The Compound

The unnamed reality television show at the center of The Compound is an amalgamation of two subgenres: romance reality and survival reality, epitomized by Love Island (2015-present) and Survivor (2000-present), respectively. The current iteration of Love Island began in 2015; it has been an international hit ever since, with 22 international editions existing worldwide. The show features a group of young, attractive contestants living in an isolated villa under constant video surveillance. As in The Compound, contestants on Love Island (known as “Islanders”) must be in a couple to remain in the villa. Like their fictional counterparts, Islanders cannot have phones or any access to the outside world, and periods of inactivity are punctuated by “challenges” in which the group or individuals can win prizes. Rawle’s use of the words “boys” and “girls” to describe men and women in their twenties and thirties similarly reflects the show’s conventions. Beyond these structural parallels, the scene in which producers manipulate Lily into discovering Ryan’s affair with Vanessa echoes real-life instances of Love Island producers revealing infidelity to wronged parties through challenges. Ultimately, Rawle argues that reality romance shows like Love Island are “a cruel exaggeration of our ideas of desire and desirability” (34).