EVERY SPOKEN WORD
150 min read · 30,036 words- 0:00 – 1:25
Why Chris made this episode: Love Island insider answers (and saving time)
- CWChris Williamson
(wind blowing) So, the reason that I wanted to do this podcast is twofold. 60% of the reason why I wanted to do it was because I was on Love Island on season one, and the filming and editing process is interesting, and I know that it's a very popular TV program. I think that fans of the show would like to find out some of the stuff that goes on during the process. 40% of the reason-
- G1Guest 1
(laughs)
- CWChris Williamson
... (laughs) is due to a pure time management perspective that I get asked the same questions over and over, and now all that I need to do is link them to this single podcast.
- G1Guest 1
So even 10 minutes ago, you got a text saying, "What was Love Island like?"
- CWChris Williamson
"Hi, mate. What was it like on Love Island?"
- G1Guest 1
So-
- CWChris Williamson
Like, and I can say-
- G1Guest 1
... if, if that's representative- (laughs)
- CWChris Williamson
Now all that I need to do is create a shortcut on Alfred or on, uh, text correction on my phone.
- G1Guest 1
Life hacks one.
- CWChris Williamson
Life hacks one. That camera.
- G1Guest 1
(laughs)
- CWChris Williamson
Um.
- G1Guest 1
Why that, why not that one?
- CWChris Williamson
'Cause that one's not looking at me, mate.
- G1Guest 1
Oh, I see.
- CWChris Williamson
(laughs)
- G1Guest 1
Very clever. (laughs)
- CWChris Williamson
If you are, if you are listening through iTunes, we are in a room surrounded by technology.
- G1Guest 1
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
- CWChris Williamson
But it's been offset by the fact that I've got some lovely candles over on the far side, so.
- G1Guest 1
Yeah.
- 1:25 – 3:32
What Love Island actually is (and how Season 1 fits in)
- CWChris Williamson
Just in case the technology was too much. Yeah, exactly. So did either of you watch Love Island when it went on? I'm talking for people who don't know what I'm on about, Love Island is a reality TV program in the UK. Um, it is a little bit like a cross between Take Me Out and Big Brother, I think is probably pretty fair to say. It's not as sort of cheesy or raunchy as Ex On The Beach, which is an MTV show, or as Geordie Shore. It's not kind of as extreme as that. It's kind of-
- G1Guest 1
Mm-hmm.
- CWChris Williamson
... fl- it's quite fluffy in a way, I guess. Um, and yeah, I was on the, I was the first person through the door on season one, and I was there for three weeks, three and a bit weeks, I was there. And yeah, it was, um, it was three, no, two and a half years ago now, but it has just been released on Netflix.
- G1Guest 1
Netflix. So you've had another surge of interest?
- CWChris Williamson
(clears throat) Well, I mean, the, the people are grilling me about stuff that I did two and a half years ago when I can't remember what I did this morning.
- G1Guest 1
(laughs)
- CWChris Williamson
So. (laughs)
- G1Guest 1
So I guess the first thing is, have you re-watched it or re-watched any part of it to refresh your memory? Or when people remind you-
- CWChris Williamson
Just shift yourself around, Jonny, it's fine.
- G1Guest 1
(laughs) So what's happening is I'm trying to find a comfortable place to sit, and my, um, glute med keeps cramping.
- CWChris Williamson
(laughs) Why is that?
- G1Guest 1
'Cause my legs are so long.
- CWChris Williamson
No, it's not. It's because you didn't do your run once.
- G1Guest 1
Oh, that, well, yeah, okay, fair, fair enough. So life hacks one?
- CWChris Williamson
Life hacks one, life hacks 101. So what was your question? Oh, has there been more...?
- G1Guest 1
So have, have you watched anything to refresh your memory for when people ask you about specifics?
- CWChris Williamson
So-
- G1Guest 1
Is that like, "Oh, yeah, I did that thing"?
- CWChris Williamson
If I'm honest, my memory of what happened now is almost exclusively from the TV viewer's perspective.
- G1Guest 1
Right.
- CWChris Williamson
So my memories have been... No, that would be an exaggeration. It's 50/50. 50% of my memories are watching it from the angle of the camera.
- G1Guest 1
So when you, when you see it, can you think like, "Oh, I remember"?
- CWChris Williamson
To a, to a degree, but-
- G1Guest 1
I suppose you're only seeing a very, you're seeing a very filtered version of what actually happened on your phone.
- CWChris Williamson
Mm-hmm. But even that, like, obviously I was there.
- G1Guest 1
Mm-hmm.
- 3:32 – 6:42
“Is it scripted?”: the truth, the structure, and villa producers
- CWChris Williamson
But it's just, it's just something strange about watching yourself on TV, really, really weird. Especially because it is edited quite nicely and stuff like that. But yeah, so that's it. I think the, there's one question that everyone asks. It's the first question that everybody asks about Love Island, and it's, "Is it scripted?" And it's not at all, which I think surprises a lot of people.
- G1Guest 1
Zero structure.
- CWChris Williamson
Didn't say that.
- G1Guest 1
Oh, okay.
- CWChris Williamson
So-
- G1Guest 1
Okay.
- CWChris Williamson
What they say is, "Is it scripted?"
- G1Guest 1
Mm-hmm.
