CABIN FEVER
With bikinis, hot tubs and bed-hopping, it’s ITV’s raunchy alternative to Love Island – with a twist. Brace yourself for...
LOVE Island may have fallen foul of Corona rules. But for those for eager to watch bikiniclad wannabes canoodling in hot tubs, all is not lost.
A replacement show called The Cabins will also feature glamorous singletons yearning f or l ove – although this time with a twist.
While Love Island contestants were nearly all straight, two of this year’s crop are lesbians.
The five men and seven women – all under 30 – include an architecture student, an air stewardess, a bingo caller and a bin man.
Paired up by producers, they will get to know each other in cabins in what ITV would only describe as ‘an idyllic setting in the UK’. After 24 hours, they’ll choose either to stay together for another day or leave the show and hand their cabin to a new couple. There is no winner of the three-week series and no prize money.
Eldest contestant Charlotte, a 29-year-old operations manager for a coffee company, was previously ‘engaged to a guy’ but has been dating women for 18 months. She said: ‘I feel like I’m still learning my type. I definitely like the more alternative girls.
‘Tattoos, piercings... and more tomboy than really girly. Someone that can make me smile, make me laugh and make me feel safe. Someone that I
‘I like someone who is intelligent’
don’t question at night whether they like me.’ Sarah, a 26-year- old actress who specialises in ‘murder mystery’ roles, has dated men but now goes mostly for women.
She said: ‘I quite like someone who is quite intelligent and has something about them in that way.
‘I do a million and one things all the time, so probably someone who is capa
ble of putting up with me. But at the same time someone who is quite active themselves. I’ve dated men, but not a lot. Primarily I’m women, but if I fall for a guy, I’ll give them a chance. I do classify myself as lesbian.’
Jess, 24, from Newport in south Wales, is after ‘a male version of me’ and footballer Mamudo, 23, wants someone to ‘match my energy’.
Robyn, 26, is ‘ready’ for romance after being single for four years and ‘confident’ Will, 28, wants someone to have a laugh with.
Love Island, set in Majorca with the winter version filmed in South Africa, has taken a break due to Covid-19. The second series in 2016 featured the first same- sex pairing, when Sophie Gradon temporarily ‘coupled’ with glamour model Katie Salmon. Both then ‘re-coupled’ with men.
The Cabins, which starts on ITV2 on Monday at 9pm, was filmed in November. The channel said contestants and crew were split into small groups to comply with social distancing rules and tested before they went in.