Virgin Island is Channel 4's latest social experiment, which sees 12 adult virgins partaking in a unique, hands-on programme, to help them take their first steps towards sex and intimacy.
The show launched on Monday 12th May, and was met with mixed reviews, with some arguing that the participants are "vulnerable" and could benefit from "body confidence classes" or "self-love" workshops instead.
Speaking exclusively to Cosmopolitan UK, two of the show's experts Dr Danielle Harel and Celeste Hirschmam, MA, revealed that viewers could have missed a key detail from the show due to editing.
"The whole time there's consent. The whole process. Like for any of the practices, people get to say whether they want to participate or not, how much they want to participate, whether they want to pull back and not do it. So, I think there was consent throughout the whole process," Harel explained.
Hirscham added: "And as the experiences got more in depth, the consent was even more rigorous, like they would ask like three times. You might not see all that on camera, but that was absolutely happening. That was part of the duty of care."
Following last week's launch, viewers of the show flocked to social media to share their thoughts on the show.
"There’s something creepy about the teachers/instructors.. #virginIsland," one wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
"I think they all need a body confidence course and self love course more than this when they love themselves the sex will happen #virginIsland," another said.
Asked whether therapy was considered as an option, Harel said: "I just feel that people have a little bit of segmentation on what is therapy. We find this process to be very therapeutic in the way that it's very empowering.
"We have this idea that, 'Oh therapy means we need to sit and talk with people'. People go through a lot of healing and a lot of transformation and really kind of get in touch with who they are through this work. So it's not about the sexual act, it's about them owning who they are and learning consent is so empowering, feeling like I get to have boundaries, feeling like I get to have desires.
Virgin Island airs on Channel 4 on Mondays and Tuesdays.
