The launch of FBoy Island was met with serious heat, but how did the show really play out? Photo / Supplied
The launch of FBoy Island was met with serious heat, but how did the show really play out? Photo / Supplied
OPINION:
When TVNZ's new reality dating show FBoy Island struck choppy waters last week following revelations a contestant was charged with suffocating a woman after luring her to his home last year, I had questions.
Mostly, how could anyone have predicted a show called FBoy Island might attract a certain kind of contestant with such dark skeletons rattling around in the closet?
But that wasn't the only question I had. Here are the 10 nagging queries that popped into my head during the controversial show's first episode:
From the moment she sniffs the Lynx Africa in the air while she hunts out the FBoys during the show's opener to the feisty farewell she bids the first batch of eliminated contestants, she's like a dating show version of Cruella De Vil - except her prey isn't puppies, it's hapless men who might think they're entitled to sexual encounters.
2. How good are the women tasked with sorting out the self-proclaimed Nice Guys from the self-proclaimed FBoys on the island?
Kita, Kiera, and Coco might all admit they're drawn to bad boys in real life, but they make it clear from the start they're the ones in charge on FBoy Island.
Sure, they have moments of doubting themselves as they get to know their potential love matches, but they are also calm and ruthless come elimination time.
3. How toe-curlingly terrible are the contestants' introductions to the three women?
I don't know whose was worse – jazz musician Nathan telling the women he was their "personal concierge, who's also trying to date you" or 22-year-old Taite revealing his qualifications as a plumber and "knowing how to lay that pipe, if you know what I mean".
"How toe-curlingly terrible are the contestants' introductions to the three women?" writes Anna Murray. Photo / Supplied
4. How terrible is the prize?
If the women on FBoy Island eventually pair up with a Nice Guy, we're told they get to share a $50,000 prize with him. If she inadvertently pairs up with an FBoy, however, that man can choose to keep the whole cash prize for himself.
Excuse me?
Why are the women not given a similar option to walk away with the whole prize should they choose to? Does the gender pay gap somehow extend to TV shows with questionable premises now, too?
5. Why did we suddenly have a montage of contestants working out in slow motion on the beach?
And was it 22-year-old Thomas' own idea to wink at us like that while he awkwardly pulled on some ropes?
"Why did we suddenly have a montage of contestants working out in slow motion on the beach?" Photo / Supplied
6. How did administrator/model Ross go from talking about his "killer scrambled eggs" to the Hubble space telescope during his one-on-one date with Kiera?
7. Won't somebody think of the editors of these dating shows when it comes to vetting contestants?
Ever since the decision was made to remove Wayde Moore from the show once his past charges came to light, somebody has obviously spent a lot of time scrubbing him from FBoy Island as much as they possibly can.
It becomes obvious at the end of this episode that he didn't make a great first impression and probably didn't play a large part in proceedings overall, but it still makes for unavoidably clunky viewing at times.
8. What happens to these Nice Guys and FBoys when they get their marching orders from the island?
According to TVNZ's publicity material, the Nice Guys go to the luxurious Nice Guy Grotto to await a potential second chance, while the FBoys are sent to a sparse-looking camp called LimBRO, where Shavaughn will apparently "show them the error of their ways".