- CWChris Williamson
And I think a lot of the reasons for that are when you take a normal conversation, normal discourse, day-to-day, and you put, like, a Justin Bieber song in the background-
- G1Guest 1
Mm-hmm.
- CWChris Williamson
... and, like, have a drone flying around or, like, some cool music-
- G1Guest 1
(laughs)
- CWChris Williamson
... and a camera floats around on a boom arm and you chop it up cleverly. You, the whole point is to make it seem cohesive, right? It's to make these people that are on the show seem cool and aspirational and interesting to watch and engaging. And by virtue of that, you, it has to look polished, which I think can lead to people thinking, "That's contrived."
- G1Guest 1
Mm-hmm.
- CWChris Williamson
"That's bollocks." Which isn't true.
- G1Guest 1
Mm-hmm.
- CWChris Williamson
Um, it's not scripted. However, there are what's called villa producers, and these are the, um, point of contact between the cast, the primary point of contact between the cast and the production team. And what they'll do is they'll come into the villa, into the garden, which is usually where everybody is, and just take people off to one side, there having it. So me and you have had a, an argument because both of us like Yusuf and... (laughs)
- G1Guest 1
(laughs)
- CWChris Williamson
(whistles)
- G1Guest 1
It's the trousers, Mike.
- CWChris Williamson
It is, it's... I can't believe the first time that we videoed a podcast, you decided to wear-
- G1Guest 1
D'you know-
- CWChris Williamson
I-
- G1Guest 1
Sorry, go on. We, the first podcast we ever recorded, he wore bright green trousers. You've still got those.
- CWChris Williamson
I still have. I wore them the other day for wings.
- G1Guest 1
You promised me you were gonna burn them.
- CWChris Williamson
I promised I'd burn the green high tops. So... (laughs)
- G1Guest 1
(laughs)
- CWChris Williamson
I mean, I just, I just fucking despair, don't I? Um, anyway, (clears throat) what was I saying? What was I saying? That's your one chance to pick that glass.
- G1Guest 1
I know. It goes back on the carpet.
- 6:42 – 7:11
The invisible machine: 24-hour turnaround TV and huge editing operation
- CWChris Williamson
So, they don't... The, the show is not scripted, but is there a structure? Yeah, absolutely. The thing that everybody needs to remember when they're watching Love Island is that there's only 24 hours in a day. And if you produce any content, uh, as a cast member, as a islander, as it's called, up until 4:00 AM-ish, the next night, at 8:00 PM, that will be edited and be on TV.
- G2Guest 2
How many editors do they have? They must have a team.
- 7:11 – 11:21
The villa vs. the backstage reality: ‘Basra’ production compound
- CWChris Williamson
So, we... There's a, a whole bunch of things that are surprising about it. Probably one of the most surprising things was that the villa that we were in, I think it's a different villa now. I haven't watched season three, so I'm not sure. The villa that we were in was very, very nice and had the largest natural water pool in all of Europe.
- G2Guest 2
It was huge.
- CWChris Williamson
It was massive. So that was... Like, it was absolutely huge and it was salt water as well so it's just crazy. This millionaire French guy, French investor's house, a villa, and he had the exact same villa, brick for brick, in France.
- G3Guest 3
So he just went over to France for it.
- CWChris Williamson
The exact same one, the same-
- G2Guest 2
Copy and pasted.
- CWChris Williamson
... the same, yeah, the same layout, the same masonry work.
- G2Guest 2
What if you just use Command+A and select all?
- G3Guest 3
(laughs)
- CWChris Williamson
Command+C, Command+V.
- G2Guest 2
Yeah.
- CWChris Williamson
Return. It's worked, but when you're trying to put it down, it needs to all be green.
- G3Guest 3
Don't strip the formatting then. Don't hold down Shift, just-
- CWChris Williamson
No, but when you... Y- y- you're copying it over and it'll be... It'll, like, have the layout. And if any of it's red, then you can't lay it down.
- G2Guest 2
Oh, yeah, it won't... Yeah, you have to have the-
- CWChris Williamson
Then you have to write, like, "Bup, bup. Bup, bup." (clicks tongue) What if you run out of f- well, you wouldn't have run out of funds because who made you rich? So (clears throat) we go out of the villa sometimes. I'll get to that in a second. When we went out of the villa, it looked like Basra.
- G3Guest 3
(laughs)
- CWChris Williamson
There is rows, and this is without exaggeration, 100 industrial units, corrugated iron, like what you'd see on shipping containers-
- G3Guest 3
Mm-hmm.
- CWChris Williamson
... on the back of these huge freighters that are coming over. And in... There's four-in-a-row production office, all with huge air conditioning units on the back. Two-in-a-row Caroline Flacks changing room. Five-in-a-circle, uh, task team, the guys that do the challenges.
- G3Guest 3
Mm-hmm.
- CWChris Williamson
Like, the, the, the, uh, woodwork shop and all the rest of it. And all of these have just been shipped over. And you go out and you have no... You're just this tiny little gnat.
- G3Guest 3
Mm-hmm.
- CWChris Williamson
Like, doing... Just going, "Oh, I fancy that bird." And she goes, "Oh, I fancy you back."
- G3Guest 3
(laughs)
- CWChris Williamson
And you go outside-
- G3Guest 3
There's all this structure.
