Last Sunday, hundreds of people packed into Tom’s Watch Bar near Coors Field in Denver to cheer on their favorite team. But it wasn’t the Colorado Rockies they were there to support. It wasn’t the Broncos, Avalanche or Nuggets either.
The bar was airing the season finale of “Love Island USA,” a reality dating show in which attractive Americans spend the summer sequestered in a lavish villa in Fiji swapping spit in hopes of finding a life partner. Fans play an essential role in the show’s outcome by voting for their favorite couples throughout the season. The most popular duo wins a hefty $100,000 prize.
Those inside Tom’s Watch Bar held their breath for a moment of anticipation before erupting with cheers, as — spoiler alert — “Love Island” participants Amaya Espinal and Bryan Arenales were crowned the winners.
“There might have been louder cheers in there when they picked the winners than when Aaron Gordon hit the last-second three-pointer to win a game, literally,” said Tom’s Watch Bar operating partner Dan Stillman, comparing the moment to a Nuggets highlight.
Reality television isn’t something you often see playing in a bar, but as fervor around “Love Island USA” swept the nation this summer, establishments that traditionally broadcast sports seized an opportunity to cash in. By streaming episodes live, just like a game, they not only boosted bottom lines during the otherwise slow off-season but also potentially opened these spaces up to new demographics who are just as passionate as sports fans.
“It was really great to see so many new faces,” said Lyndsey Spano, owner of DNVR Bar, 2239 E. Colfax Ave., which also showed the finale Sunday. “Everybody was really excited, they loved the atmosphere. They loved how many TVs we have.”
Spano admittedly had never seen “Love Island,” which has franchises in the U.S., the UK and Australia. But her social media feed was filled with other bars hosting big crowds for watch parties. She decided to poll her audiences on Facebook and Instagram to see if they’d join a similar event. The answer was “overwhelmingly yes.”
DNVR Bar’s finale watch party packed the house, filling up to its roughly 152-person capacity – a welcome sight in the absence of the football, hockey and basketball seasons.
“We bleed money in the summer,” Spano said. “So it was incredible to have that, and it really helps the bottom line tremendously.”
The bar crowds last Sunday were notably different than a normal game day. Fans at DNVR Bar swapped football jerseys and hockey sweaters for dressier clothing, Spano said. Where Tom’s Watch Bar usually attracts predominantly men for sports, Stillman said it was predominantly women who showed up for the “Love Island” finale.
The vibe, however, was very familiar.
“It was just like a Broncos, Nuggets, Avs game where, you know, when you hit a goal, people are clapping, people are cheering,” Spano said. “When couples would kiss, when they would say something unexpected, or even if it was a cheesy line, it was lots of laughter, lots of clapping, lots of hollering.”
In a way, it makes sense that this type of programming would fit aptly into a sports bar, where the atmosphere encourages crowd participation and collective celebration. With abundant TVs – DNVR Bar, for example, has 33 of them – every seat has a good line of sight and the sound systems ensure everyone can keep up with the play-by-play. Or in this case, the famous one-liners from season winner Amaya Papaya, as she is affectionately known.
Still, there are unique aspects about “Love Island” that make it especially great for viewing parties. Unlike most dating competitions, where the contestants are in control of who stays and who goes home, “Love Island” puts those decisions in the hands of viewers. The show incentivizes fans to watch live by having them vote for their favorite couples in real time. Voting windows are only open for a few hours after certain episodes and the couples that receive the least amount of votes typically end up dumped from the island.
As of July 8, more than 5.5 million people had downloaded the Love Island USA app, according to the show’s network Peacock. Fans’ voices are not only heard through their votes. Backlash on social media directly influenced producers’ decision to remove a cast member this season.
The frequency and cadence of “Love Island” also contribute to the obsession. It airs six days per week as it’s being filmed, effectively combining elements of live streaming models popularized by platforms like Twitch with the ability to binge-watch if you miss just a couple days. One season usually consists of more than 30 individual, hour-long episodes, so fans get super invested in certain characters.
All that to say, it’s unclear if watch parties for other reality shows will be as successful. Still, Spano and Stillman plan to test it out.
DNVR Bar has “almost every streaming service,” so Spano encouraged fans to request what they’d like to see. Once the fall hits, coordinating reality TV alongside sports games could prove tricky, she said, but DNVR Bar has two distinct areas with separate sound systems, so it’s not out of the question. That’s potentially good news for fans of “Love Is Blind,” which will air its Denver-based season later this year.
The “Love Island” finale proved to be the second-busiest two-hour stretch in the last year at Tom’s Watch Bar, behind the Rockies’ opening day, Stillman said. He is now considering showing the “Love Island USA” reunion, scheduled for Aug. 25. Both he and Spano mentioned possibly hosting viewing parties for “Bachelor in Paradise,” which airs new episodes on Mondays throughout the summer.
“We need to think outside the box as a brand,” Stillman said. “We are a watch bar and these are watch parties. This is something that will open us up to more possibilities.”
