ITV have announced the launch of another reality dating show… with a little more reality. The Romance Retreat, which many have likened to a Love Island spin-off, will feature single-parent contestants within the cast, and a variety of ages.
The casting call-out reads: “This is the ONLY dating show where single parents can search for love, by spending time in a luxury retreat, where all the parents have been nominated by their grown-up children.”
Since its the “grown-up children” that will be sending their parents off to find love, most reports conclude that The Romance Retreat will be the middle-aged version of Love Island that many have been calling for.
We don’t have many clues about the series, yet, except for a photograph of a swanky-looking house which is presumably where the show will be set – though it’s hard to tell if it’s in the UK or abroad, like Love Island. Casting applications for the show will close on 31 March, so perhaps it’s due to film this summer?
ITV
As for who’s hosting the show, it’s anyone’s guess – though Davina McCall has spoken of how she pitched an idea of a ‘mid-life Love Island’ to ITV with hopes to present it. “I’m begging ITV to let me present mid-life Love Island,” she said during her interview on podcast Diary Of A CEO.
“I could fill a villa in Love Island with middle-aged people with the best back stories you have ever heard in your life,” she said. “They’ve lived a life – they’re widows, they’re people who have been through horrific divorces. They are people who have split up with somebody and decided they want to try going out with somebody the same sex as them. They’re like interesting people. I’d watch that show.”
