Entertainment

Meet The 'Shipwrecked' Castaways Going Head To Head In The Battle Of The Islands

by Aoife Hanna
Shipwrecked/Channel 4

Shipwrecked is back so basically you have another stepping stone to cling onto before Love Island comes back. Who would have thought that putting a load of young attractive people on a desert island would be so entertaining? Duh everyone! And lord knows that the Channel 4 execs knew they were on to a winner here, bringing back the show after a seven year hiatus, to E4. And you guys, Shipwrecked's 2019 contestants will have you hooked on the show.

Y'all might not have seen the show in the past, but I can assure you, yes you did miss out and yes you really need to watch this. So the idea behind the show is two teams, the Tigers and the Shark, are competing against each other from their rival islands. New members join the islands throughout the series, and the winning team is the one with the most members. The eventual winning team can take home £50,000. Wow that is a lot of bikinis.

The show used to be on in the day time, however this time round it will be on every weekday at 9p.m. on E4 meaning there will be a lot more time for all the racier bits, swearing, and of course — reality TV style bust ups. Interestingly, unlike Love Island this isn't being broadcast live, so the show has already been filmed. So who are the lucky folks who get to go to the island? And more importantly, who is your new Shipwrecked crush? Read on to find out what the castaways told Channel 4 about themselves and their experience.

Liv

19-year-old Liv is the youngest of the group but what she lacks in years she makes up in sass, confidence, and her no nonsense attitude. The Mancunian waitress describes herself as "kind hearted, attitude problem and funny."

Admitting to butting heads with a few of the group she did, however, feel that she grew from the show. "I went in so angry and full of hate," she explained. "I think it has made me so open-minded. Now when I am in an argument, I look at the other person’s viewpoint".

Big T

Chelsea gal Big T says she is "caring, entertaining, competitive." She feels she brings a uniqueness to the table, and I guess she proved herself to be a stand out character, revealing to Channel 4 that she had a massive argument with Liv on the first night.

"I had a massive fight with Liv and it was awful, I hated my first night. I thought ‘OMG is this what it is going to be like?'. Liv didn’t like me from the word go. She heard my Chelsea accent and she thought ‘right I don’t like her’."

Big T proved herself to be a caring person, doing all the cooking for the group. Watch out for sparks between her and Tom who she described as "the best looking man I have ever seen in my life."

Chris

Londoner and CEO of Strawberries and Creem Events Chris describes himself as caring, understanding, and fun. A bit of a sentimental soul, he really struggled with people leaving. "There were a lot of new people coming on the island and you made connections with them," he told Channel 4. "To then see those people go was difficult".

He prides himself on being the mediator of the bunch, helping break up any arguments or disagreements, so expect him to be diplomat-in-chief.

Emma

Publishing and English graduate Emma applied as a bit of a laugh and was surprised to get on the show. She describes herself as opinionated, unapologetic, and funny — a pretty scary sounding combination, but was she a big debater on the island?

"Everyone was so in tune," she says. "There was no need to have big political debate as everyone was on the same page, which was nice". Her luxury items were a hammock and a badminton set which she thinks was the best choice of anyone and TBH I kind of agree with that. Comfort and LOLs.

Harry

Professional model Harry is a Londoner and not unfamiliar with being away from home. "I often spend time away from home and I have actually only spent a month at home this year," he told Channel 4.

He describes himself as enigmatic, fun, and ruthless — a combination which sounds a little trying, but he actually says that he became the dad of the group. Well he did bring a cricket set as his luxury item. I suppose that is pretty dad-ish.

Hollie

Social media influencer Hollie is from Bromley and Shipwrecked was the first time she had ever camped in her life. Another one to watch for romance, as not only did she meet someone on the show, she says she is still with them.

So, a person who makes their living via social media was going to struggle in this environment right? Well, not this influencer who spilled that the experience has kind of changed her attitude. "It’s made me realise we don’t need social media and a phone all the time," she told Channel 4. "Life is so much less stressful without phones". Describing herself as caring, kind and outgoing, she said she was the camp counsellor. There's always one.

Khalia

Bedfordshire lass Khalia is the one to watch for romance, having admitted to Channel 4 that she also met someone on the island. "The best thing was we started off as really close friends. We spoke about everything and I helped him a lot. He was a deeper person than a lot people may have thought." Make your bets now, folks.

The model also works in a Chinese take away and loves playing football — so much so that she even brought a football as her luxury item. Fair play.

Kush

Recruitment manager Kush seemed to hit it off with the ladies, with two of them mentioning him as a true friend. Describing himself as eclectic, outgoing, and energising, he claims to have bonded well with several of the group. "I have always wanted to go travelling. But I needed a reason to go travelling," he explains. "I did not want to go travelling for the sake of it. I was over the moon when they picked me. I have never ever done anything like this before".

I am sure his team building skills from his professional life transferred to his time on the show. "I kept morale up. I made sure the camp was clean and everyone interacted. I am quite high energy and I was able to keep morale up". Valuable.

Tom

Devon native Tom is Studying Industrial Design at Loughborough University and training for the Marines. So survival skills probably aren't that unfamiliar to him. Speaking to Channel 4 he made it pretty obvious that he is ready for that outdoors life.

"Yeah I have done loads of outdoor stuff and I have spent a month in Borneo. It was a lot tamer on Shipwrecked. But there was a nice atmosphere, I had fun and I settled in well after the first day".

Describing himself as stubborn, honest, and loyal, Tom was totally not there for the drama, nor to listen to peoples' gripes. He described his worst part of the whole experience as "listening to the draining gossip about problems and them moaning about things."

Make sure you tune in to see all the drama, LOLs, romance, and perhaps an answer to the greatest mystery — how did they get this much time off work?

Watch Shipwrecked on E4 weekdays at 9 p.m. from January 28th