We love us some Love Island, and one of the best times on the show is when Casa Amor kicks off. Over a few days, the girls and boys are split up and one of them is sent to a new villa. They're then joined by six new girls and boys and at the end of it, get to decide whether they want to stick with their original partner or couple up with someone new.
The recoupling is traditionally one of the highlights of the season. It's full of drama, epic one liners (Indiyah's "may the best heartbreaker win" is still iconic to this day) and the occasional happy reunion (Molly-Mae and Tommy's is obvs number one).
But, something has to be said about the treatment of the Casa Amor girls during the recoupling.
During season nine's Casa Amor recoupling, Tanya brought Martin back from Casa Amor, Olivia and Kai had a very tense face-off and Jessie discovered Will's lack of loyalty. While this one in particular was deeply uncomfortable to watch, it's long been a grim, grim trend.
There's an element we don't often talk about when it comes to Casa Amor, and that's how excruciating and potentially humiliating it is for the Casa Amor girls to have to stand there, waiting to be picked, rejected in real-time.
Often, the girls come in and put in three to four days of solid grafting, and it's usually happily reciprocated. The original boys will kiss and cuddle them, lay it on thick with the compliments, and suggest their feelings of connection and that they're thinking of recoupling with them. Then, the actual recoupling happens. The boys will massively U-turn and return to their original girl – hoping and praying their straying is glossed over or forgiven. AKA, the Liam, Lillie and Millie situation.
We know it's a game, but it's a cruel one. The Casa Amor girls can be left upset, potentially embarrassed and feeling like they've been used. Former Casa Amor legend Coco Lodge told Cosmopolitan UK that she and the Casa girls of last last year "kinda felt used".
She went onto describe her own recoupling as "horrible" and "super tense".
"The recoupling is super tense – everyone has to be silent and the pauses in between each sentence are really long so it makes it extra tense," she told Cosmopolitan UK.
Coco added: "It feels horrible waiting to see if you are chosen, because you honestly have no clue which way it could go."
The season nine Casa Amor recoupling felt like one of the worse we've seen. As the girls stood in a line, clutching each other's hands, waiting to see if they would be picked, the boys and the original women that came back into the villa stared them down from the firepit.
With the recoupling in action, the boys spoke about them as if they weren't there, frequently referring to the six women as "tests". It's incredibly dehumanising.
Host Maya Jama asked how the week had gone for the boys. Will replied: "I think it was a good test." Tom added: "It’s been tough you know, it’s tested me... I can’t lie."
Casey picked Claudia to recouple with, rather than Cynthia, who he had been getting to know for the past few days. He said he didn't think any of the girls "were as special as my woman Claudia."
It was a fleeting but savage comment to make, and particularly highlighted the lack of respect the boys have for the new women coming in. Sure, you can think your partner is great, but that doesn't mean you have to be so curt about the other women, especially one you spent the last few days snogging.
Later in the episode after reuniting with Samie, Tom said he needed to kiss Lydia in order to test himself, saying: "That's just me, I needed to do that" but this was at the expense of Lydia's feelings.
As new Islander Layla pointed out: "[It] isn't fair to either woman" to kiss someone just to mull over your feelings for someone else.
Towards the end of the episode when Will confessed to Jessie he had kissed Layla, he apologised to Jessie. He voiced that he had let her and himself down. But an apology to Layla from Will was, interestingly, missing. Instead it fell to Jessie to apologise, commending her for being a beautiful girl and comforting Layla. How does that make sense?
Will, visibly upset, was tended to by his fellow Islanders, but when Cynthia was crying about Casey, Claudia and Casey were seen laughing. Though they clarified it was about "something else", it's still not a nice atmosphere to hear laughter from the boy you liked and the girl he's got back together with.
It's never like this with the new boys in Casa Amor. The girls might get to know them but the levels of false promises, kissing people for the sake of it and excusing it all as a 'test' is pretty rare from the girls. While Tanya's story arc divided people, at least when she pursued a genuine connection and kiss with Martin, she brought him back to the villa.
At the end of the episode the dumped boys said what an amazing experience they'd had. Some of the girls were left in tears.
The mass recoupling has become a TV plot device that destabilises women new to the Love Island game and put in an intense, hyperreal scenario. We may all love the tension and drama Casa Amor brings, but when it leaves a group of women feeling used every year, is it really worth it?
Love Island continues tonight at 9pm on ITV2
