Love Island USA visits Chicago…
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.
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Article Credit: Joh Lafayette
