Our calendars are filling up fast this frosty January — and I don’t mean with actual social plans. Celebrity SAS, The Traitors, Love Island: All Stars… 2026 is shaping up to be the year of reality television, as we watch real people — normies like us — push their limits, search for love, and, in some cases, betray their besties. And yes, that’s just on Love Island.
Yet in the world of reality TV, there’s a clear hierarchy, and reality girlies — the Love Island babes — often get placed at the bottom. Assumptions are made about these women, who frequently come from a variety of professions and backgrounds, in a way we rarely see applied to other TV stars.
Throw them into a show like Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins, alongside Olympic athletes and seasoned actors, and they’re often written off before they’ve even started.
As a lifelong fan of reality TV — dating shows are basically my bread and butter — I’m so over the judgment aimed at my favourites, especially these women. Having interviewed stars like Ekin-Su Cülcüloğlu and Stacy Snyder, I can’t wrap my head around how people try to fit these intelligent, ambitious women into such a tiny box. But if you need proof that reality TV girlies can hang with the best? Just look at how well they’re doing on Celebrity SAS compared to the rest of the cast.
Who will make it to the end?
When the world met Dani Dyer in a bikini
Back in 2018, I watched Dani on season four of Love Island. I vividly remember how she immediately paired up with Jack Fincham, and how little seemed to shake their couple. Honestly, I found them rather boring and was far more invested in the drama and scandals of the season — think Wes, Laura, and Megan’s love triangle. Obviously, now I’d give anything to be living that love story over my own dating disasters.
Dani and Jack didn’t last long after leaving the villa, which honestly surprised me — call me naive, call me a hopeless romantic. Since then, she’s made a string of TV appearances, including co-presenting MTV’s True Love or True Lies alongside her father, acting legend Danny Dyer, and co-hosting the podcast Sorted with the Dyers with him. And yes, the Danny Dyer we all fancy the pants off in Rivals — sorry, Dani, had to be said.
Most recently, Dani had signed up for Strictly Come Dancing, but was forced to withdraw after the launch show following a foot injury.
All fairly run-of-the-mill appearances for a Love Island star: a few reality gigs, a podcast, maybe a Boohoo campaign, some kind of fitness plan, and possibly a detox tea or lip gloss.
What I — and the rest of the world — did not expect was for Dani Dyer to sign up for season eight of Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins.
The Love Island x Celebrity SAS crossover
Dani swapped bikinis for camo, bronzer for mud stains, and gossiping over cocktails for being screamed at by a very red-faced, bald man. As a girlie who watches Love Island religiously and dreads my weekly Pilates reformer classes, I could not relate.
So why did she do it?
“I’ve always been a massive fan of Celebrity SAS,” Dani explained. “I remember watching a series that Georgia Harrison had done and thinking, ‘I really feel like I want to do it.’”
That’s right — fellow Love Island alum (and Glamour Woman of the Year!) Georgia Harrison, also known for her campaigning on image-based abuse, had pulled on the camo trackies and tackled the drills, inspiring not just Dani, but thousands of reality TV girlies back home.
Dani isn’t even the only reality star this season. She’s joined by Jessika Power from Married at First Sight: Australia, and she’s not the only Love Island winner, either — Gabby Allen is right there with her.
Gabby first appeared on Love Island season three and more recently won season two of Love Island: All Stars. She’s also swapped bikinis for other reality formats, appearing on Celebrity Big Brother and Celebrity Ghost Hunt.
But that’s not the whole story. It’s time we stop reducing reality TV contestants — especially those from dating shows — to just that one chapter of their journey. There’s far more grit, ambition, and personality under the surface than people give them credit for.
Maximum intensity, zero effort (on your part).
Up for the challenge
Gabby may have spent weeks finding her “type on paper” in the villa, but she’s more than a girlie who looks for love on TV — twice. She’s a fitness entrepreneur used to pushing her body to its limits.
“As a lot of people know me from Love Island, I think viewers are going to be really surprised when they see me on the course — I’m extremely determined and I don’t give up easily,” she explained.
“Fitness is a huge part of my life, with it being my job and working with hundreds of women daily, helping them find joy in their health and wellness journey,” she added.
Dani, meanwhile, is a parent and self-confessed scaredy cat, who previously climbed Kilimanjaro to raise money for Comic Relief. While the physical demands of a show like Celebrity SAS didn’t faze her, the mental challenge was another story.
“I think physically I’ve got this,” Dani shared. “Mentally is what I’ll struggle with, because my brain attacks me all the bloody time. I just want to believe in myself a little more and stop being a negative Nancy.”
Reality stars — especially those from dating shows like Love Island, Love is Blind, and Married at First Sight — are often dismissed, just like their shows. They’re assumed to be fluff pieces, airheads, or whatever label society wants to pin on them.
But tell me this: why is someone on Big Brother automatically considered “higher class” than someone from Love Island? Both are locked in a house, navigating social dynamics, and knowingly being dissected by audiences. One is hailed as a British rite of passage, and the other is dismissed as embarrassing.
There’s nothing wrong with openly looking for love, whether that’s admitting it to your friends or participating in an organised show. While I have my issues with Love Island, I’m not here to judge a book by its cover — and neither should anyone else.
Not surviving, but thriving on Celebrity SAS
Georgia Harrison came in joint first on the sixth series of Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins. And before you assume she’d left her villa days behind, she went straight back into the villa for Love Island: All Stars in 2024.
This season, Dani and Gabby are both still going strong, while five other contestants have dropped out. I’ll admit, one of those five is also a reality TV star — Jessika Power from MAFS Australia. The others? Actress and singer Natalie Bassingthwaighte, content creators Jack Joseph and Cole Anderson-James, and musician-actor Axle Whitehead, who withdrew for medical reasons.
Meanwhile, our two Love Island girlies are still standing, taking both literal and metaphorical punches. Gabby was brought to tears during an interrogation when recounting her father, who passed away. Dani became trapped underwater during a deep-water dive.
And yet they're still standing — and doing push-ups, running, jumping, and staying alert — alongside Olympic swimmers, international cricketers, rugby players, and even a literal gladiator. Say what you will about reality TV girlies, but it’s time to stop assuming they’re lazy or lacking intelligence.
These women are building careers in today’s social media-driven world, putting their hearts on their sleeves, and challenging themselves in ways most of us can’t imagine. No one forced them to take on such brutal tests, but they chose to push themselves further than ever before — and for that, they have my full respect.
Who will make it to the end?
