I kissed a Girl, the UK's first exclusively queer dating show, cancelled after just two seasons
We’re looking at the BBC’s decision to cancel I Kissed A Girl after just two seasons – and why losing
one of the UK’s only mainstream queer dating shows is more than just the end of another reality series.
LATEST • charlotte pang • february 17th, 2026
I Kissed A Girl, the UK’s first exclusively queer dating show, has been cancelled after just two seasons.
The Love Island-esque show follows ten queer singles navigating dating, love triangles, and friendship, and the recently-aired second season is just as entertaining as the first.
Yet, prior to its release, the BBC announced that the second season would be its last, cancelling the show alongside its all-male equivalent I Kissed A Boy due to “funding challenges”.
Other than being a wholesome source of queer representation, with a side of the dramatics synonymous with all reality TV, the show provides a candid look into the experiences and difficulties faced by contestants as queer women.
While Elisha, a femme-for-femme lesbian, expresses frustration over having to constantly prove her sexuality, Renee, a stem lesbian, explains how she sometimes feels others overlook her emotional side.
The show wasn’t without criticism. Some viewers questioned the choice of straight female host, Dannii Minogue, for a queer dating show.
Others pointed out that she made up roughly 30% of the screen time, on a show which aims to put queer visibility at the forefront.
Nonetheless, I Kissed A Girl has been monumental in proving the demand for queer media, attracting one of the largest under-35 audiences on BBC iPlayer during its run, while clips from the series amassed over 15 million views across the BBC’s social media.
Crucially, the show was mainstream. In a climate where the LGBTQ+ community is facing rising hostility, with their rights once again under attack, candid, unapologetic queer representation on public service broadcasters like the BBC has never been more important.
This is about more than losing another dating show, and a lot of people seem to agree. A petition to save the franchise has received over 16,000 signatures, demanding that the BBC continue to fund queer representation rather than treating it as “disposable luxuries”.
Faye, a contestant from the show, put it best herself in an interview with BBC Newsbeat: “you can’t be what you can’t see”.
Access the petition to save the “I Kissed A Girl/Boy” franchise.
https://www.change.org/p/demand-the-bbc-fund-queer-representation-save-i-kissed-a-girl-boy