Do Dating Show Contestants Actually Own That Many Bikinis?
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Part of the appeal of watching reality dating shows like “The Big D,” “Love Island USA,” and “Temptation Island” is the ability to watch gorgeous singles creating drama in exotic tropical locales like Costa Rica, Fiji, and Maui. Given that the contestants are essentially sequestered for weeks or months at a time yet seem to have an endless array of outfits, a question arises: Where are these clothes all coming from? Do the singles bring their own wardrobe? Is it provided? Do they need to coordinate with each other and the hosts, as well as make sure they’re not clashing with the set decoration?
The answer is all of the above, with slight variations from show to show. On USA’s “Temptation Island,” showrunner Trifari White works with the cast to select clothes from their own closets that will reflect who they are but also work for the style of the series. “We always want them to feel comfortable and have their own personal style shine through,” White told IndieWire, “but I am very involved to make sure the clothing is flattering for television and that the colors work well.” White gives the cast a style guide for what they should pack that includes guidance for the show’s various stages like the arrivals, singles reveals, and bonfires. “I tell them to bring lots of bright colors that pop on camera, island wear that they will feel breezy and comfortable in, stay away from white and tight patterns because the camera doesn’t love it,” she said.
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The idea is always to convey a sense of the participants’ personal styles, something that also drives the choices on Peacock’s “Love Island USA,” which begins streaming July 18. “We have all the islanders bring their own clothes because a lot of the show is about personality, and we want to see that reflected in what they wear,” executive producer Andy Cadman told IndieWire. Cadman’s fellow executive producer Ben Thursby-Palmer added, “How you dress is such a huge part of who you are, and we want to celebrate that, so we’re pretty open. It’s like, what would you genuinely bring on holiday with you if you were going on vacation? And then bring twice that.”
The guidance Cadman and Thursby-Palmer give their cast also takes standards and practices into consideration since they’re often in beachwear. “We make sure it’s not too revealing,” Cadman said, noting that if women on the show share or trade clothes, problems arise. “Suddenly, we’ll look at the screen, and a girl who’s a different body shape is wearing another girl’s bikini, and we’re like, ‘Oh, that’s going to be a problem because nothing’s covering you.'”
While the producers of “Love Island USA” rely heavily on their cast’s own clothes, they also provide additional wardrobe that they try to blend with the participants’ preexisting wardrobes. “Not everybody who’s 22 has the money to buy vacation outfits for six weeks on TV,” Thursby-Palmer said. “So a lot of it is just about supplementing what they can actually afford to bring.”
On USA’s “The Big D,” stylist Meesh Daranyi takes a more active role in helping the cast — which is comprised of divorced couples and the singles they’re dating — express themselves while wearing things that will be aesthetically pleasing on camera. “Some of the contestants are very specific in what they like to wear,” Daranyi told IndieWire. “They seem to have a pretty strong sense of their own style and want that to be how they are identified on the show. Sometimes that works, and then sometimes what works in their real lives doesn’t work on television.”
Daranyi and an assistant go through the cast’s suitcases and piece ensembles together that they then supplement, both to make sure that they’re not repeating outfits and to fill voids in the participants’ own clothes. “Some of the guys just didn’t have enough nice stuff to wear,” Daranyi said, noting that when contestants bring in clothes that aren’t right for the producers’ conception of the series, it becomes a delicate process of making sure that they’re feeling heard but also understanding the requirements of the show. “Being a stylist definitely requires proper people skills and some personality stroking to get them on your side,” she said. “Sometimes there’s pushback and then it just becomes about gaining their trust that something they might not ordinarily wear looks good on them. Sometimes we’ll go onto their Instagram and see what they like, then find a combination of what they are typically drawn to and what we like. And a lot of the time they’re so excited to get new clothes and they feel good about it once they try them on.”
The nighttime “elimination” ceremonies required that Daranyi coordinate the cast’s clothes with those of hosts JoJo Fletcher and Jordan Rodgers, which proved to be an extensive process. “I would have my assistant go take photos of the nighttime elimination cocktail outfits for each person,” Daranyi said. “Then we would decide each night which dress they were wearing, and we would put all of the couples together in a spreadsheet and match it to what the hosts were wearing so that it would all be cohesive.” Daranyi also tried to be conscious of the colors in the locations. “Ideally, you look at the interior of the house, the exterior of the house, so that you know the colors you’re dealing with,” she said. “If there’s a back wall that’s full of greenery, we’re not putting the host in a green shirt.”
On “Love Island USA,” the producers find that the contestants often do a certain degree of color coordinating themselves. “The girls will be getting ready for a night out, and it’s like, ‘Well, if you’re wearing the orange, I’ll wear the white and then you can wear the blue,'” Cadman said. “Or it’s like, ‘No, let’s all wear pink tonight.'” Cadman and Thursby-Palmer stress that their only real role in terms of the clothes is making sure that the contestants feel good in what they wear and are expressing themselves. “People say to me, ‘I watch it to see what the girls are gonna wear every night,'” Thursby-Palmer said, “and that’s such a weird thing for me because it’s not my wheelhouse at all.” “I know absolutely nothing about fashion, like zero,” Cadman said. “We just want the islanders to be authentically themselves.”
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