Have you ever watched a TV show that got too big? Earlier this year I watched The OC for the first time, the 2003 hit soap opera that followed the familial lives of California millionaires and redefined the “teen drama” as something that the whole family would sit and watch together. It was great. That is until the end of season two, when it picked up a cult following and, as a result, was injected with cash, fancy camera angles, complex plot lines, and sponsorships.

When shows get too big, they get silly. Or, worse, their characters and showrunners start to understand their own earning potential and begin performing for the audience or advertisers or the brand deals that they could capture when they act a certain way. It’s why most of modern reality TV, after a couple of decades to really establish itself as a genre, is now at least partially scripted and always heavily directed. And it’s why the sixth season of Love Island USA, the first of its franchise to really make an impression on audiences after a plethora of teething problems in its first few years, is the most authentic and fun watch of any reality TV airing right now.