10 things you didn't know about FBoy Island direct from the source
Where do the eliminated FBoys on FBoy Island live when the cameras stop filming? (Surely not the cots in Limbro!) Is there any proof that season 2's Mia promised to pick Danny over Peter in the finale? Has anyone fallen into the pool on the elimination stage?
There've only been two seasons of HBO Max's FBoy Island, the first reality dating series for the streamer, but already we have loads of questions about this wild bro-fest of a show, hosted by comedienne and executive producer Nikki Glaser. And now, we have answers.
EW sat down with showrunners Sam Dean and Bill Dixon over Zoom to ask some of our burning questions.
Did Mia really promise Danny that she would choose him?
Hassen Salum/HBO Max Mia and Danny cozy up on the 'FBoy Island' couch in season 2.
During the events of the season 2 finale, after Mia chose Peter over Danny, she took her eliminated man off to make her apologies. That's when Danny claimed that Mia had promised — pinky promised, in fact — that she would choose him. It's the moment that made Danny denounce Geminis forever.
We asked the producers if there was any footage to back that up.
"They had time alone in a bedroom the night after the Mansplain," Dean says. "So, it could have been pillow talk." For what it's worth, she adds, "I didn't hear Mia say anything specific about choosing Danny. I would talk to her every day, and every day she was very pro-Peter for the first half. Then she was very confused, and she would be very torn between Peter and Danny right up until the last day."
Where do the eliminated FBoys actually stay?
Hassen Salum/HBO Max The season 2 FBoys bro-down in Limbro.
There's no way all the axed FBoys really spend their days and nights on the cots in Limbro, right? Right?!
Right. Dixon confirms the guys are put up either in a house or a hotel.
"Honestly, if I had a choice between some of the cheap hotels down there [in the Cayman Islands] and actually staying in Limbro, I might choose Limbro," he jokes. "They go to a hotel, and they're fed every day, and they're fine. We were really lucky when we shot in the Caymans. There was no COVID in Cayman in season 1, so we were all just living large. But this season, they spent a lot of time in hotel rooms, doing pushups, and trying to convert their hotel rooms into small improvised gyms. Then we would bring them over to Limbro in the middle of the blazing sun."
Dixon and Dean also confirm the eliminated guys sometimes go on trips during production if they weren't needed for filming. "If they're eliminated early, it's a really long commitment for them," Dixon remarks.
Why bring back Peter, Casey, and Garrett from season 1 in season 2?
Hassen Salum/HBO Max Season 1's Garrett and Casey return in 'FBoy Island' season 2.
"We were talking about that as soon as [season 1] ended," Dean says. "We knew who the favorites were and who everybody really responded to. We didn't make any full decisions until we'd also gone through casting [for season 2]."
"I think that there's a Marvel Cinematic Universe quality to our show," Dixon remarks. "You go, 'Man. What would be so funny is if Garrett were just sitting in Limbro the whole time."
Dean admits Garrett was "a tricky one" to bring back. They couldn't make him a love interest, like Peter or Casey. "We felt it wasn't gonna be as believable for the women. They were gonna be very suspicious and potentially taking up some space for somebody who was more honest," she says. "I mean, I don't think it would be believable if Garrett had come back claiming he was a Nice Guy again."
Were a bunch of JaBriane's scenes cut from season 2?
Hassen Salum/HBO Max JaBriane (R) is called up to the elimination stage in 'FBoy Island' season 2.
As the second season dropped weekly on HBO Max, JaBriane, a 28-year-old Nice Guy, answered fan questions during a Reddit Ask Me Anything. He said, "Tbh i had a better connection with Tamaris than [what] the show aired. And i didn't get a chance to talk to Mia or Louise before my first date but i definitely was interested in those other two ladies."
So, were JaBriane's scenes cut?
"The biggest complaint at the end of all these shows is, 'I had X conversation with X. Why was it not on the TV show?' And the reality is — it's not a fun or sexy reality — we have 23 cameras shooting 14 hours a day," Dixon explains. "Because of the nature of the TV show, it's not boring. So there's people going and doing things. There's 50 sketches from Limbro that are cut entirely. FBoy Island is like eating Oreos. Four is fun, but if you eat five sleeves of them, you walk away going, 'That doesn't feel great anymore.' So there's just a certain amount of compressing what is ultimately three days of shooting into 33-40 minutes."
