A little bit of Love Island USA came ashore in Chicago over the weekend.
Peacock’s sexy unscripted dating series staged an event designed to audition locals looking for a chance at love and adventure, while promoting the show and beauty products from Maybelline and Batiste, who are also TV sponsors of Love Island.
According to NBCUniversal, about 950 people showed up to the Love Island USA Mobile Villa pop-up installation on a Saturday afternoon in what is normally a parking lot in the Old Town neighborhood.
All of them were hot. That’s because the temperature was in the 90s. But overall, the crowd was, as expected, on the young and attractive side.
Within the Pop-Up Villa, Maybelline had a co-branded makeup room where artists were on-site offering touch-ups with the brand’s newest products, including Sunkisser Liquid Blush and Bronzer and Firework Mascara.
After fixing their makeup (and collecting free samples), they blew a kiss in a slow-motion walk-up video they can use on social media. Then they auditioned in front of the casting company’s cameras.
On hand were Carsten (Bergie) Bergersen and Taylor Smith, who met on the show a year ago during season five and are still a couple.
Peacock is running three of these events this summer. The first in Los Angeles on June 14 attracted more than 804 presumably single people. The caravan moves on to Bar Anticipation in Lake Como on the Jersey Shore on June 29.
What is the show looking for at these events?
“We’re looking for people to spread awareness about the show, obviously, but also to show them we’re a fun bunch,” Jodi Thomas, supervising casting director for City Media Entertainment, a casting company hired by Love Island producer ITV, told Broadcasting+Cable.
Fun is an important element, as social anxiety can be a big part of reality shows. On Love Island, singles quickly pair off but mates can be stolen, making some Islanders single again. And very attractive “bombshells” are added to the mix periodically to further stir the pot.
“It’s a fun adventure to be on Love Island,” Thomas said. “It really is. It’s the summer of a lifetime where you can find friends who will be there forever for you, as well as hopefully, a love of your life.”
The live events “give people a chance to go to the beauty bar, go in and experience what it’s like walking the catwalk and be a part of the interview process, just to see a little bit of what it’s like to be a part of the show,” she said.
At the same time, the live events give the people casting the show a chance to meet potential islanders in person and test their social skills as they tape their auditions. In L.A., casting directors were on hand, sometimes jumping in when someone particularly interesting was being recorded.
Thomas said her company didn’t have anyone on-site in Chicago, but “I personally look at all the tapes, which is great because I’m obsessed with the show.”
There is no set number for how many of those who audition in person at one of the pop-up sites will be actually on the show.
Peacock did some live auditions last year. "We did find a mix of great potential Islanders from last year’s pop-ups who are still in the running to appear this season,“ Thomas said. “Hopefully, you will see them entering the villa as our next bombshells soon.”
Love Island alums Bergersen and Smith took selfies with the would-be applicants and dispensed wisdom about the reality-show experience.
“I was in Madison, South Dakota, population 7,000” said Bergersen, a Minnesota native who played football at Dakota State. “I applied online, but if there was an opportunity like this, I definitely would have come in person.”
When he went out for the show, “it wasn’t so much about finding my person or being on TV,” he said. “It was, I get to go to Fiji. How often to you get a free paid trip to Fiji? That was the big motive for me. It wasn’t so much about being on TV or the fame. It was an adventure.”
Since being on Love Island, Bergersen has also appeared on season two of The Traitor, another Peacock show.
“I actually preferred Scotland over Fiji, believe it or not," he said.
Bergersen doesn’t envision working full-time in the entertainment business. “I see it as a kind of side job,“ he said. ”It’s not sustainable as my only source of income.”
He plans to go to school for physical therapy and hopes to work for a sports team or open his own practice.
Smith and Bergersen advised hopefuls to be themselves.
“I told them to be natural as possible, be your true authentic self,” Smith said.
Added Bergersen: “If they don’t like you for who you are, you can’t control that.”
Smith, who is from California and lives in Dallas, said being on the show was a unique experience.
“Unless you’re in the environment no one truly understands what you’re going through,” she said. “It takes a lot of mental health to get yourself engaged in that type of environment. I would say to people, stay true to yourselves.”
Smith doesn’t envision a career in entertainment. “With Love Island, it sort of just fell in my lap. But in terms of the future, if something comes my way, maybe,” she said.
She’s done some work promoting products for sponsors, but her ambition is to be in human resources in the corporate world.
One of the hopefuls at the Chicago event was Chris Hernandez, whose accent told you he was from London before moving to the Windy City, where he’s a software engineer and entrepreneur.
“I’m looking to find my queen, you could say my next Queen Elizabeth,” Hernandez said. “Somebody to definitely spoil and someone to definitely go on adventures with.”
Looking at the crowd at the event, he said, “I see some candidates already.”
Season six of Love Island USA premiered on Peacock beginning June 11 and is hosted by beloved TV personality Ariana Madix, a cast member of Bravo’s Vanderpump Rules who was also a contestant on ABC’s Dancing With the Stars.
Islanders will face more drama than ever before with jaw-dropping revelations, new couples’ challenges, and even a few surprise guests, according to Peacock.
Love Island USA is produced by ITV Entertainment, an ITV America company. The series is based on a format owned by Lifted Entertainment and GroupM Motion Entertainment and distributed by ITV Studios.
Executive producers include David George, Adam Sher, Simon Thomas, Ben Thursby-Palmer, Claudine Parrish, James Barker, Blake Garrett, Courtney Rosenthall, Richard Cowles, Mike Spencer, Richard Foster and Chet Fenster.