- CWChris Williamson
... and you're just like, "Fucking hell."
- G2Guest 2
Just tumbleweed.
- CWChris Williamson
This is-
- 11:21 – 12:42
No second takes (mostly): how authenticity is enforced
- CWChris Williamson
Right. Well, I mean, one of the things that you can't do, which actually sucks a little bit, is there's no second takes. And if it was scripted, there would be. Like, you can't do stuff and you don't get a second chance to say the same thing to people in terms of an impression. And that means that the reaction can't be contrived. Like, the guys that are going on here, the guys that do Geordie Shore, they're 16 seasons deep. They probably could have had sufficient media training to actually be able to fake a response.
- G3Guest 3
Mm-hmm.
- CWChris Williamson
Like, you've picked fucking Stephanie, 18, hairdresser from Wigan, and dropped her in the middle of Majorca and said, "Right, Stephanie, we're just gonna have to take that again. Can you just do the same reaction, please?"
- G3Guest 3
Her head's gonna explode. Yeah. Yeah.
- CWChris Williamson
So it's-
- G3Guest 3
So it's all first time. There's no...... nothing ever gets done again. (upbeat music)
- CWChris Williamson
Uh, so the challenges that they do-
- G3Guest 3
Mm-hmm.
- CWChris Williamson
... those challenges to win dates and stuff like that, those do get second takes. They're m- much more highly produced and the dates are as well.
- G3Guest 3
Right.
- CWChris Williamson
One of the reasons for that is that in the villa, you've got, um, controlled camera setups. We've come in today and we've done, this is the first time that we're videoing something in here. It's the first time that the guys that are, that are recording it have had to come in and set up. And the longest amount of time of anything was set up.
- G3Guest 3
Mm-hmm.
- 12:42 – 13:50
The dry run: a full practice week with a fake cast
- CWChris Williamson
But if you were to come in and do it again, it would be boom, dropped straight in. So little known fact about Love Island. On the week before we went in on season one, they did an entire six-day dry run with a whole separate cast-
- G3Guest 3
(clears throat)
- CWChris Williamson
... exactly the same, purely so that they could get the camera angles and the lighting right.
- G3Guest 3
Wow, just so they don't have to do all of that while you're there?
- CWChris Williamson
So there was a pair of Italian twins that come in on mine, like season two or season three or something like that.
- G3Guest 3
(clears throat)
- CWChris Williamson
Sorry, episode two or episode three.
- G3Guest 3
Oh, okay.
- CWChris Williamson
And they had a different pair of twins. So everything-
- G3Guest 3
Right.
- CWChris Williamson
... was the same, the same storylines. Jess Hayes, who's the girl that won-
- G3Guest 3
Mm-hmm.
- CWChris Williamson
... was in the dry run and was producing such good content during that, that they said, "Right, pull her out. We're gonna put her in the main one next week." And there's a girl called Naomi, who was the one that actually got quite a bit of backlash. She was that fairly fit blonde one. And she was supposed to go in at the start. And they were like, she ended up being what, just waiting in Majorca for like two and a half weeks, ready for her to go in, because she'd been (laughs) like slipstreamed by this-
- G3Guest 3
Wow.
- 13:50 – 19:13
Pre-villa isolation: one week of chaperoned media lockdown
- CWChris Williamson
... girl who'd been proven to be interesting. Um, but one of the other things, I'm going to try and sort of go from start to finish so that I don't miss anything. Before you go out there, you guys might remember this 'cause we were s- sort of in pretty good contact when I went out. I went out and spent, everybody does, all of the starting cast spend a week of media lockdown in Majorca, in the south coast of Majorca, with a chaperone who doesn't let you out of their sight 24 hours a day (laughing) for a full week before you go. So I got picked up on the Sunday morning, going in on the Friday or the Saturday morning, going in on the Friday following. And from that moment, did not have phone, laptop, access to the internet, access to friends, knowledge of anything that was going on.
- G3Guest 3
(laughs)
- CWChris Williamson
And you then are basically kept under lock and key. You're allowed to go out and you can go to the gym and stuff like that. But each cast member has like a geo-fenced area-
- G3Guest 3
(laughs)
- CWChris Williamson
... that they're allowed to move within.
- G3Guest 3
So you can't interact with other...
- CWChris Williamson
There's no chance that they would be out having a coffee and you'd bump into that person.
- G3Guest 3
Right.
- CWChris Williamson
And the reason that they have you on media lockdown is twofold. Firstly, so that you are beginning to get conditioned, you get a bit of a tan, you start to chill out, you start to think about the, what's sort of coming up. So they've got control over you, um, so that you can go and do media obligations when you need to. You've got an interview with Reveal Magazine later on, and then we're gonna do some press shots, and then we're gonna do whatever. The other thing is, so that they can start to reveal stuff about the cast members to, o- online and to the public back in the UK, without any fear of you seeing it. (laughs)
- G3Guest 3
Right.
- CWChris Williamson
So if I was to go into a corner shop, I wouldn't be allowed to go in without my chaperone.
- G3Guest 3
What, and he makes sure he does, he's, he's like going round-
- CWChris Williamson
If I, if I, it's to make sure-
- G3Guest 3
... going like that so he doesn't-
- G2Guest 2
"Let's just have a look at your phone."
- CWChris Williamson
(laughs) Exactly.
