A new TV reality show, Hate Island has drawn criticism from across the political spectrum for, quite literally, promoting hate and bigotry. “Well, obviously,” responds Martin Numpty, Programme Director of the UK’s notorious Channel Six, which commissioned the series. “That’s what the whole format is about – bringing together the most hate-filled representatives of the most poisonous creeds in order to see if they can form liaisons. I mean, the clue is in the title: Hate Island.” The episodes of the series so far broadcast have seen brawls and death threats as the various participants – all living together in the ‘Hate Mansion’ clashed over matters of ideology. In one particularly shocking sequence Ku Klux Klan member Hart warned Nation of Islam supporter Mohammed off of forming an alliance with militant Q Anon conspiracist by placing a burning crucifix outside of his bedroom door and hanging a noose over his bed. “It’s great television,” says Numpty. “And look, it is serving the public interest by showing not just what utter bastards these people are, but also what lengths these nutters will go to in order to impose their world view!” The show seeks to stir up not just political passions, but also amourous ones, encouraging sexual liaisons between the contestants. “You’d be surprised how the prospect of a good shag can bridge ideological chasms,” explains Numpty. “That’s one of our other aims – to demonstrate how animalistic sexual attraction can always trump hatred!”
Indeed, the programme has already sprung one major surprise, with right-wing Brexit supporter and former UKIP candidate Brett being caught in the throes of passion with pro-European Extinction Rebellion activist and vegan Francesca, as they were filmed furiously making love on neo-Nazi Peter’s swastika flag. “Who could have predicted that?” enthused the show’s presenter, barmpot TV pseudo historian turned right wing news channel loon Neil Oliver, as the footage was broadcast live. “That’s exactly the sort of thing we’re all here for – nudity, hot sex and possibly the birth of a new political creed that combines white middle class hatred of change with radical activism to preserve the environment!” Not all of the liaisons, however, have been welcomed, with neo-Nazi Peter being expelled from the mansion after being caught apparently re-enacting scenes from a ‘Nazisploitation’ film. “He’d clearly seen too many of those Nazi ‘Love camp’ type films and had militant anti-immigration campaigner Eva suspended naked in chains from the ceiling as he whipped her,” says Numpty, who insists that the activity was entirely consensual, based upon the participants shared hatred of anyone even mildly different. “The problem wasn’t so much the iconography of concentration camps – which some viewers might find offensive – but more that Peter had chosen to do this pre-watershed, when impressionable children might be watching. I mean, his suspension of Eva was very poorly done and we wouldn’t want younger viewers thinking that bondage is usually that sloppy – we want to be sure that we only show the right way to chain up women for consensual S&M role play.”
Many commentators remain concerned that Hate Island might, in fact, be legitimising extremist view points by giving them air time and encouraging viewers to vote for their representatives in order to keep them in the mansion. “It is, quite literally, staging a popularity contest for these creeds,” opines Professor Jim Hopp, Chair of Politics at the Stafford Home Economics Institute. “Inviting viewers to decide upon the ‘best’ and ‘most desirable’ of them creates the impression that some, at least, are somehow ‘normal’.” The danger, he contends, is that if any of the contestants are perceived by viewers as being attractive then this might lead to their ideolgies likewise being seen as ‘decent’. Worse still, the academic argues, by having the ultimate aim of whittling the contestants down to the final couple, the programme is, in effect, looking to create some new kind of hybrid extremist ideology. “It isn’t just a meeting of sweaty bodies that it is promoting,” muses Hopp. “But, in effect, a meeting of warped minds – a marriage of twisted hate-filled ideologies.” But even before the programme reaches its climax, Hopp fears, it is in danger of creating dangerous new alliances. “Just look at some of the unlikely liaisons between extremists that we’ve already seen,” he observes. “These must surely have sparked some cross-fertilisation of ideas and tactics between these people.”
For others in academia, though, Hate Island is merely holding up a mirror to current realities. “Isn’t it just an analogy for contemporary Britain?” asks William Kilk, Senior Lecturer in Cultural Studies at the Enfield Centre for Wool Education. “A seething hotbed of ugly politics being peddled by even uglier people, with tolerance replaced by blind hatred and bigotry.” According to Kilk, Hate Island is merely a logical extension of the current state of mainstream media in the UK. “We already have extremist oafs like Nigel Farage presenting talk shows on radio and TV as if they are legitimate media personalities,” he says. “Not only that, but the country is being run by another extremist fat oaf who carries on as if he’s some kind of second rate celebrity from the pages of some magazine, what with his constant shagging, bragging and lying!” Kilk argues that none of this should be unexpected with the rise of so called populist politics, in which political leaders try to cultivate personal popularity in much the same way as reality TV contestants. “It’s all about personality,” he says. “They believe that what you stand for is of secondary importance to being a ‘character’ when it comes to winning votes.”
Programme Director Numpty, however, has conceded that Hate Island has less to do than any desire to reflect modern British society than it does pure expediency. “The fact is that we found an increasing number of candidates to be contestants on reality TV shows had really dubious backgrounds – you’d be surprised how many of them are convicted racists, neo-Nazis, thugs and rapists,” he explains. “There were even instances where nobody found out about their pasts until they’d actually filmed the show – just look at that reality woodworking series that had to shelved after it turned out that one of the participants was covered in allegedly Nazi tattoos!” Consequently, Channel Six had the idea of being able to use at least some of these otherwise unsuitable candidates in a specially designed reality show: Hate Island. “We just had to do it,” he says. “It was getting to the stage where we were running out of contestants we could actually put on screen in any other reality show.” Hate Island is currently the subject of an Ofcom investigation.
