In the mood to risk your relationship for a shot at reality TV stardom on Temptation Island? Cool, well, turns out the casting process is truly something.
As a reminder: This show focuses on four couples who put their relationship to the test by moving into villas with a bunch of hot strangers. By the end of the show, they have to decide if they’ll stay together, leave single, or enter a brand-new relationship.
So...how do you get cast? Executive producer David Friedman spoke to Variety about the process, saying, “The couples drive this show for sure. That was our focus. We hired a casting company, and they brought us tons of couples and options. Finding single people who want to be on a dating show is not that hard. This obviously has its challenges, and it’s a different type of dating show, because you’re willingly going into it knowing that the people that you’re going to meet and or have a connection with are in a relationship.”
Executive producer David Goldberg added, “We’re always keeping an open mind to the couples, because they’re so important. We’re often willing to slot somebody in at the last moment if we find they’re really going to be terrific, or perhaps better than the people we already have. It’s really about the couples and the problems they’re having in the real world.”
“A lot of people look at Temptation Island and say it’s a show that seeks to break up relationships,” he continued. “We look at it differently and see a show that tests relationships. Couples don’t come on Temptation Island because everything is great. They come on because there’s a problem and they want to know if it’s time to you-know-what or get off the pot. It’s not that much different than couples in real life saying, ‘I think we need to take a break.’”
Apparently, the show can be too much for some people—to the point where cast members ask to leave. As Friedman put it, “There were many times when I would get a phone call from one of my producers saying, ‘Hey, so and so wants to talk to you.’ I would go sit with them, and they would say to me, ‘I don’t know that I can continue on. I don’t know if I can deal with this like.’ I would say to them, ‘There’s a reason why you came. You didn’t come to break up, you didn’t come to stay together. You came to figure that out. And so you have to stay true to that commitment.’ In the end, only they decide what’s right—it doesn’t matter what I think, doesn’t matter what the producers around them think.”
