What is Virgin Island? Channel 4 show branded 'awful' and 'heartwarming' by critics
Channel 4's experimental reality show Virgin Island has got everyone talking.
The broadcaster has promised a "warm, authentic and thought-provoking series", inviting 12 individuals to take part in a sex-periment.
The idea came about as research from University College London showed one in eight people are still virgins at the age of 26 years old. This is a stark comparison to past generations, where it was one in 20 people were virgins at the same age previously.
Whisked away to a beautiful Mediterranean retreat off the coast of Croatia, 12 virgins are tasked with confronting their fear of sex with the help of sexologists.
Dr Danielle Harel and Celeste Hirschman lead a team of experts in the field of sexology who are tasked with helping the individuals conquer their anxieties around sex. It has been considered controversial as the therapies involve a surrogate partner where the participants have the chance to experiment and even sleep with them to help build their sexual confidence. Other therapies include demonstrations and group work.
The first episode saw one contestant "overwhelmed" and tearful after the desire task.
Hirschman, who is the co-founder of the Somatica Institute and an intimacy coach, explained why young people would be interested in the therapy that she offers.
She said: "There are very few places that people can learn how to be emotionally and erotically intimate in a safe container where they are able to practice actually sharing erotic energy and experiences without being shamed or shut down. Somatica coaching offers this kind of safe space as well as gentle, loving, in-the-moment coaching, from someone who is adept at helping people learn how to be more present and intimate."
Critics have made it clear they are torn over the Channel 4 reality show. Reviewers in the same breath were saying it was an uncomfortable watch, but it was also "heartwarming" seeing the participants' journeys on the show.
The Evening Standard's Vicky Jessop admitted, "a lot of the show is agonising to watch". Later, the critic also noted: "As the show progresses, it is heartwarming watching these shy, unconfident people open up and get experimental, chivvied along by their army of therapists".
In The Evening Standard, the reviewer wrote: "Who is Virgin Island for? Is it for the roughly one in eight 26-year-olds (the show tells us) who haven't yet had sex — for various reasons — but want to? Or is it for people who want to peer through the aquarium glass at them in abject fascination? The show doesn't seem to know — and, two episodes in, neither do I."
The Guardian's Rebecca Nicholson seemed equally divided in her stance on the show. The critic started the review with: "On paper, almost everything about Virgin Island sets off alarm bells."
The critic concluded that the show is "far from perfect" and seems to miss out on addressing some of the big questions.
However, the reviewer added: "But the courage of the participants is admirable, and their willingness to open up on camera, partly, it seems, to show other people that they are not alone, is touching. As some of them make breakthroughs, their confidence grows, and you can see that the process is having a positive effect on them. Virgin Island might sound like an Alan Partridge pitch, but stick with it, and it is more complex than it first seems."
The Independent's headline 'Awful, horny, depraved – and genius?' summed up perfectly how torn reviewer Hannah Ewens felt while watching the show. But the critic decided overall it was a "positive" that the show had been made.
The reviewer wrote in The Independent: "Only a broadcaster like Channel 4, the very same which created the chaotic and depraved coterie of Naked Attraction, Dogging Tales and Embarrassing Bodies, could make this show – and it's positive that they did. For any adult virgins, this will be a de-shaming watch.
"For the sexually active, it's a reminder that sex is something done for fun and to find a much deeper intimacy than we've experienced before. Nothing exactly like this has been seen in reality TV before; so, well done C4, once again you've identified and popped a new cherry we never knew we had."
Virgin Island continues at 9pm on Tuesday on Channel 4.
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