FBoy Island Season 2 is starting to get serious. Now that most of the random fellas—Carlos? Ilon? Brant?—have been eliminated from the villa, we’re seeing the top dogs rise as leaders of the pack. We all have our favorites (Benedict, we’re all rooting for you), our least favorites (Peter, what is your motive?), and the people we feel so bad for (poor Tommy boy).
For those who (somehow) have not tuned in to the hottest reality show of the summer, here’s a quick explainer: Around two dozen guys compete (on an island) for the affection of three women—this season, Mia, Louise, and Tamaris. Each of the women will choose one man from the bunch to date. The twist: Half the guys are “Nice Guys,” who have agreed to split the game’s $100,000 cash prize with their lady love, should they win, but the other half are “FBoys” who are entitled to take the full pot and run.
Nikki Glaser’s beloved “Douche Tank” (in which the guys answer pointed questions and try their best to not say anything, well, douchey to avoid getting doused with a bucket of water) made its grand return this week, as did Garrett—the devilish FBoy sent straight from crypto hell. But unlike Peter and Casey, Garrett didn’t return to the game to play; he only revisited FBoy Island to stir the pot. That’s all. A little bro date with Casey, a massive dig at Peter, and not even so much as “hello!” to the girls.
At this point, we’ve officially discovered all of the boys’ official titles—FBoy or Nice Guy. But as Season 2 progresses, some sort of wild twist feels inevitable—like a severe thunderstorm looming in the distance on a sunny, humid day. (Voted-off boys returning? The Season 1 girls returning? What could it be?!)
As we all ready our umbrellas, The Daily Beast’s foremost FBoy-ologists (Allegra Frank, Fletcher Peters, and Laura Bradley) have got all the hot goss leading up to the final four episodes of FBoy Island. Please join us, but be warned: spoilers (of course) lie ahead.
Fletcher: Let’s start with “Douche Tank,” the best game in FBoy Island history. When it was Peter’s turn under the bucket, he threw Casey under the bus by saying he thought he’d take the money and run if given the chance.
Was that a good idea? And was Garrett successful in coming to Casey’s rescue?
Allegra: I hate to say it, but I… feel kind of bad for Peter??? Which is not the correct response to what happened here, obviously. He did an appropriately douche-y thing during this game, and it only made all the boys who already hate him hate him even more.
Garrett was definitely successful in coming in to make everyone hate Peter even more than they already did, if that’s possible. At the same time, I keep feeling like the hatred for Peter is outsized considering how he actually acts and what he does. He’s not the WORST dude on that island!
Fletcher: I just don't get why he's so keen on gunning for Casey when Casey is nowhere near his woman. Stay in your lane, bro! You’ve got bigger fish to fry (Danny).
Laura: I’m of the mind that there’s little to gain on these shows by picking fights and stirring shit up. It always feels like a play for screen time, which smells like FBoy behavior to me. If Peter’s goal really is convincing Mia that "HE’S CHANGED!!!", it might be smart to focus on proving that instead of messing with Casey’s game.
Fletcher: Right—and I could maybe see why he’d be agitated if someone went for Mia. But Casey is pursuing Tamaris and minding his own business.
Allegra: Yeah, that’s true, especially when they’re not fighting the same fight… I just! Peter's the only Asian male member of the cast and that’s hard and I want better for him even if he sucks. [frown emoji]
Clearly he didn’t watch any of the rest of that first season, so he still doesn’t know how to play this game
Laura: Peter, what kind of example are you setting for the children you ostensibly care for by not doing your homework!
Allegra: HAHAHA
I will say that Garrett is a perfect character, as much as I hate him—and I hate him even more than I hate Peter! But I also love him more than anyone other than Casey (and Benedict, but we’ll get there).
Fletcher: Yeah, let’s talk about Garrett. Did you like his return? Did that help or hinder Casey?
I really liked Garrett’s over-the-top Limbro demon at the beginning and I enjoyed his date with Casey, but it was kind of tame. I wanted more. He came in and did nothing. I wanted him to start attacking Mercedes, verbally.
Allegra: He was, as one of the girls said, on the island for 15 minutes, caused some chaos, then disappeared. Which doesn’t really help or hinder Casey but DOES hinder my enjoyment of the show. More Garrett antics for me!
Fletcher: And as you keep watching these episodes… it really didn’t hinder Casey’s chances. So he did nothing.
