Love Island 2023 is giving us some of the best Black representation in the reality show’s eighteen-year history. Cindy Miranda just became the first Black woman to ever win Love Island France (and the second darker-skinned woman to win Love Island anywhere) and on Love Island UK, Ella, Whitney and Catherine are the three longest-standing Black women to ever be on the show at the same time. This increased representation has made for one of the most entertaining seasons of the dating show so far. 

With the appointment of Maya Jama as presenter and former contestant Indiyah Pollock as a permanent fixture on the Aftersun supplement, It’s been clear for some time that producers of the UK show are waking up to the value that Black women add. Now that they’ve got three vastly different Black women in the villa that value is impossible to ignore.

Whitney in particular, is one of the biggest personalities on the Island this year and is clearly a fan favourite. Producers can tell she’s TV gold and it shows in the amount of screentime she gets despite having been in one of the least affectionate couples for the majority of her time on the show. She introduced the slogan for the show this year, “it’s giving” and producers lifted it straight from her mouth to the walls of Casa Amor.