Andy DehnartOne of the earliest broadcast reality shows, Temptation Island, is returning to television, though probably not on its original network, Fox. Instead, USA Network is likely picking up the rebooted series.
News of the reboot came yesterday, when “Banijay Group CEO Marco Bassetti unveiled plans for a U.S. reboot of its Temptation Island format” at Realscreen West, according to Realscreen magazine.
Deadline followed up with a story reporting that “USA Network is in advanced negotiations” for the show.
USA currently airs two family-focused reality shows, Chrisley Knows Best and The Cromarties, and also American Ninja Warrior: Ninja vs. Ninja.
Tempting couples to cheat on their partners
Banijay Rights describes the show’s format as “The ultimate test of faithfulness.” Couples go to Temptation Island and then split up, spending time with hot “tempters,” and then reuniting to discuss how tempted they were, and what they may have done.
It’s not clear how the rebooted show would be different from the original, if at all. It’s also not clear why anyone would go on this show.
Three seasons of Temptation Island, all hosted by Mark L. Walberg (not Mark Wahlberg of Wahlburgers and a few movies), aired between 2001 and and 2003, though only the first season did well in the ratings. Perhaps that was because of its controversy: one of the couples was revealed to have children, and removed from the show.
The couple later sued Fox, saying the production company knew about their kids all along and told them to lie. They also said they participated in Temptation Island because they were actors in search of publicity.