- G2Guest 2
Just quickly (imitates camera shutters clicking)
- CWChris Williamson
That was Love Island, 2015.
- G3Guest 3
Wow.
- CWChris Williamson
Um-
- G2Guest 2
(laughs)
- CWChris Williamson
... and we had slots in the gym. So I was in at 8:00 AM, which was fine for me 'cause I train in the morning.
- G3Guest 3
Mm-hmm.
- CWChris Williamson
But yeah, we have slots at like 8:00 AM u- until 9:00 and then a half an hour window where the next person would go through. And I didn't know this at the time-
- G2Guest 2
They've got you fully on lockdown then. That's incredible.
- G3Guest 3
Can't watch TV?
- CWChris Williamson
It's... No, no, no TV. I took like a hard drive out with me and was able... That was the first time, I've said this before, it's the first time that I finished a book because I had no distractions. And-
- G3Guest 3
What, what did you do?
- CWChris Williamson
So sunbathed a lot, trained a lot. I was in a deficit, so I hated my life a lot. (laughs) Um, which was, which was just thought about food. No, it was good. It was honestly, that week was probably one of the most liberating I've had. If you think about it, you don't have to think about anything.
- G3Guest 3
You don't have to be anywhere else other than exactly where you are. There's nothing else to do.
- 19:13 – 21:07
Life inside the villa: cameras everywhere, tannoy rules, and enforced topics
- CWChris Williamson
Um, so other stuff that's kinda cool, I guess. There's... If you're in Big Brother, you'll have s- seen this, I guess, or it's quite heavily alluded to that they never know that there's other people around and that the cameramen, like, don't interact with them. And they go and change shit in the house overnight.
- G2Guest 2
Mm-hmm.
- CWChris Williamson
They do make amends, like if there's, um, a date or whatever going on the next morning, they'll lay the table overnight. That sort of stuff will happen. But you're very, you're very, um, aware without being conscious. Sorry, no, you're very conscious without being aware of the production process going on. So you know that there's 70 cameras. So if we're chatting right now, there'll be a little camera under the table there, looking at me. There'd be a little one over there, underneath the lamp. There'd be-
- G3Guest 3
So you can, you can see them all?
- CWChris Williamson
Yeah.
- G3Guest 3
Right.
- CWChris Williamson
Little, little sort of bulb CCTV ones.
- G3Guest 3
Mm-hmm.
- CWChris Williamson
But they're very, very well placed, so they're just innocuous. Just slotted around, the same way that you would have, like, a home security system.
- G3Guest 3
Right.
- G2Guest 2
What do you mean conscious but not aware?
- CWChris Williamson
So, the second part of that is that there's guys with fucking bazookas.
- G3Guest 3
(laughs)
- CWChris Williamson
Like, the real, like, you're looking at Jodie Marsh from three miles away ones.
- G3Guest 3
Right.
- CWChris Williamson
Like on the beach, one of them, like-
- G3Guest 3
I see.
- CWChris Williamson
... sun photographer ones. There's those and they're in key positions that have got, like, the biggest field of vision around the garden. And those ones, there's a guy, there's a man under a hood, like, looking through that and moving around. And as you're walking past, you can see.
- G3Guest 3
He's just came, like, panning.
- CWChris Williamson
Yeah.
- G3Guest 3
Following you.
- CWChris Williamson
And you can, "All right, mate." (grunting) The, like, told to not-
- G3Guest 3
Don't speak to me.
- CWChris Williamson
Yeah, they're told, they're told not to talk to you and if you do, they come over the tannoy and they tell you off.
- G3Guest 3
(laughs)
- CWChris Williamson
So-
- G2Guest 2
"Chris, please stop socializing." (laughing)
- CWChris Williamson
There's a, there's a... Yeah, exactly.
- G3Guest 3
(laughs)
- CWChris Williamson
Um, there's a, there's a tannoy system where they tell you off for doing shit, so they don't need to send someone in every time.
- 21:07 – 27:09
The real shock: it’s boring—no phone, no books, little to talk about
- CWChris Williamson
Well, I mean, one of the, one of the things that I don't think anyone who watches the show would believe is that it's really, really fucking boring. And that's not me being facetious or in any way, it's... Anyone that's on it would agree.
- G3Guest 3
Mm.
- CWChris Williamson
You get to see 45 minutes, 40 minutes out of a day.
- G2Guest 2
From multiple people as well.
- G3Guest 3
And that's the best bits.
- CWChris Williamson
Yeah, from, from multiple people's lives, so times that by 14.
- G2Guest 2
Yeah.
- G3Guest 3
Mm-hmm.
- CWChris Williamson
So you're talking, like, what? 350 hours of life.
- G3Guest 3
So you've probably got, like, a good bit every 24 hours.
- CWChris Williamson
Well, it's more about your-
- G3Guest 3
This, this is your highlight.
- CWChris Williamson
It's more about your experience, not about the e- not about the end result that goes on TV. It's more about what you experience.
- G3Guest 3
Mm. Well, yeah. Yeah, yeah.
- CWChris Williamson
Yeah. So... Oh, yeah, okay. You will experience a good bit.
- G3Guest 3
Like, and you, and you've had, like, "Oh, that was a cracking moment, that."
- CWChris Williamson
Yeah.