Allegra: I think Casey is an interesting character in that he’s getting so much airtime and doing so well despite having lost the first time around for being an FBoy. Like, he is peak untrustworthy. But he is so likable, and such a babyface, that he’s just going to climb up the rankings no matter what his backstory is. He holds so much power on this show that no one can touch him!
Laura: I feel so utterly perplexed by this Casey being “so likable” discourse, but I understand I am in the minority. He just has the energy of someone who’s known how attractive they are for way too long.
Allegra: I’m glad to know we will never fight over a man.
Fletcher: Let’s talk about the real likable people, then. Benedict (obviously) and Tom (questionable). These guys are being a little too nice—is that a bad strategy?
Laura: I’ve been trying to figure out if Benedict is too nice, or if he and Louise just don’t have much chemistry. (As much as I hate to even hypothetically admit it!)
Allegra: Okay, that’s a great question! I am not a Louise fan at all—she’s boring!—so I feel like it makes sense that Benedict does come off as extra because wooing that woman is like pulling teeth.
Laura: Okay, I wasn’t going to say it, but since you did... Yes!!!
Fletcher: Benedict deserves a CJ.
Allegra: He deserves a CJ! So he’s being nice, but he’s being EXTRA nice because that’s all he can do when in an awkward situation, which having to talk to Louise must be inherently.
Fletcher: Someone who can do comedy with him… someone to do little bits with… someone who has a good sense of humor. NOT LOUISE!
Allegra: Exactly! I feel like the dudes don’t doubt Benedict’s niceness, and the dudes are honestly the best at sussing out who’s a douche or not. Or, rather, they assume the worst in everyone, so if they think that Benedict is mostly harmless, he probably is legitimately nice. And that can be helpful, I think, when you also have a personality, which he does!
Laura: Sadly, in a competition like this, personality is the eight-thousandth most important metric.
Allegra: OKAY BUT… you’re not wrong. Although, in Tom’s case, his creepiness/weird personality does seem to be hurting him a little bit. He’s creepy!
Fletcher: Why are the nice guys too nice this season? It feels like they’re so nice, they venture back into being a little manipulative, which makes them… FBoys. (Not Benedict, but Tom.)
Allegra: “Tom is one of the most boring people I’ve ever met in my life” is a direct quote from Casey and is also one of my favorite quotes ever. He’s boring, but in a potentially evil way. Like how serial killers are mundane. Tom’s not a serial killer probably, but he is killing the vibes.
Laura: As I said during last week’s chat: All I see when I look into his eyes is Handsome Squidward.
Fletcher: I do not doubt that Tom could manipulate a woman, destroy her emotions, and cause irreparable harm more than some of these FBoys could. Anyways, let’s talk about something more fun. What did you think of the Instagram/TikTok sleuthing sesh? Was that useful at ALL?
Laura: Finally, an updated version of Room Raiders for 2022!
Allegra: It was the best. IT WAS THE BEST.
It was useful because it created so much inner chaos among the girls and sent them in a downward emotional spiral and if that wasn’t entertaining I don’t know what is. Did it clarify anything for them? No! Was it amazing TV? YES.
Fletcher: Danny’s Instagram with that one woman—who the hell is that? Why did Mia freak??
Allegra: Um, because she’s Angelina from Jersey Shore. Obviously. Of course. Hence the reactions from the other girls. (They did not react.)
Fletcher: She commented, “Love you!” which is literally what I just commented on my close friend’s Instagram for his birthday.
Laura: Well, I hope you know that legally you are married now in the eyes of some FBoy Island contestants.
Fletcher: I also cannot with Louise opening up Mercedes’ gram and—though it had no glaring problems—immediately casting him as an FBoy because he had a photo with a car. I thought that was really funny because he shares a name with a car so it felt incredibly intentional to me
Allegra: Another point against Louise for not getting the joke.
Fletcher: Tom and Casey's girlfriend (and “#girlfriend”) posts were also kinda weird. One more topic to get into before we talk about the reveal: These “25 cent kissing booth” and “dumb blonde” statements keep happening to Louise. Why?
We did say we don’t like Louise, but a lot of these are just so random and mean. Tamaris is kissing more than Louise is. (Not that this actually matters, especially in a show about kissing!) I feel like we don't get to see a lot of Louise, and this might be why we don’t like her as much.
Laura: Those insults almost sounded cartoonish—like the kinds of things a bully might’ve said at my middle school. But like a sixth-grade bully. Even the eighth graders might’ve had more decency than “25 cent kissing booth.”
