Virgin Island started last night (12 May) and it’s fair to say it’s left people feeling uncomfortable and cringing out.
In a pretty confronting watch, the new Channel 4 show sees 12 adults head on a retreat to take part in a ‘unique’ and ‘hands on’ course in intimacy.
Here, they meet a team of specialists led by sex experts Dr Danielle Harel and Celeste Hirschman, such as Surrogate Partners and Sexological Bodyworkers.
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With the broadcaster finding that more than a third of 16 to 24-year-olds are virgins, the participants range in ages from 22 to 30.
And one of those is 28-year-old Zac, who seemed to be making progress the fastest last night. But the delivery driver left TV viewers in shock with his comments to one of the sex therapists.
Appearing to take on all of the tasks with an open mind in last night’s episode, Zac seemed to be the most confident of the bunch of virgins.
And he was paired with Surrogate Partner Kat Slade. Danielle told LADbible that the participants are part of a ‘triad relationship’ with both a surrogate and a clinical therapist.
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“This triadic format really helps them relax into the therapeutic process of surrogacy,” she added.
Yes, in case you’re wondering, the potential is that if they feel ready, the participants can work towards having ‘full sex’ with their surrogate.
Therefore, they have to go through the whole ‘process’ and ‘structured protocol’ which includes the likes of ‘two-way touch’ and ‘oral’.
Last night, Kat began with Zac right from the beginning – the likes of holding hands, rubbing her face on his arm and stroking him.
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But things come to a stop when the lad, a virgin who hadn’t been ‘getting anywhere’ by himself, told his surrogate: “I want more.”
She then has to remind him: “It is a process. I wouldn’t do more than that with anyone on the first session.”
While accepting her boundaries of the role, he admitted: “I would like to go all the way. I would like to have sex with you.”
And viewers online said Zac is ‘not wasting much time’ as they joked he’s going to be known as ‘Top Sh*gger’ by the end of the series.
Addressing this situation with Zac, Celeste told LADbible that while he may be ‘a little frustrated’ with the speed, Kat ‘has to stick to’ the surrogacy process.
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“I think people have an idea of what's surrogacy, or what the role of the professional is, but it's not necessarily organic to whatever is happening,” Danielle explained.
“And I think the role of the practitioner is to keep connecting with them. ‘I know that in your head, you already want to be in that space, but we're not there yet. So we need to take time and patience, and I'm in it as well’. That's the authentic connection, ‘I'm in it as well. I'm not here just for you’.”
Celeste added: “Because he had an idea that he was progressing faster, but he needed to be in connection, not just like, ‘Okay, let's go have sex’. That's not [Kat’s] job. The job is to work authentically through the intimacy between the two of them.”
Virgin Island continues tonight at 9pm on Channel 4.
Topics: Channel 4, TV and Film, Sex and Relationships
Jess Battison