It feels like all of the TV production companies have had a bit of a sit down recently. In a big boardroom, a group of ‘ideas’ people come together and spent an afternoon trying to work out what the British public want from prime-time television. They’ve gone back through the most successful shows of late –* Love Island*, First Dates, Made In Chelsea, and so on – before it suddenly hit them: Reality TV is the shit at the moment. And, wow, everyone seems to really enjoy watching a good love story play out among typically tanned, toned and beautiful people. So, how can we incorporate all of these elements in a fresh new way, they wondered. The answer, it seems, is to take a group of typically tanned, toned and beautiful people who are, wait for it, already in relationships, and make them try and survive in a makeshift Roman Empire. That’d be fun, right? That’ll scoop all the ratings. Right?!
WATCH: Love Island: Where Are They Now?
These big strong men and their doting female counter parts will, of course, have to dress the part too. We’re talking shiny gold pants, teeny tiny togas and sandals. I get it. The whole point is that it’s meant to be sexy. But also, really? Is this really where we’re at? We were doing relatively well with reality TV before. _Love Islan_d, for all the questions raised around sexism and the apparent 'type' (in the physical sense) of person they tend to cast, ended up being the most talked about thing on telly for a time and sparked important conversations that we didn't see coming. And for the love of god, we've finally been given Bake Off back. So why have we literally been transported back to ancient times? I thought we'd progressed further from that guys.
That said, of course, we're all going to tune in for the first episode and try to get our heads around what this is *really *about. And maybe people will be really into it and it'll be really funny and we'll end up stalking these guys on Instagram as intently as the rest of the reality TV celebs. But, on first impressions and what we can gather from the trailer, I'm not all that convinced that that'll be the case.
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.