FBoy Island’s Lack Of Size Diversity Reflects A Deeper Issue With Reality TV Casting

Reality TV dating shows have evolved significantly over the years, with brand new formats and a greater selection of programs on both free-to-air and streaming platforms. But most dating shows haven't progressed in terms of representation, particularly when it comes to portraying different body sizes.

Shows like The Bachelor and Love Island have been guilty of this in the past, and the most recent example in Australia is FBoy Island. The show is currently streaming on Binge, and stars three women and 24 men — a cast that lacks any plus-size representation. The shortcoming hasn't gone unnoticed by the public, with some fans of the show's host, Abbie Chatfield, expressing their disappointment.

When Chatfield initially announced FBoy Island's female cast in April, she was met with several critical reactions on social media regarding the casting of three straight-sized women.

"Really was expecting more of a range of body diversity with you being the host Abbie… thought you were inclusivity queen," one follower commented on her Instagram post at the time.

Chatfield — who previously launched a size-inclusive fashion label called Verbose — explained that the casting decisions were out of her hands. While she said she had suggested more body diversity to casting producers and the production company, Warner Brothers, the final decision wasn't hers.

"I think you have a fundamental misunderstanding of how television shows work. I am contracted by Warner Brothers before casting starts. Absolutely I can speak to production about casting, which I did, but I have zero power in who is cast," she responded.

Chatfield said she didn't know who would be in the cast until production commenced, and that, "at the end of the day, I am pretty far down the power structure as a temporary employee".

"So yes, I would love more body diversity, and yes I flagged it, but I have minimal power here and it isn’t one person’s decision," she said.

When another person commented, "No body diversity :( so sad babe," Chatfield acknowledged the fan's disappointment and hoped that comments like these would help shift executive decisions in the future.

"Unfortunately I don’t control casting in any way, but your comment shows producers of all shows that having body diversity is wanted by the public so I appreciate the comment," she wrote.

Chatfield's exchange with those fans depicts a larger structural issue at play in the broader Australian media landscape. While audiences are craving greater size diversity on screen, this message clearly isn't reaching the top. It's disappointing, considering that reality shows are not merely entertaining, but also incredibly influential.

While dating shows are often a guilty viewing pleasure for many audiences, they also have the ability to inherently impact our self-esteem, and shape our views about relationships and beauty standards. When there are no larger-bodied people on a dating show, it raises the question: Are fat people not seen as deserving of finding love? When the average Australian woman is actually plus-sized, it's an important question to ask.

In a statement provided to Refinery29 Australia, a Binge spokesperson said: “BINGE strives to be representative of modern Australia in our storytelling and productions. For FBoy Island Australia, we worked closely with our production partner Warner Bros. International Production Australia on the casting process to create a diverse cast we hoped would resonate with our audience.”

FBoy Island has admittedly fared better when it comes to ethnic diversity amongst its cast. Of the three women looking to find love on the show, Ziara Rae has African-American heritage, and at least eight of the 24 men are culturally diverse. Chatfield says that the producers wanted to avoid tokenism, as well as stereotyped portrayals of people of colour on the show.

"Obviously, we have nice guys and fboys, so they wanted to make sure that we didn't have one token man of colour being just a fboy or just a nice guy," she tells Refinery29 Australia.

"We have men from all different backgrounds. I think it's a really well-represented show in terms of diversity. I hope that people feel that it reflects Australia."

While the show has certainly made strides in trying to better reflect our country's multicultural population, we must remember that one type of representation doesn't make up for a lack thereof in other areas. As one fan said on Chatfield's Instagram — "hopefully next season" we'll see greater body diversity. We hope so, too.