Our newest reality TV obsession, Stranded On Honeymoon Island, has been anything but smooth sailing. It’s been billed as a cross between Australian Survivor and Married At First Sight (MAFS), and contestant Mike Dawes prepared for the show by putting on a whopping five kilos. After weeks of eating barely anything on the island, he ended up having a drastic transformation, and it’s almost hard to believe.
“I thought it would have challenges like Survivor. Which apparently it was in the works and [at the] last minute it got pulled,” Mike tells Chattr. “Which made sense as the entire experience went in four-day cycles. One of these days was a nothing day.”
By the end of Stranded On Honeymoon Island, Mike had dropped a massive 9.5kg, mostly due to the lack of food. Contestants are provided with basic rations, but must build a fire and cook all of their meals while on the island, except when they get served a feast at Couples Cove.
“As far as like for the environment, side of thing is, we were eating — I think it was like about 600 calories a day, like I lost [over] 9kg on that island,” Mike adds. “We didn’t know what to expect the first season. So there were things I thought would happen that didn’t… it was quite the adventure, for sure.”
His onscreen wife, Amy Dickinson, confirms they were allowed the “bare basics” when it came to food. “So rice, pasta, vegetables, fruit, lentils and nuts [were] what we were provided. And I guess the challenge came with every time we had to eat a meal, we had to build a fire from scratch,” she explains.
“It was just very labour-intensive. Yeah, it wasn’t easy. Like nothing about the experience was easy. It was just one giant challenge.”
Does Mike regret going on Stranded On Honeymoon Island?
Mike and Amy haven’t been doing that well as a couple — she labelled him as “misogynistic” after their wedding. Most recently, it was revealed Mike was her second choice, and she desperately wanted to be matched with Mr Man Bun in a salmon jacket, AKA Haydn Slater.
So, does he regret signing up for this wild reality TV show? According to Mike, he’s content with his decision to take part.
“Everything happens for reasons, so it’s an amazing experience and opportunity to do something completely different and to be thrown out of your comfort zone, taking all those modern dating things out. It’s different. I learned heaps from this, so I don’t have regrets,” he says.
There’s even parts of the experience he misses, now that he’s back in the real world. “I miss the waking up every day to the most beautiful sunrise you have ever seen in your life, and it’s just no phones, no work… just cruising, quite relaxing,” he says.
It’s interesting he didn’t say he missed being with Amy 24 hours a day… is this a clue that they’ve split? Or is he just being coy? We’ll have to wait for the next episode to drop.
Stranded On Honeymoon Island airs Tuesdays at 8:30pm on Channel 7 and 7Plus.
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