Dixon confirms JaBriane "is totally correct" in his statement. The showrunner notes that he and Tamaris "had great conversations." However, "Those relationships were not romantic in nature, and we're making a dating show," he adds. "But I wish I could just make a JaBriane TV show."
Have any of the women fought over the men behind the scenes?
HBO Max Tamaris Sepulveda brought a major twist to 'FBoy Island' in season 2.
The producer in Dean would love to see a love triangle emerge, but so far that hasn't happened.
"I think this possibly happens more with women than men: all of them had an immediate reaction, immediate attraction to somebody that got to the finale," Dean says. "Mia was immediately attracted to Peter, Louise was immediately attracted to Mercedes, and Tamaris to Tom, but then Casey came in and it was full focus on Casey. One of the challenges is to still try to work with them so that they're giving everybody a chance."
Has anyone accidentally fallen into the pool on the elimination stage?
Hassen Salum/HBO Max 'FBoy Island' season 2's finale was full of twists.
"I know, it's really scary. They haven't," Dean says.
"Don't put that energy out into the universe," Dixon remarks. "But that was definitely a fear when the set was going up. There were well-positioned lights, and we would walk everyone through, and people didn't drink alcohol leading up to it, which helped."
Did Tamaris have access to a colorist for pink touch-ups?
HBO Max Tamaris Sepulveda on 'FBoy Island' season 2.
"We have hair and makeup for the women, and then the hair stylist would touch up her hair as often as he thought was safe," Dean recalls. "It became the bane of everyone's life. That hair, I'm pretty sure Tamaris died her hair the day she went home back to blonde, a completely different color. It was a lot of maintenance for her."
What was going on with Niko's eye in the finale?
Hassen Salum/HBO Max Tamaris considers Casey and Niko as her love match on 'FBoy Island' season 2.
If you thought it was a stye, it was probably a stye. Either that or some kind of bite.
"It is so dusty down there," Dixon explains. "If you end up in Limbro or the Nice Guy Grotto, it doesn't matter. Mexico is a beautiful country, but there's lots of dirt. People are sleepless. They're tired. Lord knows the night before Mansplain, nobody's sleeping. I think that can be high stress, and especially standing up on that elimination stage reciting a whole thing you have in your head, it may have been a stress-induced stye."
What are the producers looking for in prospective contestants?
Hassen Salum/HBO Max The women bond over cards in 'FBoy Island' season 2.
Ultimately, Dean and Dixon are looking for people, men and women, who believe what they're saying. "If they say that they're an FBoy, we are really looking for, what does it mean to you to be an FBoy?" Dean says, as an example. "And then we are looking at the nuances and the levels of what it means to be an FBoy, 'cause we don't want somebody who's evil."
"Is it somebody like Mercedes, who's so strategic and the right side of maniacal, but is going to put himself first in every situation against the guys?" she continues. "Then there are FBoys that we know may have just been players the whole time and have been cheated on by every girlfriend, but are essentially Nice Guys. You think there is a chance that they could really shift their personality."
There's a Nice Guy scale, as well, from the self-proclaimed reformed Nice Guy to the unaware mamma's boy to more fully formed gentlemen.
"Even though we're labeling people as FBoys or Nice Guys, we really try and look for the nuance in the three-dimensional and believe that there are good and bad in each side of the scale," Dean notes.
Of course, there are other elements, too, like group camaraderie and entertainment value. Who do you just want to watch on TV? Who can stand out in a crowd and not just be a side character?
Dean and Dixon are more pleased with the casting for season 2, compared to season 1. That includes the three women they found. The producers acknowledge you can never guarantee unity among the women, but it's lovely when it happens. "We want [the women] to be three distinct characters," she says.
Are FBoy Island spin-offs in the works?
Hassen Salum/HBO Max Comic and executive producer Nikki Glaser hosts 'FBoy Island.'
Dean and Dixon admit they don't really know what they'll be doing next, even for a potential season 3. (A number of shows and movies have already been canceled by Warner Bros. Discovery in light of the WarnerMedia merger with Discovery.)
Dean says it would be great to do some kind of FGirl Island, but they are taking cues from how people respond to FBoy Island. "It's really enjoyable because we can't just be arrogant producers that think we have it, 'cause we don't have it," she says.
FBoy Island seasons 1 and 2 are available on HBO Max.
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