Dimwits, they’re all dimwits,’ bemoaned Piers Morgan on Good Morning Britain as he tore into the cast of ITV2’s Love Island after The Mail on Sunday reported last week that contestant Hayley Hughes, 21, hadn’t heard of Brexit.
Cue an outpouring of despair from anyone over the age of 50 about so-called millennials – which as far as I can make out is anyone who is younger than them.
Apparently we’re stupid – a recent survey claimed IQ is getting lower with each generation. We’re poorly educated – as if we chose the national curriculum. And we’re generally clueless about life.
Love Island’s Amber Davies says contestants are far from stupid, despite being on a vapid show
Well, I’m afraid our critics need to wise up. We’re not as dumb as you think. I’m sure most people cringed when Hayley asked: ‘Brexit, what’s that? I seriously don’t have a clue.’
But did you ever stop to wonder whether she said it for entertainment value and airtime?
Because that’s what Love Island is all about. The show is a modern-day version of Blind Date, where ten people are paired up in a posh villa in Majorca and the public vote to decide which couple win the show – and the £50,000 prize money.
When I appeared on, and won, Love Island last year, critics said we were ‘thick, stupid and vacuous’.
I’m sure most people cringed when Hayley asked: ‘Brexit, what’s that? I seriously don’t have a clue’
But did you ever stop to wonder whether Hayley said it for entertainment value and airtime?
But do you know what? Thanks to the show, many of my fellow contestants are already well on the way to becoming millionaires.
No wonder more than 85,000 people applied to go on Love Island this year – more than applied to Oxbridge.
I can’t blame them. I know so many university graduates who have got crippling debts and either can’t get a job or else earn so little that they can barely pay their bills. Besides, we’re not all cut out for university.
I’m intelligent but not necessarily ‘book smart’. I got 12 GCSEs and moved to London aged 16 to study performing arts.
Amber takes the ‘Two Kims’ challenge
Amber says: Kim is THE queen of social media with 112 million followers on Instagram and 131 million on Twitter
Kim Kardashian
1. What is she famous for?
Kim is THE queen of social media with 112 million followers on Instagram and 131 million on Twitter. She found fame on her reality show, Keeping Up With The Kardashians, which was watched by 10.5 million viewers.
2. Who is her husband?
She married rapper Kanye West in 2004 and they now have three children. Their LA home cost £18 million.
3. How much is she worth?
She’s made around £130 million and has her own perfume, lingerie line and make-up range.
4. Anything unusual?
Kim used to be Lindsay Lohan’s stylist and personal shopper.
5. What is widely considered to be her best asset?
Her bottom!
Amber says: Whether you’re a President or a selfie queen, you’re bound to get the haters
Kim Jong Un
1. What is he best known for?
His hair. Oh, and being a controlling leader of North Korea.
2. Why was the Singapore summit hailed as historic?
He signed a peace deal with Donald Trump where he agreed to stop testing nuclear weapons.
3. How was Trump criticised over the agreement?
Whether you’re a President or a selfie queen, you’re bound to get the haters.
4. What did Kim call
Trump last year? I couldn’t tell you. [Answer: a mentally deranged dotard]
5. What did Trump call him?
I don’t follow Trump on social media. [Little rocket man]
For me, Love Island was a no-brainer. I filled out the application form and underwent numerous auditions and interviews where they were looking for people who stood out from the crowd.
It’s given me an amazing platform – I had 5,000 Instagram followers when I went on the show and now have 1.7 million – and allowed me to make my living from social media.
It will be the same for this year’s contestants, such as Dani Dyer – the daughter of actor Danny Dyer – who has already got 587,000 followers.
I don’t pretend to know a lot about politics and I didn’t vote in the Brexit referendum because I didn’t feel I knew enough about it.
I decided that making an uneducated vote wasn’t a helpful vote.
Then again, this year’s chumps think that the north star’s above Newcastle!
Adam Collard: ‘What’s Orion’s Belt again?’
What is Newcastle’s brightest star?
Adam Collard: ‘What’s Orion’s Belt again?’
Wes Nelson: ‘It’s a star, it’s a star constellation.’
