Stop Shaming the Women of ‘Temptation Island’ for Getting Back With Their Boyfriends -

We’ve all gone through a period of consistently have chosen someone that doesn’t deserve to be chosen. Even cringe-lords like Adam Levine, Justin Timberlake, and John Mulaney have beautiful, accomplished women behind them that choose them every time. The question is, why do women keep choosing men that do embarrassing things like champion Andrew Tate, cheat on them, or have dreadful poetry blogs or a SoundCloud that’s an affront to music? The answer: These women are conditioned by both men and society to keep choosing them. Women are brought up to believe that men with maladaptive tendencies are the status quo. Think about it: When little girls are first taunted by boys on the playground, they’re told that it’s because the boys “have a crush on them” or, even worse, “boys will be boys,” and that’s the same mentality that has rendered a toxic dating culture and reality television.

Once Temptation Island wrapped, three out of the four couples that participated got back together at one point or another. Not only have fans shamed them, even the boyfriends have shamed the women for going back to them. If host Mark L. Walberg can keep a straight face watching the likes of Grant Larsen, Brion Whitley, and Tyler Breshears humiliate themselves and their loved ones every bonfire, fans everywhere can have a semblance of self-preservation by not lambasting these women by choosing terrible men.

Shanté, You Stay (Because of Course She Did)

Temptation Island's Brion and Shante look serious at the final bonfire — Image via Netflix

These women are conditioned by these men and society to believe that whatever terrible relationship they’re in that rendered them contestants on Temptation Island is the status quo, and they’re obligated to maintain it. Let’s start off with Shanté Glover, who only recently broke up with Brion a couple of weeks after the show was released. While she continued to defend their relationship in a podcast interview with Mark, they claimed they couldn’t make an appearance on Nick Viall’s makeshift Temptation Island reunion on his podcast Viall Files. Brion also “quit” Instagram after public backlash, saying his account was meant to “bring joy.” Yeah, okay, Brion, like sending flame and eggplant emojis to other women’s stories sparks joy. Meanwhile, Shanté limited the comments in her comment section, but luckily has broken up with Brion.

While the backlash against Brion is warranted as long as it’s proportional to the damage he’s done, Shanté didn’t deserve any smoke. When she decided to leave the island with Brion, it was evident that she was crying because she knew how embarrassing it was to take a cheating boyfriend back, but taking him back was just as reflexive as an action for her as it was to defend him to the entire villa and come up with excuses for him. It must be exhausting for her and her loved ones that she keeps going back to him, but there’s really no benefit in shaming her for it because that will just drive her closer to him.

Tyler with three women on his lap smiling in Temptation Island reboot Season 1 on Netflix

I Would Love to See Netflix Couples on a Season of ‘Temptation Island’

Let’s put these couples to the test.

Public Shaming Never Helps Victims

After making things official with temptress Natalie Cruz, two months into their relationship, Grant cheated on her with ex, Ashley Moore. He groveled for forgiveness at a bar near her apartment, and told her that he had been hanging out at her usual spots in order to run into her. This proves he was cheating on Natalie emotionally before even officially getting back with Ashley. They lasted for six months, and he even made the thirty-hour trek to spend time with her in Bali while she did yoga teacher training. He flew to her parents in Chicago to beg for forgiveness and apologized to her friends as well. These grand gestures only took Grant so far, as Ashley felt obligated to take him back but still couldn’t get past his mistreatment of her.

Throughout the reunion and during social media sparring, Grant can’t help but throw in Ashley’s face repeatedly that she got back together with him, even though she was the one who did the dumping. He’s more upset that Ashley is speaking her truth online about him alongside Natalie, who she has mended fences with after bonding over Grant’s manipulative ways. Grant cannot seem to fathom that his labyrinthine excuses along with using his six-year-old daughter as a human shield to deflect from any accountability doesn’t work on Ashley anymore. Maybe that final stretch of their relationship is exactly what she needed to drive the point home to him that there is nothing more she can do for him, because he is a complete and total loser. Fans need to stop throwing Ashley’s reunion with Grant back in her face; he does it enough already, and they’re just giving him more ammunition instead of humbling Ashley.

It should be mentioned that one couple not only got back together, but got engaged during the show: Alexa Santamaria and Lino Troisi. People are throwing shade at them getting back together because they claim the only reason Lino didn’t cheat is because he didn’t find any girls that were interested in him. Lino actually seems like a decent guy, although his choice of proposal settings is suspect. We see couples on Love Island not work out once they leave the show’s bubble, so it should be the same expectations for these women on Temptation Island that once they leave this bubble of consistent support, they can backslide into their old patterns. The odds are stacked against them to go back to their communities where their respective relationships were so deeply embedded. It’s understandable why shaming these girls for opting to get back together with these men doesn’t work because it just drives them closer together, and it’s a miracle that Ashley and Shanté have since left their trifling exes behind.

Temptation Island is available to stream on Netflix.