Fletcher: Also, the original quote was “she’s a kissing booth” and a random guy who has an unmemorable name added “25 cent.” Why did he feel the need to add that peculiar detail?
Allegra: It’s kind of nice that he suggested that you at least have to pay to kiss her, as opposed to doing it for free. But these boys are particularly cruel toward her, and it might be because her intentions in playing this game are less clear-cut than Tamaris’ and Mia’s. Like, she is not going on and on about wanting to find love. And she’s also not as brassy and brash as Tamaris can be about trying to knock out the Fboys (but also maybe end up with one).
Louise is there playing for somewhat indiscriminate reasons, and the guys aren’t responding well to that. It’s not fair, and it’s mean, and I’m glad people stood up for her in the end. Even if I think she’s boring.
Fletcher: I think we need to talk about those post-elimination reveals now. I was screaming, whooping, hollering—a moment in history. Which newly unveiled FBoys and Nice Guys were the biggest shockers?
Allegra: I mean. Danny. If you’re Mia, at least. “I’m not gonna waste your time: I’m an FBoy,” followed by, “I believe my time has already been WASTED,” was amazing. Especially when Mia stormed off to go cry off-set real quick. It’s like, I loved Danny, but that guy was heartbroken when known FBoy Mikey D left. He wasn’t ever gonna be a nice guy! He’s from Staten Island!
Fletcher: I cannot believe Mia hand-selected the worst of the worst.
Laura: She really cannot help herself!
Fletcher: I knew she wasn’t doing well, but wow, she is terrible at selecting men. She needs to go to Nikki Glaser Limbro therapy, but like, for girls.
Allegra: Absolutely! Sometimes the girls are the ones who need the help, not just the dudes.
Laura: We all need a little help in this life.
Fletcher: I was kind of shocked that Braydon was an FBoy. It all makes sense now, but he and Kian threw me off a little bit.
Allegra: Okay, same! I think they were all surprised, too. Braydon seemed so dorky, in that “I think I can make a career as a SoundCloud rapper even though I suck” kind of way.
Fletcher: One that I was just a little bit confused by is Casey. He’s so cute but how did they run tests to be sure he's nice now?
Laura: Right!! Am I supposed to take his word for it? Because uh…
It’s so funny that in this show, these moral qualifiers “Nice Guy” and “FBoy” are determined solely by one factor: Are they willing to split the money? Not like, “Do they know how to be respectful?”
Allegra: That’s part of the beautiful issue with this show: It’s completely subjective but they made it objective and the people who get to decide are the people themselves…
Fletcher: But his smile, Laura!
Laura: “…Do they care about your wellbeing? Will they wash your dishes once in a while?”
Allegra: Mercedes would do neither, but somehow Louise is gonna end up with him anyway. I want her to prove me wrong! The reveal that he was an Fboy wasn’t really a reveal and definitely not a shock, but his frantic attempts to convince her that he actually has been reformed was like watching people climb into a clown car.
Fletcher: All this being said, I cannot doubt Nikki Glaser’s ability to turn an FBoy good. She’s a powerful woman, and we all owe her our lives for the work she’s doing in Limbro.
Allegra: Nikki is indeed powerful, yes. If anyone can do it, she can. She’s a judge now!
Laura: I desperately want Louise to prove us wrong as well, but I just don’t see it happening because I just don’t think she likes Benedict!
Fletcher: Okay, so that cliffhanger: Do you guys think Peter is an FBoy?
Laura: I have no faith in Mia’s ability to pick a Nice Guy, so sadly yes.
Fletcher: He was never reformed! Casey is reformed, though he’s not perfect. I vote FBoy. If he does end up being a Nice Guy, I’d like to hear why he thinks that’s what he is.
Laura: Ha! That should be a requirement for all Nice Guys. Give me an Elle Woods-style video essay about what makes you “Nice.”
Allegra: I think that the other guys would never allow him to get away with declaring himself a Nice Guy, even if that’s what he came as. There’s no way that he’s passing that bar! In the eyes of the People™, he is an Fboy, no matter what he says.
Laura: But Allegra, "HE’S CHAAAAAAAANGED!!!!” (No, I will never let this go.)
Allegra: He’s an Fboy who changed into a Nice Guy Who Likes to F. That F is his scarlet letter, and he can’t get rid of it.
Fletcher: Some of these guys should’ve gone on The Rehearsal to prep for this show, I swear.
Allegra: HBO MAKE THE REHEARSAL X FBOY ISLAND CROSSOVER HAPPEN PLEASE LORD
