A new bomb has just entered the villa. He's 24, from Barcelona, and he's a plum. This isn't a figurative expression. He is a plum – as in the fruit. And that's just one part of TikTok's latest obsession, an AI-generated series called Fruit Love Island. Released almost a month ago, Fruit Love Island is likely the first super-viral show to be entirely created by generative AI. It's designed to mimic the hit ITV dating show "Love Island," but instead of people on the island, the characters are talking fruits. There's a plum named Plumero from Barcelona. There's also Watermelina, the watermelon, Bananito the banana, and Cherrita, who's a cherry. The one-minute episodes featuring this fruity cast, posted daily on TikTok, have managed to attract hundreds of millions of views in just a few weeks. They've also gained 3.3 million followers on an anonymous account that posts them: ai.cinema021. It's dividing the internet. Many say it's just another example of low-quality "AI junk" churned out by nameless accounts. But the videos still have a serious and dedicated fan base. Celebrities like singers Joe Jonas and Zara Larsson say they've watched the viral series. "I'm sorry I can't come down today, I need to see what's happening between the chocolate and the strawberry," Larsson wrote on a TikTok post she later deleted after backlash from fans. "I'm worried about Watermelina," Jonas wrote in the comments of one of his TikTok videos. Like Love Island, the characters are competing for a chance to pair up and stay on the island. This leads to arguments, romances, breakups, and even physical fights in each episode – all against a backdrop remarkably similar to Love Island's scenes. ITV, the studio that created Love Island, hasn't commented on BBC's request. But the mysterious creator of Fruit Love Island revealed that some episodes were removed by TikTok – it's unclear why. The same content is now available on YouTube. Former cast members of Love Island USA have also spoken out. Amaya Espinal, the winner of season 7, nicknamed "Amaya Papaya," expressed her disgust at a past season featuring an AI recreation of her. "No, I don't watch Fruit Island, I don't watch Fruit Island ever," Espinal said during a live stream. "I don't support it... it's so crazy. AI food content has been a TikTok obsession for months, with several accounts profiting from the viral bait. Espinal was targeted by a separate account featuring an AI papaya character named "Anaiya Papaya" – apparently a spin-off from Fruit Love Island's new series – apparently modeled after her. That account has 33,000 followers in just five days. "She's my enemy," Espinal joked. Two stars from season 6 of Love Island USA, Kyle Martin and Jana Craig, seem to have enjoyed the content, laughing at an episode and taking a TikTok for themselves. "Why is this a thing?" Craig asked. Many fans on TikTok are fully invested in Fruit Love Island, voting on which fruit pair is their favorite, who they want to see leave the island, and eagerly awaiting the next episode. While it's definitely the most viral, Fruit Love Island isn't the first TV series to be remade as AI fruits (if you can believe it). There's also Fruit Paternity Court, a parody of Lauren Lake's Paternity Court, and The Summer I Turned Fruity, a reimagining of The Summer I Turned Pretty. But not everyone is impressed. Some social media users and experts say these AI versions of popular shows are nothing more than cheap entertainment designed to grab attention. Jessa Lingel, an expert on digital culture and technology at the University of Southern California, said the content is "pretty poor quality," as is usually the case with "AI junk." "It's pretty poor quality, like we always see with AI junk," Lingel said. "As humans, we have to put in so much work, and it's getting shorter and shorter. Now you don't even need to watch an entire episode of a reality show, you have a short, sensational AI junk version." The anonymous creator behind the popular videos defended Fruit Love Island in a post on TikTok on Thursday, saying each video takes hours to make. "I write scripts, plan scenes, and redo them because the AI generation keeps failing," they wrote. But critics online say Fruit Love Island's animation "lacks soul" and isn't worth the potential negative impact AI could have on the world. "This is why the Earth is dying," one commenter wrote under a Fruit Love Island video. One study estimates that AI-driven data centers globally will consume 1.7 trillion gallons of water by 2027. "We're using massive amounts of resources to create content that doesn't actually have a message or push conversation forward," Lingel said. There is a role for AI doing important work, like preserving ancient languages or aiding in cancer research. "But this isn't AI," she said. "This AI is just junk."
