Love Island watch parties take over NYC nightlife
This summer, the real villa isn't in Fiji — it's in a Brooklyn brownstone, a Midtown sports bar and a West Village comedy club.
Love Island USA, which premiered its new season June 11 on Peacock, has officially taken over New York City nightlife. Fans across the boroughs are ditching the couch for themed cocktails, sliders and full-blown screaming matches at watch parties from Manhattan to Brooklyn.
The hit reality show features a rotating cast of sexy singles in a luxury villa, where they must 'couple up' or risk getting dumped — not just by each other, but by the American public.
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7 This season of Love Island USA is fueling a new kind of nightlife — with viewers in Brooklyn, Midtown and beyond planning their weeks around villa chaos, recouplings and every new episode.
Ben Symons/PEACOCK
Viewers vote in real time to split couples, send in new 'bombshells' and ultimately crown the winning pair, turning the show into a chaotic dating Olympics with six episodes a week and near-constant drama.
Now in its seventh season, the series has become a cultural obsession among Gen Z, thanks to its meme-worthy moments, messy recouplings and signature catchphrases like 'I've got a text!'
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In Greenwich Village, The Comedy Shop is running Love Island episodes almost every night of the week, with Sunday turning into an all-day binge. The bar starts replaying the season at 11 a.m. and ends with the latest episode at 9 p.m. on the venue's five flatscreens.
7 Fans scream, cheer and take shots along with every dramatic moment during Love Island screenings at The Comedy Shop — turning the West Village comedy bar into a villa-style watch party six nights a week.
Leonardo Munoz
'It's the girls' version of sports,' Comedy Shop TikTok manager and bartender Ana Reyes said. 'Everyone comes together and can all catch up on the episodes.'
The event went viral after The Comedy Shop posted a TikTok that drew more than 200,000 views. Reyes, 25, was inspired by a viral post of someone wishing Love Island would play at NYC bars. So she made it happen.
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The show has been a hit for its business, especially midweek, with more than a hundred fans turning out for Tuesday's episode alone.
7 The Thursday crowd at The Comedy Shop breaks into claps and spontaneous drumrolls during big reveals — including the show's classic 'I've got a text!' alerts.
Leonardo Munoz
Guests have started making reservations days in advance. One woman even booked a table for her husband's birthday — because all he wanted was to spend it watching Love Island at their bar, Reyes said. Another group of friends plans to fly in from Florida, she added.
When The Post visited the Comedy Shop Thursday night, cheers erupted after every 'I've got a text' — a signature line from the show used to announce major twists or challenges — with spontaneous drum rolls, screams and heated debates echoing across the room.
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Friends, solo viewers, siblings and couples packed the tables, many saying they had found the event through TikTok or Instagram.
7 The Comedy Shop's cheeky themed menu includes 'The Bombshell' margarita tower, a beer-and-shot combo called 'The Recoupling' and even a couples platter titled 'Can I Pull You For a Chat?' — all nods to the show's iconic lingo.
The Comedy Shop/ Instagram
'We saw this place on TikTok and it was close to where I lived, so we had to come. The stars aligned,' Bansri Shah, 27, who came with her younger sister Amrita, told The Post.
The bar's cheeky themed menu includes a $30 margarita tower — dubbed 'The Bombshell' — along with a $12 beer-and-shot deal called 'The Recoupling' and a couples platter titled 'Can I Pull You For a Chat?' — all named after Love Island lingo.
At Black Sheep bar in Midtown East, bartender Casey Rosen kicked off her own version of a watch party last week after realizing she'd be stuck working during the premiere.
7 Sunday marathons at The Comedy Shop run all day starting at 11 a.m., ending with the latest Love Island episode on five flatscreens and a crowd that knows every contestant's name.
Leonardo Munoz
'I posted on Reddit five hours before the show and 12 girls still came,' Rosen, 27, told The Post. 'Some even came alone. We ended up chatting, people made friends … It was honestly a great time.'
The Friday screenings at Black Sheep now feature Love Island on multiple TVs with sound, $8 wine specials and a fruity new 'Bombshell Martini.'
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But the rowdiest watch parties might be in Brooklyn, where 23-year-old nanny and content creator Kaleah Denise began cramming nearly a hundred guests into a rented two-story brownstone last week for sliders, chicken wings, cheesecake shooters and a pole-dancing contest.
7 A Midtown bartender launched her Love Island watch party after realizing she'd be stuck at work during the show. Now she's hosting weekly screenings with themed drinks and strangers bonding over the show's never-ending drama.
Ben Symons/Peacock
'A lot of my friends don't even watch the show, so I realized some people want to talk about it but don't have anyone to talk to,' Denise said. 'So I decided to find my people and be with my people.'
She held her first Love Island party June 13 and has since made it a weekly event, with the next one planned for Sunday. The parties typically run from around 8 to 11:30 p.m. and sell out within hours on the events web site Posh VIP, she said.
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The crowd, mostly solo women and their friends in their 20s and 30s, show up dressed in 'villa chic' for the $20 event, while Kaleah supplies more than 20 bottles of wine and champagne which Denise said is just enough to 'socialize, not get sloppy.'
7 Fans across New York are throwing their own villa-style watch parties, bringing viewers together and a taste of Fiji to the five boroughs.
Leonardo Munoz
'We're basically bringing Fiji to New York City,' Denise said.
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