Four Weddings And A Funeral's Reality Show Love Chalet Is A Spot-On Love Island Parody

The producers of the original Love Island (see: the one you watch on Hulu, rather the new version on CBS) recently decided to add a winter season, and it could take some serious inspiration from the Love Island parody show Love Chalet in Hulu's Four Weddings and a Funeral.

Four Weddings and a Funeral takes place mostly in London, and when Craig's ex-girlfriend Zara applies to be a contestant on the reality dating series, Love Chalet, that airs multiple nights a week in real time as scantily clad contestants swap partners in hopes of being Britain's favorite couple, it's immediately clear that show is parodying Love Island.

If that wasn't enough, Zara introducing herself to the Love Chalet viewers certainly sealed the deal: "I’m a Virgo by birth, Gemini by choice. And I’m looking for love. My heart was recently broken by my ex who was a lying dickhead who kept secrets from me. So now I’m hoping to find a nice boy I can trust, and if I learn to snowshoe in the process, all the better!"

While it's pretty dang clear what series Love Chalet is modeled after, there are a few ways it's almost too accurate. Here's what the Hulu series changed, and what stayed the same:

The winter 2020 Love Island season will start next January and take place in a villa in South Africa, so the show is clearly still going for a summery vibe. However, Four Weddings' faux-reality show Love Chalet fully committed to winter — in everything except the clothing choices.

And even though the creators of the Four Weddings And A Funeral series probably had no idea that a real winter version of Britain's beloved reality series was actually on its way, they kinda nailed this snow-covered parody version.

Like on Love Island, everyone on Love Chalet is wearing a bikini at all times, even though the season takes place at a wintery ski resort. Love Chalet contestants only ever wear bathing suits, whether they're in the hot tub (of course there's a hot tub) or having a fireside chat about love.

Because they're always in their swimsuits, they all have to wear their mics like necklaces so that their conversations can still be recorded, just like on Love Island. And, oh, the conversations the mics pick up.

Love Chalet gently pokes fun at how reality dating shows prioritize vulnerability and opening up to virtual strangers in the name of finding a love connection. In the fictional series, one contestant tells another, "I can’t eat too much cheese, it inflames my colon," to which her date responds, "I love learning more about you."

Like with Love Island, Love Chalet is also filmed in real time, and the viewers can vote on things that affect the couples' relationships. New contestants are also routinely brought in to shake things up, forcing Zara to choose between going on a date with the guy she'd been seeing the whole show or to choose a random newcomer last minute.

Love Island into a staple reality show in the UK since 2015 and just like people are obsessed with Love Island, the characters in Four Weddings are obsessed with Love Chalet. In the Hulu series, everyone gathers weekly to see Love Chalet, often throwing watch parties.

Love Chalet is such a popular show that even the queen and her corgis are shown watching it at one point. In real life, The Sun reported that the queen's favorite show is a British police drama called The Bill, which she apparently insists on watching on DVD instead of streaming it. But maybe she has a secret affinity for Love Island that she just hasn't told anyone about.

Love Chalet borrows some other reality TV cliches from Love Island as well, like contestants who work in fields like personal training or people billed as "aspiring bartender," because who else can take weeks of work off at a time, honestly? The real Love Island has someone listed as a "bathroom salesman" this season.

On Love Chalet, one contestant even owned up to the fact that he was just there to promote his protein powder, "But I just never expected to add mass to my heart," he cheesily added while on a date. It seems that on Love Chalet, like Love Island, some contestants expect to go home to a world of #sponcon deals.