New Zealand's latest stab at reality TV is just as we expected it, pretty cringeworthy and a little awkward.
Although we love to get amongst the hype, there's something about NZ and reality TV that doesn't quite mix, although giving us shows that are embarassingly addictive, they're clearly not something we should be proud of.
The latest go at jumping on the intternational bandwagon is TV2's Heartbreak Island, an awkward love child of both the UK's Love Island and Survivor.
This show premiered on Monday night, and makes you want to facepalm straight from the get go.
Not only is the show pretty cringe, but the whole premise is awful. Not for the faint hearted, it's essentially a shallow popularity contest to boost the egos of the individuals competing.
So we decided to break it down and tell you guys everything that's wrong with this show:
Lack of diversity.
Considering New Zealand is one of the most culturally diverse countries on the planet, the cast of Heartbreak Island is just a palette of #50shadesoffaketan.
It's degrading.
In the first episode, contestants chose who will be their partners for the show (which doesn't last long since everyone chucks the keys in the bowl and swaps partners in the follwoing ep), and this is done by assessing "Profiles" much like Tinder, where they see a few photos and a bio of each individual. They literally then rank each person by looks, and who they want to be partnered with.
The worst part about this process is that two contestants, Ella and Tevita, were the "least liked" of all contestants, not being ranked at all by other competitors.
You could see the pain in both their eyes when they got paired, meanwhile we're on our couches wincing.
There's a double standard.
It's definitely very evident that there's a double standard between the men and the women on the show. One contestant Harry, gets with another contestant Weiting, to which she assumed he was then going to pick her as a partner.
He didn't though.
Harry's response? "Nah, I'm not going to get with someone THAT easy."
Even though, funnily enough, he is also THAT easy. Takes two to tango, love.
The fact the producer's keep making Matilda Rice say "popularity is power."
We love Matilda, and we're gutted about the flack she's getting online for the show. But the fact the hosts have to keep repeating, over and over again, the emphasis on the show's importance of popularity for contestants is uncomfortable.
Considering the show is played at 7:30pm on a weeknight, the judgmental themes they're normalising are pretty hardout. Essentially you're going to have an easier time in the competition the better looking you are. Great idea to put in any angsty tweens heads.
It's slightly misogynistic.
The boys seem to be OBSESSED with everything to do with looks of the female contestants, calling them out on even the slightest things. Gennady gets unfairly called out on "catfishing", even when some of the boys didn't look exactly like their pics either. Everyone has their angles. We're all human.
And in comparison, the female contestants hardly spoke of the guys looks in a negative way...
When picking a new partner Harry is asked why he choses Georgia:
SMH.
We are only two episodes deep into Heartbreak Island, and already it feels like it could be a flop. We're not sure that showing the worst version ourselves, our obsession with social media and online dating, is what we want to see on our screens at 7:30pm.
Hopefully they can redeem themselves as the show goes on, but doesn't seem that promising so far.