I'm in the middle of Love Island Australia (Season 1) and I think it may actually be one of the best ways we can work on spotting red flags in men and pick me behaviors in ourselves. Since this is an older season I was able to google the contestants and see how the in-game relationships/personalities panned out in real life. Others just played out during the game and didn't even require googling.

A few examples of both:

  1. In game: one of the male contestants, Grant, gave me super NVM vibes right from the get go. He blatantly lied to his partners and, when confronted, would gaslight his way out of it (think "I never said that") EVERY SINGLE TIME. He also consistently showed no emotional expression even while having what should have been emotional conversations with his partners and was clearly just saying whatever he thought would end the conversation the fastest.
    In life: Grant had a secret girlfriend outside of the show the entire time who he got back with the second he got out of the villa despite telling his long-time partner, Tayla, that he loved her and even having sex with her.
  2. In game: male contestant, Eden, in a lot of ways presented as the ideal partner for Erin (Eden's partner throughout the entire game) but he initially struck me as someone who was probably an abuser (this was heavily influenced by his profession: prison officer). He also got very angry when another male contestant came in and wanted to go on a date with Erin even though that's the whole point of the show and Erin showed no interest and immediately shut the new guy down.
    In life: Erin came out and revealed that almost immediately after the show ended Eden went over the edge into actual abusive behaviors, even attempting to kill them both in a car accident at one point.
  3. Cassidy, one of the original female contestants, started out partnered with Grant. Initially she came off as a pick me because despite her gut feeling and Grant's OBVIOUS lack of interest in her, she continued giving him second (and third, and fourth) chances that he didn't do anything with because, you know, he didn't want her. She then continued to reveal more and more pick me tendencies, going so far as to be upset when one of her later partners (who had plainly told her he was keeping his options open) talked to one of the other women in the villa and actually verbally attacking that woman. All pick me, all the time.
  4. Tayla, another original female contestant, pursued a coupling with Grant even after he lied to her face and gaslit her over the whole thing between him, her, and Cassidy (Cassidy was his original partner and after her he was basically with Tayla the rest of the time). She turned him down immediately after all that, but then changed her mind days later. She knew for a fact he had lied to both of them and then...went for him anyway?

These are just the most extreme examples, there are plenty of other smaller ones throughout the show. It's very interesting people watching, and I think we would all benefit from using it to practice spotting red flags.