Host of nightly show The Program
An Iranian remake of Love Island has exploded online, sparking fierce debate about taboos, personal freedom and the responsibilities of new media.
Marketed as Eternal Love, the show gathers young contestants in a luxury villa, reshuffles their romantic ties and pits them in staged challenges—following a formula that has proved commercially irresistible from Britain to Netflix.
But in Iran’s fraught cultural landscape, its rise is about more than entertainment: it reflects social shifts, strained relationships and the clash between audience demand and media censorship.
Global lessons
Reality shows worldwide have long faced serious criticism.
In the 2025 season of Love Island alone, Ofcom—the UK’s media regulator—received over 14,000 complaints.
Social pressure led to protective protocols: restricting contestants’ social-media use during broadcast, offering psychological support before and after filming and mandating training for television appearances.
In the US, lawsuits against Love Is Blind producers raised the question of whether contestants were mere “entertainment tools” or employees entitled to rights. The outcome was costly settlements and the entry of labor organizations into the fray.
The message is clear: reality TV is never “just entertainment”—mental health, labor rights and human dignity are at stake.
Added sensitivities
Eternal Love reproduces the same criticisms: commodifying emotions, privileging appearance over character, crafting heroes and villains and fueling collective judgment.
The main difference lies in its platform.
YouTube, unlike television, lacks a regulatory body and binding standards. That absence can intensify psychological and social pressure on participants—especially when their intimate relationships are laid bare to millions of viewers, including teenagers.
Supporters counter that a weary, anxious Iranian society deserves entertainment. They argue taboos must be broken and media should serve as a “mirror” to new realities of relationships.
There is some truth to this. Yet global experience shows that a mirror that sells also carries responsibility—for participants’ well-being and for the younger audiences exposed to such content.
Need for standards
This responsibility raises urgent questions for the makers of Eternal Love: is there a public care protocol, do contestants have access to counseling, are contracts fair and allow withdrawal without penalty, and has an age rating been defined?
Most of all, where is the line between reality and scripted drama, and don’t audiences have the right to know?
Eternal Love embodies two realities at once: society’s right to entertainment and taboo-breaking, and the dangers of crossing into unregulated territory.
If this genre is to persist in Persian-language media—and it likely will—clear standards are essential: transparent care protocols, contractual protections for participants, anti-harassment policies, social-media management during broadcast, age guidance and stronger media literacy.
Global precedents exist. It only takes the will to adopt and enforce them.
