FBoy Island stars respond to the show's criticism: 'Complete opposite'

After months of anticipation, the brand new reality show FBoy Island Australia hosted by former reality TV contestant-turned-media mogul Abbie Chatfield has finally arrived.

The BINGE original series follows three women trying to work out which of the 24 contestants are ‘nice guys’ looking for love and which are the self-proclaimed ‘FBoys’ who are only there to play the game and win the prize money.

FBoy Island, which is based on the successful US series of the same name, sparked controversy when it was first announced in December - with Bachelor star Laura Byrne arguing it “encourages men to lie to women and manipulate their emotions in order to win a cash prize”.

However, one of the show’s three leads, 26-year-old occupational therapist Molly O’Halloran, tells Yahoo Lifestyle this is far from the truth.

“The common misconception is people who just see the name ‘FBoy’ and think that it's promoting awful behaviour, and it's the complete opposite,” she explains.

“It’s girls supporting girls and knowing their self-worth and calling out s**tty behaviour because we've had enough.”

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26-year-old DJ Sophie Blackley adds that she hopes the biggest takeaway from the show is the power of sisterhood.

“Put your girls first, through and through. Guys come and go and they will lie to you,” she says, before adding with a laugh, “Well, some of them”.

'It's very different'

While the show’s unique concept allows for plenty of drama amongst the cast, the trio of women assert that there was never any conflict between themselves while filming - especially when it came to choosing who they wanted to pursue a connection with.

“I feel like a lot of the audience is going to think that it’s all fake because it all happened so organically and naturally that we just were drawn to these guys and there was no fighting over guys at all,” Sophie says.

“To be honest, somebody worked some magic in casting, because we're all incredibly different and individual women but somehow we got along like a house on fire,” Molly remarks. “If I didn't have these two next to me at the eliminations I would have been a hot mess.”

The stars add that FBoy Island - which they describe in three words as “wet, raunchy and rogue” - can’t be compared to any other reality TV show in Australia.

“It's young and it's fresh,” 21-year-old model Ziara Rae describes. “I feel like some shows are kind of getting a little bit old and people are kind of sick of the normal dating show. This isn't like that. We’re taking the piss so much of the time, but we're also taking things really seriously that aren't that serious.

“It's very light-hearted,” Molly says. “You do have serious elements where you are sitting down and having the classic chat on the rug with the cheese board and whatever, but we've also got the parts that are just absolutely hilarious.

“It’s very different, very fun, and I think a better representation of what dating actually looks like.”

What it was like having Abbie Chatfield as host

The three leads agree that Abbie Chatfield was the perfect person to host FBoy Island, having established herself as a “feminist icon” while also hosting her own national radio show and podcast over the past few years.

“She’s awesome,” Ziara shares. “She's so funny, she’s got so many jokes, and her energy is just super contagious. Every time we were around we were just so giddy.”

Ziara, who admits she was encouraged to apply for FBoy Island by her mum who is a big fan of Abbie, adds that the Masked Singer judge “felt like a big sister” during filming.

“She was excited about everything the whole way,” she details. “She was really good at helping us navigate through the experience and she was genuinely so invested in everything.

“There was just so much drama. I feel like every time we stepped outside it was a bloody roller coaster. So much happened.”

FBoy Island Australia is now streaming on Binge.

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