New reality dating show FBoy Island launches on BINGE

It is possibly the best one liner in a reality TV dating show ever. But will Abbie Chatfield’s new show actually help anyone find love? Sydney Confidential reviews new series FBoy Island.

It is possibly the best one liner in a reality TV dating show ever.

Occupational therapist and unlikely dating show contestant Molly O’Halloran has spectacularly called it as it is in the first outing of BINGE series, FBoy Island.

“I feel like you’ve got your finger in every pie and I didn’t come here for an STD,” O’Halloran bluntly tells obvious player Caleb in the climactic elimination segment of the first episode.

This is the tone for the BINGE series, that has already been a hugely popular format in the U.S. but is new to Australian viewers.

FBoy Island is unapologetically irreverent, authentically crude, and isn’t afraid to make fun of itself.

Ziara Rae with a suitor on FBoy Island.

Bachelor, Married At First Sight and Love Island, be afraid. FBoy Island is what fans of the format have been asking for.

It delivers on its promise to be funny, satirical of reality TV, and Australia’s next prime-time viewing hit. 

FBoy Island is now on Binge. Picture: Supplied

The first two episodes of the new series dropped on Monday, and we finally got our first look at the 24 “d**k swinging blokes” vying for the hearts of model Ziara Rae, DJ Sophie Blackley and O’Halloran. 

The series draws from the well-worn playbook of all successful dating shows: Single hotties, “tattoos, massive arms and fake tan” as one potential FBoy put it, an Instagram-worthy island villa in Northern NSW, and of course both the big bucks ($150K) and hearts on the line.

Picture: Supplied

If the women pick a nice guy, they walk away with a hand to hold and the money to share. If they pick a f***kboy, he gets the money.

“One thing f***boys always do is they lather on the cologne,” Rae said. We’ll take notes, sounds like she’s got it sorted.

“Ziara and I’s connection right now is dope,” basketballer Cory explains.

“It’s 100 like the emoji baby.”

Poetry.

This is media identity and professional empire builder Abbie Chatfield’s make or break moment.

The former Bachelor contestant is now above and beyond the playing field. Be the change you want to see in the world, or the change you want to see on reality TV at least. 

Ziara Rae, Sophie Blackley and Molly O’Halloran will appear on the new reality TV series FBoy Island. Picture: Foxtel, Ben Symons

Although a bit rusty in the opening minutes, Chatfield quickly settles into the natural charisma and playful humour that made her one of nation’s biggest names in radio. 

“You haven’t been penetrated in two years?” she repeats to O’Halloran, making sure the good people at home understand how sex works.

Episode one sees the ladies putting their FBoy radar to the test with The Meat Gala, and each woman chooses a lad from the pack to gift with a VIP bracelet. 

The question as to whether this could be both a dating show, and also one small stiletto-heeled step forward for feminism, was answered. 

Yeahnah, yeah. 

“Stick together, and use each other’s strengths,” Chatfield advises the women.

It may sound like a small thing, but typically this brand of show relies on sexist, outdated, and just plain boring crutch of pitting female contestants against one another.

Or as Sophie eloquently put: “We are here for the sisterhood sh*t.”

FBOY VENGEANCE: WHY CONTESTANT SIGNED UP TO SPICY REALITY SHOW

FBoy Island guys with host Abbie Chatfield.

Catching her fiance in the act of cheating was the catalyst for Molly O’Halloran to sign up to Australia’s newest reality dating show.

The occupational therapist was engaged to be married and had her wedding fully planned weeks before she signed up for FBoy Island that will premiere on BINGE on Monday night.

“I was head over heels in love. I surprised my fiance at work, and he had a woman bent over his desk,” O’Halloran told Confidential.

“Essentially, I had my heart broken by the ultimate FBoy. I’d pretty much planned my whole life around that and then everything kind of got flipped on its head.”

FBoy Island contestant Molly O'Halloran.

FBoy Island contestant Molly O'Halloran.

O’Halloran had been with her fiance for four years when her world fell apart.

“I was really keen to kind of take back what control I could and to hopefully go into this kind of experiment to be able to put myself out there again,” she said of signing up for FBoy Island.

“At the moment I am a little bit hesitant and a little bit guarded, all things considered. It is really lovely to be able to put myself back out there again and know that there are a bunch of nice guys that are in it for the right reasons, it is just seeing if I can make those genuine connections and bring my walls down.”

O’Halloran, 26, joked that she is “the normal one” as the experience of being on television is a totally new one.

She joins DJ Sophie Blackley and model Ziara Rae as the three women vying for love on the show.

The trio are to be presented with 24 potential male partners, half of whom are players and the other half genuinely being in it for love.

The 10-part reality series is new to Australia after huge success in the US. It is being produced by Warner Bros International Television Productions Australia for BINGE.

“This show is all about the empowerment of women,” O’Halloran explained.

“It is girls getting together to work out who is trying to dupe them and who is trying to potentially just lie to their faces to get the money (prize). It kind of twists the whole dating show on its head, the fact that it is not girls having catfights over one bloke. It is us working together and supporting each other, that is the huge thing that I love about the show. Ultimately I am here to hopefully find love, to call out bad behaviour and find out the FBoys.”

Asked if she was ready to fall in love again so soon after splitting from her fiance, O’Halloran said: “The only thing you can control is your reaction to things. I am not going to let past trauma prevent me from actually forming decent relationships with people.”