- G3Guest 3
Cracking 30 seconds.
- CWChris Williamson
Right. Now, let's get back to the remaining, like, 23 hours, 59 minutes and 30 seconds of that day. (laughs)
- G3Guest 3
You've got... No, no. (laughs) No entertainment.
- CWChris Williamson
But no, 'cause you've got no phone. You can't-
- G3Guest 3
Can't bring a book in?
- CWChris Williamson
Couldn't bring a book in. No, course not. Um, oh, they were allowed, the, um, girl who was the born again Christian on my series was allowed to bring a Bible in. And I thought, "Well, I've got The Selfish Gene."
- G3Guest 3
(laughs)
- G2Guest 2
(laughs)
- CWChris Williamson
"Richard Dawkins. Um, any chance that I could bring this militant atheism?" No, no, not allowed. Um, so yeah, there's all the cameras around and you are very conscious, like I say, of, uh, of what's going on. But very quickly also adapt to the situation.
- G3Guest 3
Mm.
- CWChris Williamson
A lot of the stuff's done behind one way mirrors, so there's a mirror above the kitchen, there's a mirror in the girls' changing rooms. There's mirrors around. And behind that, there's a lot of stuff that's going on as well with cameras and stuff. Obviously, that's... I mean, you're completely oblivious to it.
- G3Guest 3
Not aware of that.
- CWChris Williamson
And the little ones can just swivel around and you kinda don't know. You're always mic'd up. Um, there'll be a sound guy that'll come in twice a day, morning and night, and change your batteries out. So-
- 27:09 – 30:01
Alcohol limits and the weekly ‘off day’ that briefly restores normal talk
- G2Guest 2
Do people drink alcohol?
- CWChris Williamson
So, you... I thought, when I went on, I was expecting it to be like Ex On The Beach or Geordie Shore. I'd a lot of experience of being around the guys from Geordie Shore running club nights in Newcastle. And I thought, brilliant, days in the sun, nights getting pissed. This is gonna be sweet. Got there, and you are limited to two drinks.
- G2Guest 2
Really?
- CWChris Williamson
One beer, one wine, or any combination thereof.
- G2Guest 2
It's weird, 'cause it's like they're trying to create this incubation chamber, but they're not putting any accelerants in there either. It's like...
- CWChris Williamson
Mm-hmm. I think... well, to be honest the alcohol thing, although I wanted to stab someone at the time for the restrictions, looking back, I can see why they do it. Because if you look at the, um, the groove that Love Island's carved out for itself in programming, it isn't Geordie Shore, it's not Ex On The Beach, it's not-
- G2Guest 2
Stay classy.
- CWChris Williamson
It's not as fluffy as something like Made In Chelsea or TOWIE. But it's not actually all that far off when you look at it. High production value. Everyone in there... Yeah, there's arguments and stuff like that. But it's not because someone's out of control. You know what I mean?
- G4Guest 4
I see, yeah.
- G2Guest 2
Well, it's, it's because of all the rules on the tannoy, like, no, no alcohol, no red foods, no cheese.
- G4Guest 4
(laughs)
- CWChris Williamson
(laughs)
- G2Guest 2
No mismatching socks. Like, it has to be-
- G4Guest 4
No brown, no brown food touching beige food.
- G2Guest 2
No, like-
- CWChris Williamson
You'd be fucked.
- G2Guest 2
I'd be, yeah.
- CWChris Williamson
Ruined.
- G2Guest 2
Terrible.
- CWChris Williamson
Ruined. So yeah, the, the... one of the, one of the problems that you come across is that you're just bored. Like you've got nothing to talk about. And then like you say, you're restricted on how many times you can talk about the same situation. But one of the things that does happen, like when they've... when they've got their content for the day, there's less, a little bit less pressure. And because the live show on the year that we did it was on a Thursday night, I think, it was either a Thursday or a Friday night. No, it was a Thursday night. What it meant was that there's no show on a Friday and a recap show on a Saturday. So you had Thursdays off completely, and that was complete... that was liberation. You could do whatever you wanted. And the-
- G2Guest 2
Are they still filming on Thursdays?
- CWChris Williamson
They're still filming, but what they say is, "Look, guys just don't do anything. Don't do anything exciting. The cameras are rolling, but we don't want to put it in, so just as long as you guys are happy to talk about back home and stuff like that." But you know, six days a week of not being able to do that is, is actually quite, quite trying.
- G2Guest 2
How... I wonder how much footage they'd actually take from that off day. 'Cause I'd imagine once the pressures off-
- CWChris Williamson
No, pretty much not.
- G2Guest 2
Really?
- CWChris Williamson
Well, because one of the problems is there's no show on a Friday, and then there's a recap show on a Saturday. I think the schedule's slightly different, but they've still got time off. When you don't have a day of broadcasting, and each episode is one day, how would you fit stuff from an extra day into that one day?
- G2Guest 2
Mm-hmm.
- CWChris Williamson
Do you understand? You can't, you can't pad that in.
- G2Guest 2
But they could just use it later or something, a bit, so it gets a bit messy-
- 30:01 – 36:28
Fear of the edit: reputational risk, jobs, and character assassination
- CWChris Williamson
They weren't that contrived. The... another, another one of the things... So this is one of my fears, right, before I went on. Remember that Jade Goody incident where... with Shilpa Shetty where she was like, "She should go home," and there were burning effigies of pigs that looked like, um, Jade Goody in the street? It was on Big Brother.
