Virgin Island stars defend using 'sex surrogates' for TV romps on This Morning after vicious backlash - but disgusted viewers are having none of it

Daily Mail​

13-05-2025

Two stars of Channel 4 's new show defended the use of 'sex surrogates' on Tuesday's episode of This Morning.
Jason, 25, and Taylor, 29, appeared on the iconic sofa to chat to Cat Deeley, 48, and Ben Shephard, 50, about their experience at the retreat.
The two are part of the group of 12 virgins of the brand new show, which premiered on Monday night, who travelled to an Island in Croatia to explore their sexuality with help from co-founders of the Somatica Institute and the Somatica method Dr Danielle Harel and Celeste Hirschman.
The first episode saw the contributors open up about their feelings and why they haven't been able to be intimate with anyone, and one star called Zac, 28, managed to get up close and personal with one of the sex surrogates called Kat.
Ben admitted that he was fascinated with the surrogates and asked them to explain the dynamics.
Jason explained: 'I didn't have a surrogate. But the surrogates, Kat and Andre, are there for the more hands on, the nitty gritty. The physicality of it.
'You'll definitely see what happens with that...'
Ben asked: If you are prepared and confident enough to go forward with something more physical... they are there to enable you to do that?'
Jason replied: 'Yes. They are there to guide you through it and help you do it.'
Ben pointed out: 'And help you so you know what you're doing... you can feel safe, you can feel confident.
'That's an extraordinary job, isn't it?'
Taylor explained: 'It's better than if you're in a situation where you're going home and going to have to do this with a stranger, they are in a place where they are able to guide you through it, keep you safe, keep you calm, take you in a really therapeutic place.
'It's not like hooking up with somebody on a night out. It's therapy.
'It's all about taking you through the steps of intimacy and getting you there.'
Those watching at home couldn't believe the concept of the show.
One said on X: 'Are people really that desperate to get on TV? #virginisland #thismorning.'
'Honestly, who commissions this stuff?! #thismorning.'
'Another f**kin reality show #thismorning.'
It comes after sex therapists Danielle and Celeste defended the use of surrogates in an exclusive chat with MailOnline.
During the programme, all of the 12 virgins achieve a level of intimacy with either a surrogate or a coach during the course.
Celeste describes the relationship between the client and surrogate as 'authentic' and shared how the dynamic can reflect what would happen in a 'real relationships', including the possibility of 'performance problems' from either the surrogate or client.
'It is really an authentic relationship,' she explained. 'So one thing that can happen in a relationship is that someone has performance problems, and so they would just communicate about it and say, oh, you know, something's not working here. Let's take a break. Let's try again.'
The sexologist added: 'That authenticity is what actually prepares people to have real relationships out in the world.
'So it's not just like trying to force something and a lot of times surrogates do work with people who have pretty significant dysfunctions, and so they need to work with those kinds of things, both in their clients and if it comes up in themselves as well.'
There's a 'triadic relationship' between the client, surrogate and a separate therapist to help tackle issues, including if the client develops feelings.
Celeste explained: 'They have the therapist built into the relationship, because if feelings become developed, the therapist is available to talk the client through whatever feelings that they have around it.'
She added: 'The therapist is there to keep that the container and the boundaries.'
Danielle expressed that on the show, the boundaries in the relationship were clear between the contributors and surrogates.
'They felt like, 'Okay, this is a therapeutic modality that's going to help me grow', and that's how it was set up for them,' the expert shared.
'So I don't feel there was even one moment that people got confused around.'
The TV show has also enlisted two sex surrogate partners who will work alongside therapists to help the virgins and will take more of a physical approach than the therapists who are there to talk to the candidates about their emotions.
The sex surrogates are prepared to have intercourse with those in treatment to help with problems that talking therapy cannot.
