FBoy Island season 2 finale twist is game-changing
Warning: This article contains spoilers from the final two episodes of FBoy Island season 2.
I don't typically watch reality television, but I watch FBoy Island. And the season 2 finale just confirmed why this remains true.
Like Marie Kondo, I love mess. And FBoy Island lives up to the implications that come with its title. (It's messy!) But it's a show that knows what it is. Everyone (okay, mostly everyone) knows they are on a show called FBoy Island and not, say, The Bachelor. The cast — men and women — want to have fun, regardless of the outcome. And this all reached a new height in the season 2 finale.
The season already started with seemingly higher stakes. Unlike season 1, season 2 would actually abide by the game rules; three single ladies looking for love arrive at a tropical island, where they must sift for their ideal partner from 26 men, 13 being self-identified "Nice Guys" (i.e. guys genuinely there looking for a relationship) and the other half being "FBoys" (i.e. guys only there for the money). If a woman chooses a Nice Guy in the end, they each get to split $100,000. If she chooses an FBoy, it's up to the man to decide whether he stays and splits the money with her or leaves the show alone with all the cash.
Hassen Salum/HBO Max Tamaris Sepulveda appears in 'FBoy Island' season 2.
Season 1 ended with host Nikki Glaser turning to the only guy who chose to take the money and pulling the rug out from under him; he wouldn't get to keep the money after all. Instead, the show would be donating his winnings to a charity of the respective woman's choice. But Nikki made clear at the start of season 2 that the winning FBoy would be able to keep all the dough if he so chose. Technically, she kept her word... until she introduced yet another surprise rule.
The penultimate episode brought forth the Mansplain, the moment when all the kicked-off guys get to sound off about what they really think about the final two guys each woman chose. This brought the first surprise.
Niko, an eliminated Nice Guy, confessed that he still has feelings for Tamaris, who then decided to take him back. In steps Nikki to announce that, should Tamaris want to bring back Niko, she would have to eliminate one of her current two guys: Tom or Casey. Despite a seeming anxiety attack, she said, "Sayonara, Tom... and the journal you wrote in on!"
So now Niko was back in the game. And then! The finale happened.
Hassen Salum/HBO Max Tamaris considers Casey and Niko as her love match on 'FBoy Island' season 2.
Before the gals chose their final picks, Nikki had a new rule to introduce: the ladies have a secret third option. "In the interest of leveling the playing field and giving you three the true power of choice here," Nikki said, "ladies, you can choose to break up with both of your top two men tonight. You could choose neither one of them and keep the whole $100,000 for yourself, just like an FBoy has the power to do if you choose him." She then confirmed the guys didn't even know going into the final elimination that this was an option. (To repeat: I love mess.)
Once the men and women were back together, Louise announced that she chose FBoy Mercedes, who decided to split the money and stay in a relationship with her. Next, Mia chose FBoy Peter, who also chose to split the money. And then came Tamaris.
Tamaris has always been my favorite of season 2, and it goes back to what I mentioned earlier. The show and (most of) its contestants know what kind of show FBoy Island is and act accordingly. Tamaris did not take most things seriously, with some obvious exceptions, and seemed to be having the most fun out of all three. She had a hot-and-heavy hookup with Tom, but as soon as he started feeling too lovey dovey too fast, the heat cooled. Tamaris has also been open and honest about not wanting to have kids and not wanting to get married, despite some of these so-called Nice Guys thinking they could convince her otherwise or she would grow out of it.
So you bet I clapped when Tamaris chose to drop both Casey (who she was not super into) and Niko (who she was into but not in a head-over-heels way). Not only that, but she had a secret of her own to admit to the guys.
"I came here as a… FGirl," she said.
Of course, all the guys, including Casey, had some things to say about the matter. But Tamaris explained herself in a solo confessional. "Even though it was a very hard decision, sometimes you have to choose yourself, and that's never a bad thing," she said. "I'm not gonna lie, I had fun. Just these guys wanted something more than I could offer them. Guys have been breaking up with girls and hurting them for years. Like, this is nothing new. And it's not like a smack in the face, like they didn't see this coming. You want to be an FBoy? I can be an FGirl."
So, again, it seems like the season finale has changed the entire game. Is there a reality in which season 3 makes it a challenge for the guys, too? Will there be one FGirl among two other Nice Girls? So many questions. So much waiting. All I'll say is, whatever happens with the Warner Bros. Discovery shakeups, don't come for FBoy Island.
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