In the Love Island villa, there’s a whole different vocabulary when it comes to romantic relationships (French fries, anyone?). Most contestants will emphasize the importance of “exploring,” or remaining open to new connections or impending bombshells even if they’re technically coupled up. Because of that, it’s a big deal when a couple announce they’re “closed off,” meaning that “exploring” is officially off the table. But in Season 8, Zach Georgiou and Kayda Bosse introduced a controversial new label, when Zach asked Kayda if she would “exclusively date” him.
In the real world, it’s pretty common for a pair of daters to reach a point where they agree to make things exclusive, but the term caused a lot of confusion in the Love Island sphere. When Kayda told her bestie Trinity Tatum about the new level of her relationship, Trinity interpreted it as a situationship. In Trinity’s eyes, the “exclusive” label falls short of a real relationship, and didn’t really change the “closed off” arrangement that was already there — but Kayda and Zach saw it as a significant step forward, pushing them to finally become boyfriend and girlfriend once they leave the villa.
It should be noted that Zach himself mulled over exactly how to phrase a vague proposal to Kayda that would seemingly take their relationship to another milestone, while not having to fully commit to asking her to be his girlfriend.
So, the whole “exclusive” label was semi-intentionally obscure from the beginning. And while not everyone understood Zach’s motives behind the term, his older brother Charlie (who has been through the Love Island ringer himself) explained why the careful phrasing was “mature.”
“I think it’s a mature decision to be exclusively dating rather than label yourself boyfriend and girlfriend before you leave into the outside world,” Charlie wrote on Threads. “Being in the villa is a manufactured and completely surreal environment to the outside world. Dating on the outside already has its complications for many people. Now amplify it for the cast as it’s about to be very intense for all of them and they have no clue how it will be to adjust into the real world as a couple right now.”
At least Zach can count on his brother, even if some of his castmates can’t fully decipher his new dating term.
