Here are a few things Virgin Island is not. The Channel 4 series, in which 12 adult virgins travel to Croatia to take part in a three-week intimacy retreat, isn’t graphic, explicit, tawdry or tasteless. For reality TV, it doesn’t even feel that exploitative: unlike many other formats, you get the sense that everyone involved is crystal clear about what they are here to do and how it will end up looking on television.
It’s what they are here to do, however, that makes watching Virgin Island a mind-boggling experience. Whatever the reason for remaining a virgin, the remedy is broadly the same. With the help of various sex therapists, the participants are encouraged to tune in to their desires, expose their bodies and experience sensual touch via professional “surrogate partners” – a treatment that can (and, in the first series, did) extend to penetrative sex.