- G4Guest 4
Ve- vaguely.
- CWChris Williamson
And Shilpa Shetty was this like big Bollywood star. And...... my, I had in the back of my head-
- G5Guest 5
(laughs)
- CWChris Williamson
... (laughs) just don't, don't do something that's that newsworthy.
- G5Guest 5
Mm-hmm.
- CWChris Williamson
And obviously, you're like, I've never said anything like that in my life, but fuck knows what could happen.
- G5Guest 5
Keep it under the surface.
- CWChris Williamson
And then with the editing as well, um, because you never get to see-
- G5Guest 5
Mm-hmm.
- CWChris Williamson
... what the final edit looks like.
- G5Guest 5
Mm-hmm.
- CWChris Williamson
And when we were the first season, like going on now, you understand. You know how it's going to be cut, what the sort of flow is going to be, what kind of end result they're looking for. It's quite fluffy, right? It's quite nice. They're not trying to make anyone look like a tit.
- G5Guest 5
Mm-hmm.
- CWChris Williamson
Whereas before you go in, you don't know if it's some character assassination waiting in the wings.
- G5Guest 5
(clears throat)
- CWChris Williamson
And I was pretty, pretty terrified.
- G2Guest 2
And, and as you said, it's like selective editing is such a... So the, what I'm interested in now is you said, um, "I was looking forward to there being a bit more alcohol and a bit more freedom to..." So clearly from that perspective, you weren't afraid to, to let loose a little bit with your inhibitions and say whatever. Whereas on the o- the other side, like, not that you are at risk of, like, saying something-
- CWChris Williamson
Mm-hmm.
- G2Guest 2
... racist or whatever, but um, do you, do you think it's because you're self-employed that you didn't, didn't have a sense of, um, "Oh, I better not say something that might have a repercussion or recourse later on?"
- CWChris Williamson
Yeah. That was-
- G2Guest 2
Um-
- CWChris Williamson
... that was definitely a big deal. Um, of the guys on my season, I think if you discount me as company director from being self-employed, i.e. not on temporary work, site work-
- G2Guest 2
Mm-hmm.
- CWChris Williamson
... I think there's only two other people who didn't either work for their family or were self-employed as-
- G2Guest 2
Mm-hmm.
- CWChris Williamson
... model, laborer, something similar. And were two people who were-
- G5Guest 5
What, it just doesn't matter?
- CWChris Williamson
... who were employed, yes, outside of that paradigm.
- G5Guest 5
Wait. It doesn't matter then? It doesn't matter if you have a job?
- 36:28 – 48:36
Personalities on camera: masks, authenticity, and being monitored 24/7
- G5Guest 5
And I, I think the thing that I find most interesting is the version of you that you see on there-
- CWChris Williamson
(laughs)
- G5Guest 5
... to me, seems like a, like maybe a small part of you that you've had to, like, "Right, I need to bring out everything I've got of this side of my personality-"
- CWChris Williamson
Yeah.
- G5Guest 5
... for three weeks.
- CWChris Williamson
But do you know what, do you know what it's like? It's like you as quite a nice-mannered, intellectual guy who's chartered accountant and all the rest of it. But under the right circumstances, can fill himself with adrenaline and pick 310 kilos off the ground.
- G5Guest 5
Right.
- CWChris Williamson
That's a very, very minor part that's actually probably not that similar to the rest of you, but you do actually seem to have a bit of a speciality in it, and you've been able to-
- G5Guest 5
I see.
- CWChris Williamson
... take it.
- G2Guest 2
So the psychologist saying that you don't have a single personality, because you are never a consistent being throughout the day. You're probably 14 or 15 sub-personalities that you draw on, depending on the context.
- CWChris Williamson
Mm-hmm.
- G2Guest 2
So you have, like, a going into the corner shop personality or, like, uh-
- CWChris Williamson
(laughs)
- G2Guest 2
... speaking to the waiter-
- CWChris Williamson
Yeah.
- G2Guest 2
... bit or, like, speaking with your friends or being at work. And all these things are just different masks that you put on and take off, depending on the-
- CWChris Williamson
Yeah.
- G2Guest 2
... circumstance. So maybe you had that available because of the environment you work in. You're, "Oh, I've got to put that one on 'cause I'm with these kind of people today."
- CWChris Williamson
Yeah.
- G2Guest 2
So, or for the next six weeks.
- CWChris Williamson
I think, I, I think that's a really good analogy. And, you know, I, I wanted to try and make... Well, we are making this podcast about the process and about the show itself. If someone doesn't understand who or know me-
- G2Guest 2
Mm-hmm.
- CWChris Williamson
... know my background, it might not make as much sense. But I do think that there's definitely people that I've seen in other seasons, Sophie Gradon, who was in season two, I know is cut from a similar cloth as myself. Little bit mindful, little bit introverted, um, keen sort of intellectual interests and bit academic and stuff like that. And I know that she struggled similarly as well.
- G2Guest 2
Right.
- CWChris Williamson
And it's, she is also, she's been there, done it, played the game with modeling and d- done, like, sort of little bits of, not glamour, but, you know, sort of, like, bikini shoots and stuff like that and been in that world, nightlife world. And club promoter for 10 years. So my trade is putting these, the, the, these people and putting people similar to those who I was in the villa with into nightclubs.
