A new Channel 4 reality show features a pair of childhood sweethearts who trial an open relationship and even have a threesome in the new episode.
Though much of the focus online regarding Channel 4 in the past has been Virgin Island, this show has left some calling it even more controversial.
The show is an exploration of monogamy, and whether by freeing up their relationships from this couples can thrive.
Similarly to Virgin Island, the series sets out to operate as a more therapeutic experience than many reality dating TV shows.
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Called Open House: The Great Sex Experiment, couples work with relationship coaches and sex experts to discover whether a non-monogamous relationship is for them.
The couples spend 48 hours in a house inhabited by 25 ‘residents’, non-monogamous people willing to explore having sex with the couples.
Running since 2022, the newest season is the show’s third, and the make-up of the multiple couples on the shows varies.
One couple, Paul and Chloe, are childhood sweethearts, whilst another, Mark and Tanith, decide to open up after both cheating on each other.
Paul and Chloe have only ever slept with each other, having been together since they met at just 17 in Liverpool.
Now 28 and 27, in an interview with The Times they spoke about their reasoning for wanting to open up their relationship, with Paul coming to the realisation that he had no idea if he was any good at sex, having only experienced it with Chloe.
Chloe meanwhile had begun grappling with her own sexuality, describing herself as ‘bi-curious’, and wanting to explore this.
Meanwhile, Mark and Tanith, 41 and 31, decided to open up their relationship to try and address trust issues with Mark’s ‘wandering eye’.
Both cheated on one another in the first year of their relationship and Tanith felt that an open relationship may help him feel less trapped.
The couples both engage to varying degrees with the experiment in the first two episodes of the show, now available to watch.
Mark and Tanith are taken to separate parties, with Tanith heading to their shared room early after not engaging with any of the men at the party.
When she doesn’t find Mark there she becomes curious, searching for him, before being left open-mouthed when she hears his moans coming from a yurt outside.
Whilst Tanith does not engage sexually with anyone on the first night, Mark has a four-woman orgy.
Meanwhile, Chloe and Paul have a threesome with a woman called Grace in the show’s second episode.
Chloe says: “It's a nice experience. It's something new. Like I think it's just contentment.”
Paul meanwhile says: “It's exciting because it's like we've opened up a new world. I feel reborn, I'm just missing the cigar.”
Open House: The Great Sex Experiment airs on Channel 4.
Topics: Channel 4, Sex and Relationships, TV, TV and Film
Michael Slavin