Here’s a new drinking game. Stick on any reality dating TV show made in the past five years, and take a shot each time any of the following occur: a contestant bemoans the savage online dating landscape, a host touts the benefits of “distraction-free dating” and soft Ibiza-style house music plays over panoramic shots of a tropical destination. Well, you’ll be as drunk as a 2015 Love Island contestant by the time you finish Stranded on Honeymoon Island, the BBC’s latest attempt at prodding the reality dating market, where six couples must survive on a Philippines beachfront without electricity, technology or a working toilet for three weeks. The question is: can you find love and thrive in a setting so removed from modern society?
Hosted by Davina McCall, Honeymoon Island is the oddball lovechild of Married at First Sight Australia and the US reality series Survivor (and Love Island is the haggard live-in auntie). As a reality dating fan feeling wearied by the cliquey beast that is the Netflix dating-verse, which pops out another samey show every few months, I had been excited by what seemed like a refreshing new concept from the BBC. Oh, how wrong I’d been. Honeymoon Island is completely predictable, and it’s only a testament to the unimaginative, repetitive, overcooked parameters that continue to plague dating shows.