- G2Guest 2
Yeah.
- CWChris Williamson
But I only have to deal with that atmosphere for 20 seconds at a time, because they want to go inside and get drunk. And I get to-
- G2Guest 2
Mm-hmm.
- CWChris Williamson
... like, do a m- single, single rep max, one rep max.
- 48:36 – 52:58
Days out of the villa: ‘non-British’ beach trip and the football incident
- CWChris Williamson
Um, so couple of other stuff that was, uh, things that were really, really interesting. You get days out of the villa. So the Thursday or the day off, the day before, the day there's no airing, we actually got taken out of the villa. And we were the ... One of the villa producers took us out there and we had a member of security, but they were like, "Right, we're going to go to the most, um, non-British beach that we can find." It'd be like a ... It was Spanish and German beach.
- G2Guest 2
So no one recognizes you in this part of Spain.
- CWChris Williamson
Exactly, exactly. 'Cause it's, the show was being aired at the time, right?
- G2Guest 2
Mm-hmm.
- CWChris Williamson
I don't even know if they'll be allowed to do this now because the show's so much bigger.
- G2Guest 2
Mm-hmm.
- CWChris Williamson
Um, I don't even know if you'd be able to get away from that, but ...
- G2Guest 2
(laughs) It's just so weird just being just sat on a beach, bunch of German people.
- CWChris Williamson
German and Spanish. So what, what had happened, the producer had taken us out there and he said, "Right, lads, I'm telling you now, if you do anything to cause a scene, you're all fucked."
- G2Guest 2
(laughs)
- CWChris Williamson
We're like, "Okay, no worries." For me, I was like, "I'm out the villa, I can talk about what I want." They took me to a corner shop and they bought me sweets, like I'm fucking sound.
- G2Guest 2
(laughs)
- CWChris Williamson
I don't want it, leave me be.
- G2Guest 2
Th- this is it. Like, you know, you, you tie an elephant to a stake for so long and then you're like, "Well, I'm going to extend the rope by a centimeter today." And it's like, yes. Yeah. (laughs)
- CWChris Williamson
Massi- you know, it's, it's so-
- G2Guest 2
Yeah, totally.
- CWChris Williamson
But, so that was, again, that was me, and that was my level of probably neuroticism to a degree about the experience. "Right, we've bought you a football, but just have a kick around amongst yourselves." In the time that she said, "Have a kick around amongst yourselves," John, who's now on TOWIE, Jon Clark, had found five German guys and had said, "All right, lads, fancy a, fancy a kick around?" "Ja. Ja." "All right, boys, boys, we got a, we got a game over here."
- G2Guest 2
Oh.
- CWChris Williamson
"John, John," and this producer calls him over. "John, look, like, I do not want any hard tackles or anything."
- G2Guest 2
(laughs)
- CWChris Williamson
"I can't believe that I'm letting you do this."
- G2Guest 2
(laughs)
- CWChris Williamson
"If someone breaks their leg and I have to explain that on the show, how, how the fuck am I going to do?" "No, no, no, don't worry. Don't worry, love. It'll be, it'll be sweet, yeah? It'll be fine. It'll be fine." "So, John, no antagonizing them. No nothing else."
- G2Guest 2
(laughs)
- CWChris Williamson
No, honestly, honestly, like-
- G2Guest 2
Starts like, chanting about Hitler and stuff.
- G3Guest 3
(laughs) You're welcome.
- CWChris Williamson
Don't fucking, don't fucking, don't fucking worry, all right?
- G2Guest 2
(laughs)
- CWChris Williamson
"It'll, it'll be sweet. It'll be sweet. Boys, boys, get over here."
- 52:58 – 58:07
Privacy, body logistics, and security checks (plus the Viagra smuggle)
- CWChris Williamson
Um, so yeah, another one of the, another one of the times when, um, where there isn't cameras is in the toilet, which is really nice.
- G2Guest 2
Not in the toilet.
- CWChris Williamson
There's no, there's no cameras in the toilet.
- G2Guest 2
I thought you said in ... Oh, the changing rooms.
- CWChris Williamson
Oh, in the ... There's no changing rooms. There's a bedroom.
- G3Guest 3
(laughs) You said-
- G2Guest 2
Changing rooms.
- G3Guest 3
The sh- shit. (laughs)
- CWChris Williamson
The changing rooms. (laughs)
- G2Guest 2
Listen back to the podcast. You said there is a m- a one-way mirror in the female changing rooms.
- CWChris Williamson
Oh, sorry, I was referring to, like, the walk-in wardrobe.
- G3Guest 3
Very astute.
- CWChris Williamson
Um, that they have.
- G2Guest 2
Oh, I see.
- G3Guest 3
Oh, okay.
- CWChris Williamson
Like a changing room as opposed to like a-
- G2Guest 2
(laughs)
- CWChris Williamson
... a place where like a, a locker room, I suppose you could call it.
- G2Guest 2
Ah, okay. Where they're, they're like flossing the towel and-
- CWChris Williamson
Yeah, exactly. Well that's what, that's all that is.
- G2Guest 2
Towel and toilet paper.
