‘I’m calling the police’ — Love Island fans rage after Crave delay spoils finale for Canadians

This story DOES NOT contain Love Island USA finale spoilers. Read on, Canadian fans who couldn’t stay up past midnight on a work night.

For viewers, it’s a fun, summer guilty pleasure — six weeks of dating and drama all leading up to a final vote and a cash prize.

But Canadian fans of the reality dating show Love Island USA found themselves wanting after a delay by streaming service Crave led to the season finale airing about two hours later than the live show.

Crave had advertised that the season finale of the popular show would air at 9 p.m. ET on Sunday. As commenters on social media pointed out, the show actually aired just after 11 p.m., which meant viewers in the U.S., where the show airs on Peacock, had already flooded social media with spoilers.

CBC News has reached out to Crave for comment. The streaming service hasn’t made a statement on social media as of Monday morning. But Love Island USA fans in Canada aren’t impressed.

Katie Scott, a self-described “mega-fan,” says she’s been watching the episodes on Crave as soon as they drop every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday. And she thought the Sunday finale would be no different.

“But last night I had to keep refreshing my Apple TV because it was the finale and I couldn’t believe it wasn’t on Crave at 9 p.m. for such an important night for the show. Once it wasn’t available by 9:15 p.m. I started texting some friends who were also waiting and confirmed they couldn’t watch it either,” Scott, 32, a PR consultant and freelance journalist in Toronto, told CBC News in an email.

So then, Scott opened X, formerly Twitter, to try to figure out what was going on. And the first thing she saw was a clip of host Ariana Madix announcing the winners.

“Don’t get me wrong, they are who I wanted to win, but I felt annoyed because now it was spoiled for me without watching it or having the option to watch it,” Scott said.

Social media storm

On Love Island USA, a group of single men and women move into a remote villa with the goal of finding love. The contestants couple up based on first impressions. Those relationships are tested. Do they have lasting chemistry? They also have the option of exploring connections with other people, including a stream of new singles who arrive throughout.

At different times, viewers are invited to vote for their favourite couples. Contestants are also eliminated at different points, and in the end, the public votes for the winning couple who gets a cash prize.

Season 6 was 30 episodes long and took place in a villa in Fiji.

“We have followed every step of your relationships over the last six weeks. And now the waiting is finally over,” Madix said before revealing the winner Sunday night.

The waiting for Canadian viewers, however, continued.

“Crave is ALWAYS late posting the love island USA episodes & now twitter spoiled who won i hate this app,” Alyssa  Chandler wrote on X at 9:10 p.m. ET.

“I got my popcorn ready FOR WHAT?????” wrote user “Birdsyoongi” on X at 9:15 p.m.

“I’m calling the police,” wrote a user named Victoria on X at 9:34 p.m.

“Soooo it’s been an hour and there’s still no episode out, the collective experience of watching love island at the same time as peacock users is ruined because they’re done the finale by now, and to top it off the winners have been announced and spoiled. tysm for that,” wrote a user named Ellen on X at 10:05 p.m.

“Are you guys F—ED” wrote Instagram user “leyaa.mm6” around 10:30 p.m. on Crave’s post.

The Season 6 finale is currently available to stream on Crave.