Reality TV moment that is never aired

Working in the media, you are often invited into the worlds very different than your own, but nothing could have prepared me for this.

The Binge original series FBoy IslandAustralia is hosted by Abbie Chatfield and sees three women date a group of 24 men – half of whom are self-proclaimed Nice Guys and the other half FBoys. They just don’t know which is which.

The FBoys are solely there to try and win a cash prize, while the Nice Guys supposedly want to find love.

It is a wild concept and a wild place … even when the cameras aren’t rolling.

Read on if you are willing for some reality TV illusions to be both shattered and confirmed.

The confidence (and audacity) is very real

Let’s start with the cast.

Whether you are an FBoy or a Nice Guy, you would think the strategy would be to come across as a Nice Guy to make it all the way to the end.

But after one day our small media group were left scratching our heads wondering who wasn’t an FBoy.

Don’t get me wrong, they were all polite to us, but let me paint you a picture.

Within seconds of our group being escorted through the doors of the boys’ huge villa, we had been approached and excitedly asked if we were intruders, followed down a corridor and showered with compliments.

As we walked towards the designated gym area in the yard, a shirtless man wiggled his pecs, his face deadpan, never breaking eye contact.

In a casual group conversation one man told me he owned a yacht (spoiler alert: he doesn’t) and another drew attention to his Rolex.

At no point during the above mentioned moments were the cameras rolling or the three women they needed to win over present.

I can confirm, these personalties are very real.

They just turned the confidence up even further when it was show time.

During lunch, I looked out the window to find two men hosing themselves down in Budgy Smugglers in front of a camera and lighting crew.

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The reality of filming reality TV

FBoy Island is not a Big Brother situation where there are cameras in the walls.

There is a camera crew and the cast are told when they will be filmed – more like The Bachelor.

The biggest shock to me was that there is often multiple takes needed of the exact same thing.

We watched one of the women and her date walk back and forth on the beach to get the perfect entrance to their picnic set-up, and most awkwardly, an argument where the instigator walked over to confront a man sitting at the bar and then got told to do the walk again.

So committed to the confrontation, he obliged all while keeping a straight face and his anger bubbling.

The leading ladies said this part of reality television was also the biggest surprise to them.

“Like I walked up and then they were like ‘again’ and I was like ‘Wait, what? What do you mean?’” Sophie Blackley laughed.

Ziara Rae added: “Obviously watching a reality TV show from the outside in, everything looks great, it’s perfect, it’s going so smoothly whereas in real life it can be going smoothly but there is stopping and starting.”

It can be anything down to the positioning of the women and men, or the cameraman, the lighting (including the sun), or other technical reasons.

Blackley and Rae also said they were shocked by how many people were involved in making the show. The crew is certainly not just a handful of people with a camera.

The hidden sleeping arrangements

While the FBoy Island villa is huge and luxurious, the men are actually all bunking together in single bunk beds.

And there are plenty of rooms used by production that are off-limits.

A small glimpse of the sleeping quarters were shown in episode one when professional basketballer Cory kicked emergency officer Darcy out of “his room”.

The sleeping arrangements sure add to the tension in the house, which the men told me there was a lot of.

“I have a strong dominant personality, if I don’t like something I’m going to tell you I don’t like it. If I don’t like you, I’m going to tell you I don’t like you,” personal trainer Caleb (an FBoy pretending to be a Nice Guy) explained when I asked the reason for so many disagreements only days into filming.

Headshots

Just like you may have seen on X Factor or Australia’s Next Top Model, or even on the American dramedy UnREAL, behind the scenes there is a table with all the men’s headshots laid out for the producers.

And there is a board where they pin said headshots during discussions.

From reality TV to influencer

It’s no secret the appeal of reality television to some (or many) is a pathway to becoming an influencer.

And if anyone was going to admit it, it would be these guys.

They didn’t hold back on expressing their hopes for “career opportunities” after the show.

The first two episodes of FBoy Island Australia are now streaming on BINGE.

News Corp, publisher of this website, is majority owner of BINGE