The Introduction.

We thought it was about time for a new social experiment, but this time with Susannah. In case you are not familiar with Love Island, it is a reality TV show in which contestants, or “Islanders,” who are brought together in a villa on a tropical island must pair themselves up in hopes of finding romance. Those who do not couple up successfully are faced with the threat of elimination, and because primarily the viewers of the show determine which pairs stay and which ones must go, we have come to the consensus that The Talon staff will decide on this matter. However, instead of the cash prize the winning couple receives on the show, ours will be presented with two free tickets to semi!

Getting students to sign up posed to be very difficult at first when no one except Mina (whose signature we may have forged) wrote their names on the sheets we put in the bathrooms. (A big thanks to Eli for making this possible.) However, we only needed to pressure specific people to participate and personally visit a few strategically-chosen lunch tables before we got a flood of signatures from their classmates who wanted to jump on the bandwagon. Unfortunately, for the sake of practicality, we were not able to include everyone despite our best efforts, so we picked the 30 earliest volunteers. If you want to be an alternate in case someone does not show to the first group outing, don’t hesitate to contact one of us.

The Eliminations.

Since we decided to include so many people in the first round and watching a group this large will be difficult, we will have to drastically reduce the number before the next date from 30 to 20. This round is the most selective, so you and your S.O. need to be on top of your game. The rounds can be best summarized by the following chart:

At the conclusion of round 5, the winning couple will be determined by the entire school’s input in the form of a poll on the corresponding article.

The Dates.

The location and date of the next round’s date will usually be announced following each elimination decision. The tentative time is the evening of Friday, December 13* so that you can attend the basketball games together. For the second round, it will likely be the beach. No jackets allowed, one blanket per couple. You can freeze if you want–whether you and your partner share the blanket is up to you. Just know it won’t go over well with your chaperones and the judges. Yes, we will be chaperoning your dates.

*If a sizeable number of contestants cannot make it this day, then we may reschedule. If just a few wouldn’t be able to come, we will have alternates take their place.

Some of the coming dates may involve money, like if we choose to go to the movies or skating. We aim to cover the expenses for the contestants, so we will likely be having a bake sale soon. Show your support by buying some desserts to make these outings possible!

The Rules.

1. You must speak in a British accent, at least when we’re within earshot.
2. You must be 100% single. We will know if you are faking a break up to be in the competition.
3. You mustn’t speak while we are speaking.
4. Trust, loyalty, commitment.
5. Treat others how you would like to be treated.
6. No WiFi connections allowed.
7. Holding hands is permitted.

The Couples.

Note that these are subject to change. Within the first 10 minutes of the date, you may switch partners as long as both in the pair are fine with it. The remainder of the time, however, the contestants will couple up themselves.

1. Riley Haas and Rocco
2. Sophie McLean and Cole Wilson
3. Lily O and Daman Wegner
4. Angeline Krupa and Will Culler
5. Shea Duncan and John Awesome Rowe
6. Anna Cook and Oliver Abar
7. Taryn Crowley and Gray Willitts
8. Godwins Tuyishime and Allison Rauls
9. Lucas Dillard and MK Kerrigan
10. Izzy Custer and Jake Thayer
11. Molly Dickerson and Chap Hodges
12. Destiny Vinson and Toby Sizemore
13. Sam Carson and Emma Heeke
14. Simon Vaglienti and Gabby Ziegler
15. Disha Qanungo and Sam White

The Terms.

Getting upset and turning on us for being eliminated is not allowed, and we will report it to a higher authority. Also, no more questioning us and putting us on the spot to change your coupling, the date locations, etc. When you signed up for this, you agreed to compete in OUR game, so you have to accept OUR leadership.

To the Contestants.

For any questions you may have, you can email our school emails, or you can text us individually or on a group chat that we’ll create sometime in the next few days.