Can FBoy Island Resist the Call of Bachelor Nation?

Sound the conch shell: The hard-bodied and lovelorn are about to descend upon FBoy Island, the reality dating series from Bachelor Nation producer Elan Gale, for a third season of competitive flirting and frolicking. Host and executive producer Nikki Glaser is back to provide biting commentary on all the wooing, as well as to keep the outsized egos of all these would-be entrepreneurs in check.

At first glance, this appears to be the same show that debuted on Max in July 2021 like a blast of Axe body spray that was simultaneously a breath of fresh air in the increasingly crowded dating competition landscape. Unlike The Bachelor and its offshoot The Bachelorette, the show wasn’t designed for the marriage-minded, not when the contestant pool comprised 12 fboys — though the actual origin of “f*ckboys” is different, in the show’s parlance, they’re the latest iteration of womanizers or players — along with a dozen self-proclaimed “nice guys” who displayed some fboy tendencies on occasion.

But FBoy Island also resisted the full-on mess of streaming dating series like Too Hot to Handle and Love Is Blind; like an fboy, it was just here for a good time, content to hang out in “Limbro” while other shows fought to be the most dramatic or produce the most engagements. That bonhomie may have led to ill-defined gameplay and a slight feeling of inconsequentiality, but the show kept the fun going in its second season, which saw an fgirl in dating contestant’s clothing turn the tables on the bros and earnest guys alike. For viewers, a trip to FBoy Island was the ideal staycation: low intensity, affordable, and filled with good-looking people making asses of themselves.

After being briefly shuttered, FBoy Island returns tonight, this time as part of The CW’s unscripted lineup and with all the attendant constraints of being on network TV. The good news is that Gale didn’t have to change the name of his show, since it had already been bowdlerized for its original run on streaming. But the show’s vibe is much more self-conscious now, as producers try to mold it to its new broadcast environs. They’ve even brought in a ringer: Katie Thurston, the Bachelor contestant turned lead Bachelorette who’s pulling double duty this summer by competing on Bachelor in Paradise and FBoy Island.

Thurston is one of three women looking for… well, despite the women’s intros, “love” seems to be an overstatement. When the dating pool they’re wading into is at least 50% admitted fboys, a long-term relationship hardly seems likely — to wit, none of the show’s couples are still together in real life. But FBoy Island’s strengths don’t lie in its ability to produce stable relationships or boost the wedding industry. In its first two seasons, the show captured the realities of dating, which, yes, can mean seeing more than one person (sometimes on the same night) and feeling ambivalent about someone who looks good on paper. It showed that even the hottest chemistry can wane and looks can deceive, but with the support of friends and a mentor like Glaser, who looks after the women but also has genuine interest in seeing the fboys evolve, they could all — nice guys and repentant fboys included — live to lounge and date another day.

FBoy Island no longer seems to be swimming in its own lane at the outset of Season 3. The first two episodes have more manufactured drama than the first half of the previous season, though the sudden blow-ups might be the result of shorter broadcast run times. Like Thurston, model Hali Okeowo and influencer Daniella Grace also claim to be searching for a nice guy or at least an fboy who’s open to changing his ways. Okeowo is oddly siloed for much of the premiere; she even visits the Bro Chateau on her own. Grace, a former snowboarder, is at the center of an early controversy, so she gets a lot of screen time. But Thurston dominates the premiere, seeking out other reality TV alums, inserting herself in dynamics (or “storylines”) that don’t directly involve her, and referencing her previous dating show appearances every chance she gets.

Every reality franchise has an outsized personality or 10, but FBoy Island — in its first two seasons, anyway — offered a respite from them. Along with Thurston's quest for dominance, some of the male contestants already looking like they're gunning for a spot on House of Villains. This show’s always played head games, though the real mindf*ck comes when the fboys and nice guys’ statuses are revealed, and the women realize just how blurred the line is between the two. Thurston’s scheming is par for the course for reality TV, or, perhaps more charitably, a result of her decision to repeatedly try to find a partner while surrounded by cameras. After three trips to Bachelor Nation, including one she filmed just before traveling to FBoy Island, “producing” may just be a reflex for her. It’s certainly made this reality series from Gale, which once had a charming shagginess, feel more like his previous efforts.

Maybe this is just a sign that, like its inhabitants, FBoy Island is growing up. Only the two-part premiere was screened for critics in advance, and it ends with a reveal that promises to shake things up in the first half. But it’s hard to see how this former Max show remains an island when Bachelor Nation comes a-calling.  

FBoy Island premieres October 16 at 8:00 PM ET with two episodes on The CW. Join the discussion about the show in our forums.

Danette Chavez is the Editor-in-Chief of Primetimer and its biggest fan of puns.