Our calendars are filling up fast this frosty January — and I don’t mean with actual social plans. Celebrity SAS, The Traitors, Love Island: All Stars… 2026 is shaping up to be the year of reality television, as we watch real people — normies like us — push their limits, search for love, and, in some cases, betray their besties. And yes, that’s just on Love Island.

Yet in the world of reality TV, there’s a clear hierarchy, and reality girlies — the Love Island babes — often get placed at the bottom. Assumptions are made about these women, who frequently come from a variety of professions and backgrounds, in a way we rarely see applied to other TV stars.

Throw them into a show like Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins, alongside Olympic athletes and seasoned actors, and they’re often written off before they’ve even started.

As a lifelong fan of reality TV — dating shows are basically my bread and butter — I’m so over the judgment aimed at my favourites, especially these women. Having interviewed stars like Ekin-Su Cülcüloğlu and Stacy Snyder, I can’t wrap my head around how people try to fit these intelligent, ambitious women into such a tiny box. But if you need proof that reality TV girlies can hang with the best? Just look at how well they’re doing on Celebrity SAS compared to the rest of the cast.

When the world met Dani Dyer in a bikini

Back in 2018, I watched Dani on season four of Love Island. I vividly remember how she immediately paired up with Jack Fincham, and how little seemed to shake their couple. Honestly, I found them rather boring and was far more invested in the drama and scandals of the season — think Wes, Laura, and Megan’s love triangle. Obviously, now I’d give anything to be living that love story over my own dating disasters.

Dani and Jack didn’t last long after leaving the villa, which honestly surprised me — call me naive, call me a hopeless romantic. Since then, she’s made a string of TV appearances, including co-presenting MTV’s True Love or True Lies alongside her father, acting legend Danny Dyer, and co-hosting the podcast Sorted with the Dyers with him. And yes, the Danny Dyer we all fancy the pants off in Rivals — sorry, Dani, had to be said.

ITV/Shutterstock