Meet the Virgin Island season 2 cast: From 27 year old with limb difference disability to Christian woman confronting religious shame
The Channel 4 series returns on Monday night…
Virgin Island is back for series 2, and it’s finally time to introduce the cast of the (hopefully) explosive Channel 4 series.
On Monday (April 27), 12 new young people arrive on the island, each struggling with intimacy anxiety. But with many scared of intimate touch, will anyone fall in love, fall into bed or even lose their virginity?
Channel 4 promises us the results are remarkable and more life-changing than ever before this time around. So, without further ado, it’s time to meet the virgins hoping to overcome their intimacy issues…
Cast of Virgin Island season 2: Alex, 28, from Exeter
Alex is smart, independent and has had girlfriends. However, anxiety has cast a long shadow over his social life and his ability to get close to someone.
Sex was a taboo subject at home, and he still finds it difficult to talk about. As a result, he feels too nervous to have sex. When he’s tried before, he describes “panic, a racing heart and a desperate need to escape the situation”.
Best memory from the show: “The erotic storytelling workshop. And watching everyone go from shame and awkwardness to sharing fantasies with humour and confidence. It still makes me laugh.”
Bertie, 24, from Taunton
Event volunteer Bertie says he has low self-esteem and anxiety about his body. He calls himself a “Grade A virgin”. He has never kissed anyone and worries sex would feel overwhelming. He fears reaching middle age without experiencing intimacy.
Biggest challenge on the show: “I struggled with confidence and had no idea how to approach dating, so I’d convinced myself I’d be single forever. After watching series one, I applied to build self-confidence and learn practical skills around dating and intimacy.”
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Callum, 21, from Preston
The youngest of the group, Virgin Island cast member Callum is still processing the death of his father just over two years ago. He lives a solitary existence in his dad’s old house and spends most of his time either sleeping or gaming.
Callum has never been kissed and is the virgin of his friendship group. He says people are often shocked to find out he is a virgin as he’s quite good looking, so they assume getting girls is easy for him.
Why he signed up for Virgin Island: “I wanted to change more than my virgin label. I wanted to shift my mindset, get motivated, and start living more fully. I’d been spending too much time alone in my room gaming and I knew I needed help to break that pattern.”
Cast of Virgin Island season 2: Ed, 27, from Staffs
Ed was born with limb difference in his arm and hand due to Poland Syndrome. He has scars on his chest from grafts and operations to correct a missing pectoral muscle and to correct his fingers.
Ed hasn’t experienced sex or intimacy of any kind. He worries that girls will think he is “weird or gross” if they get intimate. His parents have never spoken to him about sex and he feels a sense of growing isolation.
Biggest challenge of the series: “Having no way to avoid difficult situations – emotionally or physically – and having to face them head on. Especially where my disability made things harder.”
Cast of Virgin Island season 2: Ellen, 35, Hayward’s Heath
Ellen has yet to progress past kissing and puts that down to a total lack of guidance from home or school. She experiences significant anxiety around sex, touch and physical closeness and worries she will “do it wrong” when it comes to anything sexual.
Despite this, Ellen remains curious, hopeful and open to growth as a gay woman. Ellen wants to learn how to flirt, how to touch and be touched and how to develop romantic connections without fear. Importantly, she wants to feel comfortable in her own body.
Why she applied: “I applied after watching series one and realising the kind of therapy on the show actually existed. I’d felt alone and embarrassed about my anxiety around sex and intimacy, and I wanted support to build confidence in my sexuality and finally feel comfortable giving and receiving pleasure.”
Jason, 26, from Manchester
Postman Jason is a self-confessed loner who struggles to flirt or talk about anything sexual. He worries that he’ll be on his own for the rest of his life as he finds it so difficult to talk to females, let alone kiss, hug or have sex.
Why he applied: “I didn’t apply myself – my friends applied to it but I decided to go with it after watching a few episodes. I honestly didn’t know what I’d hope to get out of the experience beyond vague ideas of improving my confidence with women.”
Joy, 22, from Falmouth
Joy is a practising Christian who confesses to growing up as a “nerdy, opinionated teenager”. At 19 she blossomed and is now a young woman with sexual feelings. But she needs to tackle the religious shame that weighs her down so heavily.
As well as dealing with religious shame, Joy has been diagnosed with vaginismus, and this has affected any previous attempts at sexual intimacy.