Charlie Frederick: ‘What’s the other ones that are up there?’
Eyal Booker: ‘The North Star is the brightest star.’
AC: ‘Is that over Newcastle?’
EB: ‘It’s everywhere.’
AC: ‘That was quite stupid, wasn’t it?’
But a lot of people of my age are becoming more engaged with politics – and social media is partly responsible for that. I’ll definitely be voting next time.
What the oldies fail to realise is that social media is central to the way my generation looks at the world.
Middle-aged critics may snigger at the way we preen and pose for the cameras – on the show we’ve seen the girls blow-drying their clip-on hair extensions and Adam Collard flexing his muscles shamelessly by the pool.
But out in the real world, a single post on social media can earn big fees and influence millions.
Because of social media, I know about Kim Jong Un’s meeting with Donald Trump last week, but he wasn’t the only Kim to meet the President.
And rightly or wrongly, I’m more interested in Kim Kardashian than the North Korean leader.
She’s probably the most famous woman in the world right now and a social media powerhouse with 112 million followers on Instagram (a kind of photographic record of your life, for those wondering).
I have enormous amount of respect for Kim, who used her status to secure the release of Alice Marie Johnson, a first-time offender who has been in jail for more than 20 years for selling cocaine to feed her family.
Because of Kim, an ordinary woman who had been forgotten by the American justice system suddenly came to the attention of the President of the United States.
I, too, want to build a business from my social media platform, but your whole life is out there so you have to have a thick skin.
That serves the Love Island contestants well, too. Hayley may have been ridiculed for being clueless about Brexit but she stood her ground when Eyal screamed at her for leading him on last week. That takes guts.
Other gems from the show so far
Doctor, Doctor: A&E doctor Alex reveals the highs and lows of the job in a chat with stripper Megan
Alex George: ‘I’m working as an A&E doctor, like, in London and stuff. I love it. There are ups and downs when bad things happen. Obviously, like, it hits you, but you get to, like, meet such amazing people and when you do, like, save someone’s life you just feel, like, it’s the biggest buzz ever.’
Megan Barton Hanson: ‘I bet it’s, like, the most rewarding job, but I don’t know how you see something, like, I couldn’t even see, like, blood or anything, I dunno.’
A&E doctor Alex reveals the highs and lows of the job in a chat with stripper Megan
Downward what? Model Hayley struggles to get her head around the ancient discipline of yoga
Hayley Hughes: ‘All’s you’re doing is stretching and doing all these moves. Like, what’s that all about? They’re all weird names anyway. And, eurgh, the blood’s going to my ‘ead. Is that right?’
Dani Dyer: ‘I love yoga, just makes you feel calm an’ that. I like doing all the positions they do and all the downward dog ones. I felt like the ballerina I’d never been.’
Model Hayley struggles to get her head around the ancient discipline of yoga
That’s the spirit
Eyal Booker: ‘I believe there is some kind of energy and there is an energy about people and an aura.’
Hayley Hughes: ‘What’s an aura?’
EB: ‘Like, an energy around you.’
HH: ‘You know when you’re spiritualist, does that mean you can see ghosts?’
EB: ‘No, of course I can’t see ghosts.’
HH: ‘Some people can.’
And that’s not forgetting…
HH: ‘You must lick the earlobe of the selected boy.’
Adam: ‘What’s an earlobe? That bit?’
Eyal Booker: ‘I believe there is some kind of energy and there is an energy about people and an aura’
I suspect the most vocal critics of Love Island have never actually watched the show, dismissing it as a bunch of thick show-offs having sex – and, yes, they do have sex in front of the cameras.
But it’s far more than that. It’s a story following the ups and downs people experience in relationships that everyone can relate to. It’s real, it won a Bafta award, and 3 million people are tuning in.
Yes, it can sometimes be racy with girls lounging around in skimpy bikinis, but it’s entertainment. After all, no one complains when viewers ogle Aidan Turner’s bare chest on Poldark, and that’s supposed to be a family show.
Winning Love Island has changed my life completely, but with social media I’ll have to keep my finger on the pulse.
And a university degree or intimate knowledge about Brexit won’t help me with that.