Being stranded on a remote island with a love match you’ve only just met would be any singleton’s worst nightmare - but it’s the premise of Stranded on Honeymoon Island, BBC One’s new dating show that hopes to discover whether true love can thrive in isolation.
The 12-part series follows 12 singles looking for love as they get hitched and embark on honeymoons like no other with someone they met for just five minutes at a speed dating event!
For three weeks, our six newlywed couples will each be stranded on a remote, tropical beach in The Philippines, with no home comforts and only the clothes on their backs. Will their new love be all they need?
In an exclusive for What to Watch, host Davina McCall guides us through what people can expect...
Hi Davina, how does it feel to be playing cupid?
"Everyone knows I love reality TV and I just loved this concept; these daters are a bit older to those on other dating shows, they’re all frustrated with modern dating and this is a way of getting to know someone very well, very quickly," says the My Mum, Your Dad host. "At the speed dating event, they’d ask really deep questions, from ‘Do you want kids?’ to ‘What part of the burger would you be?’"
Do the daters really only have five minutes to get to know each other?
"Yes! Being stranded somewhere is like the greatest test of any relationship ever," says Davina. "This is a social experiment that follows people meeting in the toughest of conditions and seeing if love can flourish. It’s going to push these relationships to the very edge!
After saying 'I do', the honeymooning couples jump off a boat into the ocean to symbolise taking a ‘leap of faith’...
"Yeah, it's quite high… and quite mad," confirms Davina. "Bride Hannah was wearing a fishtail dress and I was worried about her drowning, wondering: ‘How will she kick her legs to swim? All of the honeymooners look lovely in their wedding clothes… then they arrive on this beautiful island, completely bedraggled, knowing they're going to have to wear these same clothes for three weeks!"
So it’s a survival show in more ways than one?
"Absolutely! The honeymooners’ beach homes might look lovely and exotic but they had a tough time, particularly with bugs and the weather - the sunsets in the Philippines were extraordinary but when it rained, it was biblical," says Davina. "There’s no mirrors or make-up, so the women, in particular, are stripped of everything that makes you feel comfortable, safe and attractive. Bride Mae felt she was losing something of herself; we get to see how that manifests and how her partner reacts to that."
Tell us about some of the honeymooners…
"We really get to know the couples before seeing them getting married," reveals Davina. "Like bride Helen. She’s struggling with the fact her mum has cancer and her brother has a terminal brain tumor, but she wants to find love. We see how much it means to her and we're already invested."
And where do you fit into proceedings?
"These couples are genuinely stranded. I asked the producers: ‘Can I go out to the island?’ And they replied: ‘No, that's the point of the show, they’re stranded, no one else is there!’ So, instead, I pop up intermittently via an iPad delivered in crates that wash up onto the shore, usually bringing them some sort of news, sometimes good… sometimes not so good."
And what is Couples Cove?
"Couples Cove is where each couple eventually gets to meet the other stranded honeymooners, which means reuniting with people they met speed dating that they may also have connected with," explains Davina. "Maybe the person they married wasn't their first choice - and their first choice is now at Couples Cove! This show has every twist and turn you could dream of."
Sounds like this could cause ructions...
"Our stranded honeymooners can quit the process whenever they want," says Davina, "but they have to do it in a dramatic ‘I’m done’ kind of way by releasing an emergency flare, making their departure very final. And we get a ‘flare out’ VERY early on."
How do you think you'd cope with being Stranded on Honeymoon Island?
"I'm quite low maintenance in terms of makeup but nice clothes make me feel ‘me’, so I’d want at least one other dress with me, so I can feel pretty, and I’d love a warm bath," says Davina. "I’d want some protection from the insects because I’d have a bit of a problem with them… but I’d have a whopper of a problem with the ‘open’ loo situation. No one wants to have the ‘poo chat’ that early into a relationship!"
That said, Davina admits she'd quite enjoy being stranded on a remote island with her partner, TV hair stylist Michael Douglas...
"We really get on and are both immensely practical people," she says. "He’s brilliant at DIY, building things and making things out of nothing, and I’d like to think I’d just get stuck in, too. So Michael would be the one wearing the trousers, but I would be a great ‘sous chef’; helpful, efficient, enthusiastic and happy. I'd bring the joy!"
Stranded on Honeymoon Island starts on Wednesday 3 September at 9pm on BBC1.
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