‘Drug-fuelled orgy’ game show Shipmates is like a more cringey Love Island
WITH its ‘drug-fuelled orgies’, pool parties and police raids, new game show Shipmates was tipped to be the wildest programme on TV this summer. But would the first episode, which airs tonight, live up to its reputation for wild ‘Geordie Shore’ style partying that it established during filming? The premise of the Channel 4 show […]
WITH its ‘drug-fuelled orgies’, pool parties and police raids, new game show Shipmates was tipped to be the wildest programme on TV this summer.
But would the first episode, which airs tonight, live up to its reputation for wild ‘Geordie Shore’ style partying that it established during filming?
The premise of the Channel 4 show is simple – two teams of five friends compete against each other in a series of tasks to gain votes from their fellow 1,500 cruise ship passengers.
The winners will be crowned the most popular, party-loving group on board and win a luxury trip to Bali.
With its game show format and sunny settings of Barcelona, Cannes, Ibiza and Palma, Shipmates was hoped to be the new Love Island.
But the reality is far from it.
Here, we meet the contestants and reveal what’s in store for the first episode.
Pooing in front of each other and bruised ‘fi-fis’
Special effects makeup artist Charlotte, 23, is the captain of team one.
She introduces herself as an adrenaline junkie who once bruised her ‘Fi-Fi’, while bungee jumping. “It was the size of a golf ball,” she remarked.
Her team mates include her former fling, former semi-pro footballer Lewis, 25, who looks down at his crotch while introducing himself and says: “I’ve got the full package, and when I say the full package, I mean the full package.”
Charlotte’s friend Maddi, 23, a data analyst is also in their gang.
She reveals she has a collection of moles around her nipple so refers to them as “the solar system” and likes to chat about her job, saying: “I run reports, build reports, use Excel spreadsheets. When I first started I sent a report that said North Wales but I spelt it Whales.”
Lewis’ brother Ashley, a 19-year-old conveyor belt engineer, and football coach Sean, 22, make up the rest of the group.
Speaking about his friendship with Lewis and the group dynamic, Sean reveals: “We’d have bottles of wine together on a Wednesday night. Maybe once or twice we even pooed in front of each other.”
Faking car crashes and slut-dropping
The second team is headed up by 27-year-old car sales executive Ed, who admits on the show he once pretended to be in a car accident to get out of a date.
Lauren, 22, showroom host at a car dealership, bizarrely admits she puts hemorrhoids cream under her eyes before going to bed every night to reduce puffiness.
She reveals: “I love to shake my bum and do a bit of slut dropping – obviously in a classy way.”
Other team members include bar manager Georgia, 22 and self-confessed ladies man and farrier, Jay, 28.
Also in their team is car salesman Jordan, 26, who reveals he is “sick at Scrabble” during a very tame game of truth or dare.
Using boobs to beg for votes
On the night out, the teams are tasked with trying to impress their fellow revellers.
Both teams brag about how fun they are but they adopt some bizarre tactics to prove it.
Instead of letting their hair down, the group run round desperately trying to convince people to vote for them.
Dancing with a stranger, Maddi turns on the charm, and in a desperate bid to secure a vote, shrieks: “You’ve got lovely boobs!”
“Thank you, they’re real,” the woman replies, before Maddi asks: “Will you vote for us?”
Sobbing in the toilet
Charlotte’s team start the night confidently, declaring they’re going to ‘have it large’ and win the challenge – but by the end of the night she’s crying in the toilet.
“He obviously doesn’t give a s**t about me – he never f***ing has,” she wails, after becoming jealous when Lewis kisses a woman on the dancefloor.
Clashing with Lewis and potentially sabotaging her own teams’ chances of seeming the most ‘fun’ she shouts: “You’ve been really disrespectful. You’re making me look like a bad person.
“We’re not going to win if it’s going to be like this.”
Stowaway ‘twist’
Like the constant introduction of new islanders into the Love Island villa to shake things up, teams on Shipmates are given the opportunity to sabotage their rivals.
They do this by choosing a ‘stowaway’ to join the opposite team.
Ed’s team receives a message in a bottle giving them two different types of stowaway to choose from – their mum or their colleague.
They opt to send one of their opposition’s colleagues on to the ship.
Charlotte’s team choose between a holiday hook-up or secret crush and end up selecting Georgia’s ex-fling, Josh, who is keen to rekindle their romance as soon as he boards.
Taking selfies and awkward conversations
When the party is in full swing, the two teams are still seen trying to impress the public, but the conversation falls flat.
The women spend most of their time taking selfies while the lads they’re trying to pull.
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Lewis tries to impress a girl by telling the her how expensive his aftershave is.
So will the introduction of two new stowaways mix things up in the next episode?
Only time will tell.
Shipmates airs Fridays at 11:05pm on Channel 4.