feelings towards each other, and the only moments which we saw Samira or Frankie was when they were discussing the troubles of their co stars or, in Samira’s case, when she was made to seem ‘snakey.’ The fact that they were barely shown together after Samira’s breakdown about not being seen as attractive (‘like Megan’) by Frankie, led to viewers believing that their coupling was not genuine and ultimately led to the dumping of Frankie (which many viewers are now regret…).
In contrast, black contestants Josh Denzel and previously mentioned Wes have had their relationships given ample broadcast time, causing some to explain this as an example of the media fetishising black and mixed race men, while categorising black women as ‘loud and feisty’.
While we should all be happy at the fact that there has been an uprising in representation of people of colour in the media, it is still so disheartening to see Samira’s chance to be portrayed as happy, and a sexually desirable character cut short, while her black male counterparts have been allowed to flourish.
We will deeply miss Samira’s bubbly presence on her screen and hope that she recognises that by just being in the villa, she been part of raising awareness to so many issues which have previously been ignored. Now that she has left the villa, hopefully she and Frankie will find their happiness together – and that she sees that she has all our support behind her.
Words by Liv Dennis