- CWChris Williamson
But the, the shower, the shower and the bath are both open. There's no doors. And there's cameras pointing directly at the showers.
- G2Guest 2
Really? So do you just what, shower in trunks or what do you do? Just-
- CWChris Williamson
Well, the girls like, the girls chose to, the lads didn't really mind so much, but the girls showered in bikinis. Um, and like if you walked in at the wrong time, like you, you could be ...
- G2Guest 2
Mm-hmm.
- CWChris Williamson
Like a-
- G3Guest 3
Having a peeking session.
- CWChris Williamson
It might break ... It might, it might spoil, it might spoil some of the, (laughs) some of the upcoming-
- G3Guest 3
Yeah.
- CWChris Williamson
... novelty, I guess.
- 58:07 – 58:57
After leaving: debrief hotel, phone/admin shock, and long-term lessons
- CWChris Williamson
It wasn't crazy. Um, but yeah. Like, that was, that was ... I guess that was my experience. Um, when you leave, you are taken to a, like, a really nice coupled hotel, um, and deposited there for the night. You go back the next day. They give you, like, a checking out, um, protocol about, "The press may contact you. These are the things you should and shouldn't do. Here is a contact for management. Here is a contact for this, that, and the other." The experience is sort of pretty well rounded considering the volume that they need to look after. Mm-hmm. There's people coming and going almost every week and the level of care that you're given-
- G3Guest 3
Yeah, so much for planning and-
- G5Guest 5
Big, big system, isn't it? From start to finish.
- CWChris Williamson
It's ... Remembering that this was ... When we'd done it, it was the first time they'd ever-
- G5Guest 5
Done it.
- CWChris Williamson
This was the first endeavor of that kind and-
- G5Guest 5
Mm-hmm.
- CWChris Williamson
Yeah, it was, I was impressed with how slick it was and now obviously they'll have refined it. In three, like, over the course of three years it will be like a fucking machine there, um.
- 58:57 – 1:11:29
What he’d do differently: stop playing a role, lean into authenticity
- G5Guest 5
Yeah. So what would you do differently if you were going on-
- G3Guest 3
Exactly what I was gonna ask.
- G5Guest 5
... on this, the next one? Is it in, is it in a month, did you say?
- CWChris Williamson
It'll be in a month, yeah. So one of the reasons I think that it's been put on Netflix now only season one and two-
- G5Guest 5
Brilliant.
- CWChris Williamson
... get the ... Yeah. Get people re-, uh, excited, ready for the next season to come out, which will be at the end of the month. Um, I know some of the cast that are going on. There's some, like, some pretty cool, some cool guys. Couple of guys from up north again as well.
- G5Guest 5
Cool.
- CWChris Williamson
So what would I do differently? Um (laughs) , man, I don't ... The experience of going on Love Island for me was the beginning of a journey that allowed me to realize who I really am. Now, that sounds like a, sort of this really sort of pithy sta- statement about like, "No, I just went on there and I was just myself." But I wasn't. 'Cause I went on there and I played a role-
- G3Guest 3
Mm-hmm.
- CWChris Williamson
... of what-
- G3Guest 3
So it, it created, you realized the divide or the-
- CWChris Williamson
Massively.
- G3Guest 3
... the gap.
- CWChris Williamson
And what I also got exposed to was a high, a fatal dose of what that particular network of people are truly like. Uh, when I see party boys and party girls in the front door of a club, I'm able to box them up in a category that doesn't have as much of an effect on me. And they could've played the role with me for 20 seconds as well, right?
- G3Guest 3
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
- CWChris Williamson
But they weren't-
- G3Guest 3
You don't, you don't see them 24 hours so you don't know-
- CWChris Williamson
Yeah.
- G3Guest 3
Right.
- CWChris Williamson
But when you live, when you live with them for three and a half weeks, like, you're like, "Right, okay. You are really different to me."
- G3Guest 3
Mm-hmm.
- CWChris Williamson
And it's fucking apparent. And that ... So if, if I was to go in again, what I, what I would do differently is I'd be, I would be myself. I don't regret the way that I acted on that because it's allowed me to do stuff like this podcast that I love. Um, the ... All of the pursuits I've got on at the moment for-... mindfulness training and, um, speaking the truth, which I think is a real big deal. 'Cause I'd lied through my teeth to get myself on there, to play a role of someone that I wasn't particularly, but someone that I knew I could play the role of.
- G1Guest 1
Mm-hmm.
- G2Guest 2
Would being yourself get you kicked out earlier or later do you think?
- CWChris Williamson
Later, 100%.
- G2Guest 2
Okay.
- CWChris Williamson
I could go on. I'm pretty certain that I could go on as the person that I am now even in that season. And providing that I didn't get stitched with the edit, I think I would, I would have a, a pretty good chance of, of staying on until the end. And one of the reasons is, and this is for anyone who's considering to go on reality TV, there's the, the lack of authenticity shows through really, really starkly because you run out of things that you can think to say and situations-
- G1Guest 1
Mm-hmm.
- CWChris Williamson
... that you can think to create. Whereas that's not how we operate. Our personalities aren't consciously manifested on a s- m- second-by-second basis. They appear as a byproduct of you existing and having an ego.
- G2Guest 2
Mm-hmm.
Episode duration: 1:16:54
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Transcript of episode om_Jo2rmUno
