Virgin Island star thought she had to ‘convert’ gay friends – until she had big realisation
Joy on ‘Virgin Island’ series 2 (Channel 4)
A Virgin Island cast member has confessed her religious upbringing made her think she had to “convert” her gay friends, until she had a very big realisation of her own.
Channel 4 show Virgin Island returned to screens this week for a second series, with 12 brave participants hoping to gain experience and confidence with intimacy and relationships.
Among them is 22-year-old Joy, who brought along with her plenty of “religious shame” and her struggles with Vaginismus, which causes her pain and left her scared to have sex.
In the second episode on 28 April, Joy spoke to her co-stars about her teenage years at school.
She said: “When I was 12, I remember thinking, ‘Oh my gosh, why has God given me so many friends? I now have to convert all of them.’ It took me a couple years to realise I was one in fact one of them.”
Virgin Island and LGBTQ+ representation
Joy is not the only queer participant on this year’s Virgin Island.
During Monday night’s first episode, when 35-year-old participant Ellen joined the group, she asked: “Is anyone else in the LGBTQ+ community?”
Millie and Tegan both raised their hands.
Tegan, 25, came out as gay seven years ago and said: “I grew up in a very traditional town, there wasn’t a lot of open queer people.”
Millie, 22, explained: “When I knew I was bi, I didn’t tell my parents. I was actually quite scared.”
Does Virgin Island actually work?
In series one, participant Dave was the only participant to go all the way on the show, having sex with one of the surrogate partners.
However it clearly helped with other cast members, including Holly who, in February, announced that she was pregnant.
It has also been revealed that two couples formed during series two, with show boss Tom Garland telling The Mirror: “It’s definitely a by-product of what we set up. I mean, nobody went out to make any dating content apart from, like, giving tips. What’s lovely is that their guards came down this time and just something magic happened.”
Virgin Island airs Mondays and Tuesdays at 9pm on Channel 4.
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