'I know who I am now after going on Virgin Island'

A 23-year-old who was initially anxious to share her intimacy journey on a reality television show has said her confidence has gone "through the roof".

Katie Hudson, from Peterborough, applied to take part in Channel 4's Virgin Island as soon as she saw its first episode air in 2025.

Hudson, who works as a nanny, said several topics in the first series "resonated" with her, including "body issues, anxiety and past trauma".

"Since leaving the island, or even on the island, my confidence has just gone through the roof and I feel so much happier and know who I am now," she said.

The programme follows 12 people taking part in an "intimacy retreat" featuring sex therapists. It aired its second series in April.

They were taken to an island off Croatia, exploring topics through workshops led by a team of sex therapists.

On arriving, Hudson said: "My anxiety was through the roof.

"Obviously, I was ready to meet these people and do things I've never done before.

"I really struggled the first two days. I was very quiet... just letting everyone else speak and do their thing.

"But you fall into it so quickly and we have all bonded, so having the 11 others just helped incredibly."

She said the experience felt "like walking on to a movie set".

During her time on the show, Hudson spoke about being bullied at school.

"I didn't even think I was going to speak about that when signing up," she said.

"But then the body issue phase came up... and I was like 'I think now is the perfect chance to speak about my past'.

"The bullying really just put me in the most negative headspace I've ever been in, and I just thought that if I don't speak about it now am I ever going to get past this phase?"

She said she hoped the series would allow people "to speak more freely" about intimacy.

"For me personally, I grew up in a very open household... we share everything, so sex has never been a taboo subject in my house," Katie added.

"I never went to sex education in school or anything, so all of the stuff that I could relate to was never brought up."

Katie said she "loved every second" of being on the show and said it was important to be "completely open and honest and just throw yourself into everything".

"Everyone was so positive and just encouraged you so much that you had no choice than to just, you know, try it out and try it with these other people who are willing to help you and know exactly what you're going through."

The 23-year-old said she has had "nothing but positivity" from people on social media, alongside "so much love and support from friends and family".

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