One Perfect Couple
By Ruth Wars
Simon & Schuster
There are five couples on a desert island for 10 weeks in a Love Island meets Survivor reality television program. Tasks are set to challenge the couples and people are gradually eliminated and have to leave the island.
The director is using the tried and tested formula of picking a mix of potentially volatile people who are going to perform for the cameras, winding them up using high-stress situations, adding alcohol and letting the cameras roll.
The partnerships tested to the hilt in the heat of competition. People who seem to come from a wide spectrum of ages, ethnicities and physical attributes, but have one thing in common – they are all extremely good looking.
Scientist Lyla doesn’t know what she is doing as one of the contestants (given the label of “girl-next-door fuckable”), other that her gym-toned, spray tanned actor boyfriend Nico feels that it might lead to his big break.
Incurable optimist Nico has been chasing opportunities for the last two years while Lyla has been paying the bills, so a the chance to escape London’s winter rain and spend some time on an all-expenses paid holiday in paradise did seem enticing.
Lyla hopes that she is one of the first to be expelled from the island as she only has two weeks off from her job. Dan also wants to spend as little time as possible, as he is only doing a favour for his best friend Santana, and wants to get back to his boyfriend.
When the contestants hand in all their communication devices, the exclusive boutique haven in the middle of the Indian Ocean does not be the location for much of a holiday. Surviving the twists and turns challenging the contestants is only the beginning as there is an approaching storm.
In the aftermath of the storm, the narrative is interrupted by mayday calls for help from the stricken island, and a diary written by one of the contestants that somehow doesn’t match the unfolding story. The plot thickens and the adrenaline ramps up.
With echoes of Lord of the Flies, it seems that some contestants are determined to win at all costs even though their lifelines have disappeared, along with the premise of a television program.
Lezly Herbert
