Woman reveals number one rule everyone is expected to follow in virgin-only retreat

A participant from Channel 4’s Virgin Island has revealed the strict rule everyone was expected to follow while filming the intimate reality series, and according to Marianne Banda, consent was taken “massive[ly]” seriously throughout the process.

Banda, now 27, appeared on the second season of the show at age 26. The series, which began airing last month, follows 12 British adult virgins as they travel to a luxury retreat to work through intimacy anxiety with the help of experts Dr Danielle Harel and Celeste Hirschman.

Across eight episodes, viewers watch the group take part in workshops designed to help them unlearn behaviors around intimacy and become more comfortable with physical connection. Participants also work one-on-one with sex surrogates and body workers as part of the therapy-focused experience.

Consent was the biggest rule on set

Speaking exclusively to VT, Banda explains that consent was constantly checked throughout filming and described the retreat as an “intense therapy” environment rather than just a reality show.

“The wellness process was something I've never experienced. They are on it from the get-go. Consent is massive. Nothing just happens. There's a continuous consent process. There's checking in, there's all these things, which is so reassuring because you don't have to do that,” she says.

“There's no slip-ups, it's properly checked. I think, because of that, you really get stuck in. This is proper therapy. Because it's very easy to feel, 'Oh, this is a show' when it's not. Obviously, there's the show element, but it is intense therapy."

Banda also praised the support system among the contestants, saying the vulnerable atmosphere could easily have gone very differently if the group had not bonded so quickly.

“We were all fully supporting each other on it,” she explains. “We're on the same page. We've got each other's backs.”

The hardest challenge was not what she expected

Although Banda admits she is rarely embarrassed and often encouraged other participants during awkward exercises, she says one workshop unexpectedly “messed with” her mentally.

“I will say the nudity [task] was the one that messed with my mind,” she reveals.

Banda says societal pressure and her ADHD made the exercise more emotionally difficult than she anticipated.

“My brain suddenly thinks that I need to be embarrassed about all these things because of the societal pressures and all these other things,” she says.

Despite the challenge, she pushed through because she believed it was important for her personal growth.

“I knew it was important for my growth,” Banda explains. “I would never be able to be fully embodied myself if I didn't do that.”

Why the retreat changed her life

Banda originally applied for Virgin Island almost as a joke after a friend sent her the casting information and said it would be funny if she took part. But after eventually watching the first season, she realized the experience was something she genuinely needed.

“And then I watched it again, and I got screaming,” she recalls. “And then something clicked. I was like, this is something that I truly, I think I need.”

The reality star said taking part in the show completely changed her life.

“It's the best adult decision I've ever made in my life,” Banda says.

She explains that the retreat helped her deal with emotional barriers she had carried for years.

“Not for the virginity thing, for the mental weights and guards I've put up,” she says. “I think, mentally, it's changed me a lot.”

Banda also revealed that the cast have remained close since filming wrapped in October, saying they still speak every day and regularly meet up.

“We talk every single day, we've had reunions, we have meet-ups with each other,” she says. “We're all just really, yeah, help each other.”

As for what she missed most while filming, Banda jokes that giving up access to her phone right after a new Taylor Swift album dropped may have been one of the toughest parts of the retreat.

“This is going to sound so stupid, but the new Taylor Swift album had come out, and that was the day we had to go to the island,” she says.

Featured image credit: Channel 4