Why she applied for Virgin Island season 2: “Despite having a vaginismus diagnosis for years, I had only made minimal progress and was starting to lose hope of ever being healed. Deep down, I think I knew I needed the expert help and was just hiding behind the humour of it all.
Biggest challenge: “The biggest challenge for me was battling feelings of shame throughout the retreat, which were almost debilitating at times. The purity culture I was raised in does not allow for sexual experiences outside of the heterosexual marriage mould (even if the end goal of that exploration is primarily to insert a tampon). I am so grateful for the other contributors, for Ilil’s therapeutic approach and for the attentive welfare team, all helping me feel supported and safe as I navigated this sensitive issue.”
Virgin Island season 2 cast: Katie, 22, from Peterborough
Katie is a young woman who enjoys romance novels and who desperately wants to fall in love. School was a very difficult time for her – she was bullied and voted ugliest girl in the school, and this has scarred her deeply.
Katie’s self-esteem is at an all-time low, but she believes that going on Virgin Island is a chance to confront her issues around self-worth so that she can finally have the love and romance she craves.
Biggest challenge of Virgin Island: “The biggest challenge I faced on the island was probably holding myself back from all of the 1-1 therapy sessions. My anxiety and worries stood out massively when it came to these sessions, which made me not get as much out of these 1-1s as I could have. I definitely got more out of the workshops and practice with the group members.”
Virgin Island cast: Marianne, 26, from London
Marianne is a smart and sociable young woman who has no problem attracting the opposite sex. But when it comes to intimacy and taking things past the “making out” stage, she says that her body freezes as she feels “such fear and distrust”.
She’s never had a relationship she trusted enough to go further, and she tends to shut things down when emotional or physical risks feel too great.
Why she signed up: “Living with ADHD, I work very hard to take care of my mental health and to work through personal challenges. But I’ve always felt that, when it comes to certain aspects of physical intimacy, there’s a wall I haven’t been able to get past. Even though I understand why I am the way I am, I’ve struggled to figure out how to move forward. That’s why Virgin Island felt like an opportunity worth exploring. I hoped it might help me feel more free by allowing me to show up for myself in a new way and face these challenges in a genuinely safe and supportive environment.”
Biggest challenge: “I have ADHD, and with it comes a lot of challenges. One of the biggest challenges on the island was having to adjust to a new routine and constantly deal with unexpected changes throughout the day in such an emotionally charged environment. I had to constantly check in and figure out if I truly felt like a boundary had been crossed or if it was just my ADHD brain trying to dissociate because I was overwhelmed. With that came a lot of mental exhaustion because it is intense therapy.”
Virgin Island season 2 cast: Millie, 22, from Dudley
Millie is fun and popular, and thought she would lose her virginity at university. But now she is back living at home and still a virgin. She applied to Virgin Island because she’s tired of living in fear of something that should bring joy. She wants to stop feeling “broken”.
She said: “I want the old Millie back, the one who didn’t hold back or care what anyone thought.”
Why she applied: “I applied to be on Virgin Island to find peace and overcome personal challenges. After three years at university, and avoiding romantic opportunities, I feared losing myself and being alone forever. I knew I had unresolved issues that needed addressing to progress in life and of course to have great sex. I hoped to come away from the from therapy confident, carefree, knowledgeable about female anatomy. And overall accepting of myself.”
Tegan, 25, from Glasgow
She came out as gay seven years ago with the full support of her family but can’t seem to progress past first dates. She is fed up of staying in the friend zone and wants to learn how to exude sexual energy.
Why she applied: “I decided to apply to Virgin Island because I was feeling like I was succeeding in every part of my life aside from my romantic and sexual life. I have a steady job and my own home. But I had never got past the first date or done anything more than kiss someone drunk in a nightclub. I lacked a lot of self-confidence. And I was lacking any sort of experience with sexual intimacy. So I was afraid of not knowing what I was doing in the bedroom. I hoped that I would gain more self confidence in talking to women and learning skills that would help my confidence when a relationship would eventually advance to the bedroom.”
Virgin Island cast: Will, 30, from Solihull
Landscape gardener Will is confident, fun and sociable. But he feels great sadness at only having limited intimacy experiences when he was much younger. He is worried about his issues with premature ejaculation and thinks it might be a problem when trying to have fulfilling sex with a partner.
Why he applied: “My friend sent me the application and I thought, well, what’s the worst that can happen? I have had a fear of premature ejaculation for a long time and hoped this was something the therapists may be able to help me with.”
Read more: Shock skinny dipping scene set to air as Virgin Island returns for season 2
