The role felt made for Madix, though she was the third person to host the show’s American iteration. She had been a vocal fan of Love Island for year
The role felt made for Madix, though she was the third person to host the show’s American iteration. She had been a vocal fan of Love Island for years; Madix calls watching hundreds of episodes of three countries’ franchises “R&D,” for “research and development.” It was also corporate synergy, since Bravo and Peacock have the same parent company, NBCUniversal, and Madix had guest hosted on Love Island’s previous season.
Most crucially, the vulnerability and power Madix demonstrated during her breakup had completely changed her public perception. “She’s had really emotionally high highs, low lows,” Love Island USA’s showrunner Ben Thursby-Palmer says. “She’s not just lived in this happy bubble all her life. So she is emotionally smart and is really empathetic, because she’s been on the love roller coaster.” And on a reality show, no less.
As host, Madix is always ecstatic to watch cast members make out. Her overt lustfulness, coupled with her role introducing producorial obstacles to the Islanders, has prompted fans to call Madix “horny Jigsaw.” Younger viewers seem particularly squeamish about the show’s sex positivity. Madix doesn’t get it. “I disagree with the notion that sex is not or lust is not integral to a love story,” she says, calling the issue a “generational thing.” Or, more plainly: “As an elder millennial, y’all need to start fucking.”
“What I hear online is that they are afraid to be cringe, they’re afraid to dance,” she continues. “On some level, I get why they don’t want to take in alcohol. I get it healthwise. But at the same time, live a little. Smoke a little weed.” (Another Madix adage I’d have cross-stiched and framed in my home: “Fuck AI.”)
In addition to facilitating physical affection, Madix is skilled at getting contestants to answer honestly when she asks how they’re doing, and gently pushing when people are scared to speak. “You want them to feel comfortable saying how they feel,” she says. “Because if I’m asking how you feel and you’re saying, ‘I’m fine,’ but you’re clearly not fine, we want them to be able to express what it is.” Madix is always an advocate for the women on the show. “She really does love those girls,” says Thursby-Palmer.
When she’s shooting Love Island, Madix stays in Fiji from pre-production through the show’s entire six-week shoot. The process requires her to be nimble; she’s frequently pulled in to address an unexpected plot twist, or asked to pivot after a challenge has to be delayed because unfolding drama has rendered it moot. To regulate herself, she’ll walk to the gym via a grassy route that’s distanced from the Villa’s neon signs and vivid plastic.
Madix concedes that she has to work out constantly—not just during the season, but year-round—to look the way she does. When she inevitably gets bogged down in self-judgment, her partner Wai is able to offer perspective, both as boyfriend and personal trainer. “He has a very healthy outlook when it comes to all of that stuff,” Madix says. “He thinks that I look the most amazing when I think I look my worst. But then if I’m asking him for help, he will say, ‘I don’t see it, but if that’s what you’re worried about, work out, build more muscle in that area.’”
