Heartbreak Island, the Kiwi answer to Love Island, is back – and it’s international.
The show, which was first premiered by TVNZ in 2018, has been resurrected for 2022 by Warner Bros. Discovery and Three, to include contestants from Australia, the United Kingdom and United States, as well as Kiwis.
A new host, radio’s Clint Randell, of The Masked Singer NZ and Dancing With The Stars NZ fame, has also been added.
However, the formula of a tropical location, games and challenges, tanned bods, high drama and $100,000 prize money for the last couple standing remain the same.
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“I couldn’t wait to start shooting Heartbreak Island, this time with our first ever global cast,” Randell said in a statement.
“I cheered, laughed, teared up, stirred the pot, threw in a few twists and made life-long friends. I can’t wait for Kiwi viewers to see it. Audiences are in for a real ride.”
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The usual topical adventures await fans of Heartbreak Island.
This year’s contestants include three Kiwi women and two Kiwi men, with the rest of the 16 contestants coming from overseas.
The Kiwis are: Professional dancer Maiata Boxer, 20, model and actress Ashleigh Williams, 25, sociology and criminology student and preschool teacher Milly Forbes, 24, singer-songwriter Mez Tekeste, 29, and performing arts student Manaaki Hoepo, 21.
From Australia: Plumbing apprentice Bailey Neate, 22, bar managers Amber Yee, 25, and Alexandra Carter, 21, social media manager and personal trainer Kacey Watson, 23, hair salon coordinator Tiarne Butler, 28, and tradesman Jake Spinner, 26.
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Kiwi model and actress Ashleigh Williams is among the contestants.
From the UK: Professional footballer Max Batchelor, 21, who plays for A.S.D. Castel San Giorgio Calcio, and postman Kieran Hickey, 24. Batchelor is also a New Zealand citizen.
From the US: Chiropractic student and security guard Shamar Sinegal, 21, and real estate agent Chris Burgoon, 25, and media manager and stylist Holly Barnes, 20.
The show was shot at a resort in Fiji where contestants faced challenges and “passion plays” – team games designed to test the couples’ burgeoning relationships – in a bid to escape elimination from the show. The last couple standing gets $100,000.
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Kiwi performing arts student Manaaki Hoepo will play for love – and money.
When the show first aired in 2018, hosted by Matilda Rice and Mark Dye, it was not well received, with one critic calling it “a new nadir for reality television”, while others called it the worst NZ TV show of all time, “bleak” and “the televisual equivalent of standing over the toilet bowl and watching your own evacuations swirl away”.
“I thought I was going to love this show, but I’m cringing,” reality TV aficionado Jay-Jay Feeney wrote at the time. ”I’m sorry, but I’m going back to Three’s Dancing with the Stars.”
“I think I have seen it. The end. The collapse of civilisation,” Stuff reviewer Jack van beynen wrote in 2018.
“It was toned and tanned and well-groomed. It smeared sunscreen over its bulging biceps, its butt, its flawless skin. It sipped cocktails by teal tropical water. It was Heartbreak Island.”
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Expect sun sand and romance on Heartbreak island.
The 2018 and 2019 seasons can be found on TVNZ On Demand. Heartbreak Island Season 3 will stream on ThreeNow.
