Yanira D. Kivi 
It didn’t take long for “FBoy Island” to make me feel like my brain was sticking out of my ears, drip stunned. Featured at HBO Max by Elan Gale from “The Bachelor,” the new reality series is an unholy combination of “Bachelor in Paradise”, “Love Island” and “Too Hot to Handle.” The rules seemingly change from day to day, and each episode lasts 60 entirely unnecessary minutes. But did I still watch every ridiculous minute of “FBoy Island†that I had in one foggy sitting? Yes of course. At this point in the summer, as the heat thickens and TV offerings dwindle, something so proudly silly can do just fine.
Stranding dozens of hot influencers in the Cayman Islands to find love (or something like that), “FBoy Island†tries to overthrow “Bachelorette†vanity with a cheeky twist. Instead of having a general group of muscular men competing for a woman’s affection, the series features a mix of self-proclaimed “good guys” and “f-boys” vying for the attention of three women, who spend most of their time trying to figure out which guys are on which side. (The fact that the HBO Max show has everyone say “f-boys” instead of the actual term “fuckboys” remains one of its most puzzling and boring mysteries.) Like the Nikki anime Glaser says it in the first episode, whatever men who are left standing at the end will be vying to win “up to” $ 100,000. By the end of the sixth episode, I still had no idea how or why the money plays out on the show, but the possibility of the cash prize nonetheless is important as the contestants accuse each other of being on this show. all-inclusive reality TV show for “the wrong reasons.
“FBoy Island” isn’t completely unaware of how crazy it is, as evidenced by Glaser’s sharp jokes about the cast’s macho nonsense and the fact that the eliminated “f-boys” are exiled to a shack. of beach labeled “Limbro”. But he never questions his own premise enough for it to make much sense either. As is inevitable, there is a lot of attention to the “f-boys” who learn to leave their ways of seducing women behind, and yet hardly any soul-searching into what it means for a man to be called. a “nice guy” as his clear ego and jealousy tell a different story. And on a purely technical level, “FBoy Island” does not seem to master its own format. Each episode brings a new set of arbitrary rules and tolerances when competitors do not want to abide by them; in the fifth episode, virtually the entire premise collapses before our eyes.
So if you are looking for something logical or elegant, “FBoy Island” is not for you. Then again, “FBoy Island” doesn’t try to be either of those things. If you decide to dive into the insane depths of the series, you probably already know how empty it will be.
“FBoy Island†premieres Thursday, July 29 on HBO Max.
