Go Away, Icky Twins!

Tacky, tasteless and terrible.

An utter waste of 45 minutes.

Bad.

Try as I might, words can’t quite describe how absolutely mind-numbingly dumb the show A Double Shot at Love with the Ikki Twins is. In Episode 4: Lickety Split, I witnessed grown adults get stuck in cornstarch, lick frosting off mannequins for an hour, and throw drinks at each other. And if that wasn’t enough, the Ikki Twins initiated a make out session with everyone they came into contact with.

If you haven’t watched the show before, A Double Shot at Love with the Ikki Twins is a spin-off from A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila. In the show, 12 straight men and 12 lesbians fight to win the hearts of the bisexual Ikki Twins, Rikki and Vikki. A Dou

ble Shot at Love with the Ikki Twins uses a series of tasteless challenges to determine which contestants get to have alone time with the Ikki Twins, and contestants use the time alone to try convince the Ikki Twins that they have genuine feelings for the twins.

The two challenges that the contestants had to perform were blatantly demeaning; the first involved contestants running across a kiddie pool filled with a mixture of cornstarch and water (the texture of which was similar to quicksand) to collect tins of cornstarch, while the second 

required contestants to lick the frosting off mann

equins modeled after the Ikki twins for an hour. Almost all of the contestants had lacerations on their lips or mouths after the second challenge, yet Trevor and 

Xoe, the winners, saw no harm in making out with both the Ikki twins a few hours later.

I don’t know what annoyed me most about the show, the incredibly fake acting by the Ikki Twins, the obnoxious contestants or the fact that in that one episode, there was at least one person crying every 10 minutes. Arguably the most irritating contestant was Nick, who cried every time he tried to explain to Vikki how he wasn’t able to explain his feelings for her. To make the situation worse, Vikki and Rikki would cry every time he tried to talk to them, saying he made them “frustrated” because he was unable to express his feelings and they couldn’t connect.  Sensing that he could use the situation to an advantage, Scott, another contestant, decided to confront Nick after finding out that he made Vikki cry. This didn’t work out for him and he later found himself in the bottom two with Nick. Luckily for him, he was allowed to stay because the Ikki twins (and everyone else in the house) couldn’t stand another day with Nick and his endless complaints.

If I could send a message to the world, I would tell everyone NOT to watch this show. It’s immature, irritating and, despite the endless hot girl-hot guy / hot girl-hot girl make out sessions, just plain boring. Not only that, it plays heavily off gender stereotypes, making it socially acceptable for people like Scott to play the role of the tough guy to protect the Ikki twins – who play up to the idea of the woman on a pedestal, both literally and metaphorically. They are always perched on either platforms or ridiculously high heels and are unable to look after themselves, needing protection from characters like Scott. For playing the role of useless women, taking turns making out with over half the contestants, and even just agreeing to participate in a show like this,  I think it is safe to conclude that they have no moral standards and are indeed the Icky Twins.

-Stephanie Siow