However, while sex surrogacy is deemed controversial, the co-founders of the Somatica Institute, which specialises in sex and relationship coach training, have defended them - slamming intercourse on other shows as 'harmful and unrealistic'.
Andre Lazarus, a certified intimacy, sex and relationship practitioner with more than a decade of experience, will appear as one of the surrogates on hand to help the virgins when the show airs on Monday evening.
Kat Slade is the other 'sex surrogate' who will work alongside Andre to help the 12 virgins feel more comfortable with dusting off their sexual side.
The certified surrogate partner and somatic practitioner got a Bachelor's degree from Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington.
NAME: EMMA
AGE: 23
OCCUPATION: FOOD WORKER
Emma said: 'I was the only virgin amongst my friendship group, I felt outnumbered.
'I believed I was the only human experiencing adult life without intimacy but I couldn't relax when there is the possibility of intimacy and I had to battle previous traumas.
'The fact that this concept was being brought to TV made me realise being over 21 and never having sex was not as rare as I thought it was.'
NAME: BEN
AGED: 30
Ben said: 'A friend sent me the casting call for Virgin Island on social media. I'm not sure if he knew I was a virgin, but he knew I'd struggled in this area.
'Funnily enough, my immediate response to his message was 'not a chance'.'
NAME: DAVE
AGE: 24
Dave said: 'An initial joke by some friends for some cheap laughs slowly became the opportunity of a lifetime.
'I have always struggled to open up to people but this led me to feel invisible - a feeling I couldn't take anymore.
'I felt like it couldn't continue and I wanted to do something drastic to get my life back on track.
NAME: JASON
AGE: 25
OCCUPATION: ADMIN WORKER
Jason said: 'I always felt like a failure in terms of intimacy and socialness.
'I know the island was primarily for intimacy, but it had
the amazing bonus of helping me improve my social skills – and for that, I will be forever grateful.'
NAME: LOUISE
AGE: 22
Louise said: 'I never really imagined applying for a show like Virgin Island but my friend sent me the application as a joke, and I thought, 'Why not?'
'I was at the point where I was willing to try anything.
'I had just accepted that there must've just been something wrong with me - I think the fact that my friends would see the word 'virgin' and think of me says enough to be honest.'
NAME: CHARLOTTE
AGE: 29
Charlotte said: 'Because I wanted to rid myself of my shame that I had surrounding my body, and my desire, and my ability to give myself pleasure.
'I wanted to be honest with myself so that I would not be hindered when having relationships in the future.'
NAME: HOLLY
AGE: 23
She said: 'I felt like I was at a point in my life where I was ready to experience being with someone, but I had a lot of anxiety and questions about myself that I felt I had to work through before taking that step.
'I was definitely nervous, not knowing what to expect, what the others were going to be like, whether I was actually going to get anything out of it.'
NAME: PIA
AGE: 23
Pia said: 'I applied for Virgin Island because of my struggles with vaginismus.
'I wanted to overcome the pain and anxiety I felt when exploring penetrative sex.
'Plus, I found intimacy incredibly overwhelming.'
NAME: TAYLOR
AGE: 29
Taylor said: 'I spent my whole adult life wondering why I found sexual things so difficult when others didn't.
'When I was a teenager, the risks of sex seemed to far outweigh the benefits, the only benefit anyone spoke of was babies, and I certainly wasn't ready for one of those.
NAME: TOM
AGE: 23
Tom said: 'I always found myself to be a freak because I struggled to lose my virginity whilst others around me continued to pop their cherries.
'It severely affected my mental health, filling me with self-loathing which in turn made me a worse person.'
NAME: VIRAJ
AGE: 25
Viraj said: 'I had a massive struggle to express myself in front of women.
'For me it wasn't about the intimacy stage but more with the confidence side of talking to women and making small talk.
'This whole idea was encouraged by my friends for me to get out of my comfort zone and go through with this.'
NAME: Zac
AGE: 23
Zac said: 'There was a man reporting that Channel 4 was looking for adult virgins to take part in an experimental TV show. This was of course describing me.
'At first I was like - no way, I'm not gonna do that, but I started to think about it more and more, and I realised that I wasn't really getting anywhere by myself, time was just passing me by with no real positive change.'