The show has given us tough conversations, outrageous outfits and slo-mo snogs across two series. The BBC has confirmed it won’t be commissioning a third, and while another home might still pick it up, nothing’s been announced – so this could be the last of it.
We caught up with the cast to find out how they’re handling the DMs, what they’d do differently, and what it’s actually like walking up to kiss a stranger in Jesus sandals.
‘Karma’s a b*tch’
First question: why sign up? For Faye and Ashlea, the answer was the thing we’ve all thought about post-breakup.
Faye: “I remember watching season one with my ex-girlfriend and saying to her, ‘If we ever broke up and I went on this, would you watch it?’ And she went, ‘No, it would be too hard for me.’ So I saw the application and thought, ‘Well, karma’s a b*tch.'”
Ashlea: “Not gonna lie, I feel like I was going through a midlife crisis or something. I just broke up with my long-term girlfriend of nearly five years. So yeah, I was just like, ‘What have I got to lose, really?'”
‘A big one for the femmes’
For others it was about who gets to be seen. Manchester’s Imogen was there, in her words, doing a big one for the femmes.
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Imogen: “I just wanted to represent the lesbians that are so stereotypically, like, straight passing. I do look straight. So I think that, for me, if there was something like this on the telly when I was younger, and I could see a girl that looked like me, or held herself the way that I hold myself, I think it would have helped massively.”
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Some have called it Lesbian Love Island, but there’s more going on here than your average drama-heavy dating show. One of the biggest conversations in the Masseria was about how mascs get read.
Renee: “A lot of mascs get that stereotype that they’re trash, they’re players, they’re unserious. But at the end of the day, we’re just a woman. I think that it will really help people to open their minds, and to maybe even be more emotionally available to the more masculine female.”
Ebony found something similar in the other direction.
Ebony: “I’ve always been feminine, masculine, delving in between it, but androgynous. Having that support from all the girls around us, actually realising that it’s okay to be like that – that was the best thing I took away, because now I’m a version of myself I couldn’t be more proud of.”
Elise: “Once you actually go on it, you realise how incredible it actually is. We’ve spoke about it so much since – having that representation, being able to turn on your TV and not see the same old sh*t, basically.”
‘The mother of the queers’
Getting voted out isn’t great. But you do get a one-on-one drink with Dannii Minogue.
Renee: “She’s a genuine mentor. She really gave us that support, and she knew what was going on with all of us, which just felt nice. There’s genuine interest, and yeah, Dannii made a big impact on me, honestly.”
Ebony: “She’s the mother of the queers. I think she’s just so diva. Like, diva, diva, diva. Every time she’d come out, all of our jaws just hit the floor. The outfits, the way she held herself – her excitement made us excited. She would come out full of life and we were all like, yeah!”
Faye: “She’s tiny. She looks so tiny. Me and Dannii, I feel like we have a special connection. You spend ages getting ready, and you’re like, ‘Yes.’ And then Dannii Minogue walks around the corner, and you’re like, ‘Right, I must be the ugliest person I’ve ever seen in my life.'”
‘It’s like I’ve died’
Going on a show like this means catching the attention of the nation’s queers. So what’s it actually like in the DMs?
Faye, grinning the entire time she said this: “Everyone’s treating me like a little sad, beaten-up puppy in a kennel. I feel like a charity case. I don’t know what to do. They’re all dead sad messages. It’s like I’ve died.”
Elise: “It’s nice to see people being like, ‘You’re so fit.’ I mean, that’s all I’ve ever wanted. But then you actually do start to realise what you really want is people to like you and like your character and who you are, and for them to understand that they’re watching 48 hours in one hour. They don’t really get that, I think.
“Now I’ve watched it back, I’m definitely gonna learn from all the amazing people I was surrounded by, but especially Faye, because I think I just didn’t know how to communicate and be an honest person with how I felt.”
‘The longest walk of your life’
Walking up and putting the lips on a stranger is not an easy task. And if we’ve learned anything from this cast, it’s that the walk is daunting – and footwear matters.
Tyra: “It’s the longest walk of your life. Every single thought is running through your head, and then you’re doubting your own abilities. I’m like, am I a good kisser? Have people been lying to me my whole life?”
Ebony: “I had Jesus sandals on, right? And the stones were just getting in them. Did you see me shaking me leg? I had to keep shaking my leg to get the stones out.”
Ashlea: “The thing is, my actual biggest concern was me not fancying them, not the other way around. So obviously that happening was actually pretty peak. I hadn’t even, in my brain I didn’t think, ‘No, of course they won’t fancy me.'”
‘I needed that humbling’
Two of the girls got in deep this series, and we’ve already heard the L word from Elise. But acceptance, rejection and the fight for attention are all part of what the cast keep calling a mad environment.
Elise: “I’m from Essex. We’re all like, ‘Love ya,’ like, ‘You all right, babe?’ We’re all like that. So I think it could be taken in the wrong way. But yeah. I definitely was falling hard and fast, to say the least.”
Nikita: “It’s an intense environment. Everything kind of changes within an instant. You can argue one second, then be in love the next. It’s just a mad and surreal feeling, and living with everybody is pretty mad.”
Renee: “I was in a room with all sorts of different types of people, and it taught me, one, not to be the centre of attention all the time, two, that you’re not always going to be number one. Sometimes you’re going to enter a room where there’s a lot more bigger personalities, and that is not what I’m used to at all. It just helped with my personal growth, because I actually needed that humbling.”
Imogen: “Watching it back, seeing yourself in that position and feeling those things, it isn’t nice to watch at all. But although people will have opinions on the way I handled the situation and the way I react to things, I wouldn’t have changed anything. That’s me, that’s how I react to things, I’m a hothead. Maybe I could have took a breath before.”
‘Best part, got a really good tan’
There have been highs, lows and some genuinely intense kiss-offs, and we’re not quite done yet. No spoilers – but we can tell you it was every bit as good as it looked. Unless you were in a corset.
Nikita: “You’ve got no phones, no distractions. It’s just you with a bunch of queer people talking about your experiences and getting to know each other. That authentic experience can’t really be replicated in any other circumstance. That’s probably the best thing to come out of it for me.”
Elise: “Every day I woke up and I was just my happiest self. As much as there’s tears and there’s emotions – there’s so many emotions you feel – I know that throughout, the most emotion I felt was happy. I just bounced around that Masseria with a spring in my step. I didn’t stop dancing and laughing and hugging and having the best conversations.”
Ashlea: “The best part was being in a Masseria with so many gay people. Us coming together, it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. And the worst part? Probably getting pied a few times, to be fair. Embarrassing.”
Faye: “Best part, got a really good tan. Worst part was a prolonged, endured realisation that I was probably going home, and I was wearing a corset.”
The BBC confirmed it won’t be returning for a third series. It could still find a new home, but nothing’s been announced yet.
Tyra says there’s been “outrage” at the news, and people are making the most of it. “Overall, it’s been a really positive response. People are just so buzzing to have this kind of representation back on their screens.”
I Kissed a Girl series 2 is on BBC Three and iPlayer now.
Nonchalant x
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