The BBC are reportedly planning to launch a new dating series to rival ITV’s iconic show, Love Island.
The broadcasting company revealed their plans to create a post-Covid dating programme called Love In The Flesh in the hopes of amassing large viewership numbers.
The proposed show, expected to air on BBC Three, will reportedly feature participants who believe they have found The One on dating apps during the pandemic.
Competition: The BBC are reportedly planning to launch a new dating series to rival ITV’s iconic show, Love Island (pictured Love Island stars Georgia Steel and Sam Bird)
It will then record them as they take the plunge to meet their love interest in person.
In The Flesh will set-up the online dating app couples on a first date abroad, using a format similar to that of Love Island.
Cameras will follow the lockdown couples’ every move at the exotic destination to see whether sparks fly or if the chemistry fizzles out in person.
According to The Mirror, the new production will be filmed in the summer and will premier on screens across the UK later this year.
Project: The broadcasting company revealed their plans to create a post-Covid dating programme called Love In The Flesh in the hopes of amassing large viewership numbers (pictured Love Island’s Molly-Mae Hague)
Match: The proposed show, expected to air on BBC Three, will reportedly feature participants who believe they have found The One on dating apps during the pandemic (pictured Laura Whitmore)
A TV insider told The Sun on Thursday: ‘This BBC show gives these couples everything they could possibly need for the perfect start?
‘A Love Island backdrop, stunning weather, good food and ultimately the date of a lifetime. Online dating has soared in the past year during lockdown.
‘With the world slowly opening up, these internet lovers can no longer hide behind their screens and will have to meet their match in the flesh.
‘Viewers will be able to follow these couples as they discover if they really have met The One, or whether it’s been a waste of time and they’re not who they were cracked up to be..’
New contender: It will then record them as they take the plunge to meet their love interest in person
Premise: In The Flesh will set-up the online dating app couples on a first date abroad, using a format similar to that of Love Island (pictured 2018 contestants)
MailOnline have reached out to BBC reps for further comment.
Meanwhile Love Island’s 2021 start date has been confirmed as June 28 with ITV outlining the new duty of care protocols to protect Islanders’ mental health.
The news was revealed by Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield on Wednesday’s This Morning where, in the style of the ITV2 dating show, they received a text confirming the date.
Love Island has not aired since February 2020 after both the summer 2020 and winter 2021 editions were cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Stringent measures: It comes after Love Island addressed their duty of care after two islanders; Sophie Gradon and Mike Thalassitis (pictured), and host Caroline Flack, tragically died by suicide within a period of 20 months
It was revealed on Wednesday that the ITV2 dating show has enlisted another clinical psychologist ahead of the new series.
ITV listed the show’s new duty of care protocols in a statement, which will support Islanders before, during and after filming.
It comes after Love Island previously addressed their duty of care after two islanders; Sophie Gradon and Mike Thalassitis, and host Caroline Flack, tragically died by suicide within a period of 20 months.
The protocols are in line with the show’s last series but will also now feature another clinical psychologist, Dr Matthew Gould, who joined ITV last year and will work with Dr Litchfield, an external advisor to the business.
Heartbreaking: Sophie, 32, took her own life back in June 2018 after appearing on season two of the show. Her heartbroken boyfriend, Aaron Armstrong, 25, took his own life 20 days later
Devastating: In February 2020, the host of Love Island, Caroline, was found dead at her home after taking her own life, a day after hearing the Crown Prosecution Service would go ahead with a trial for allegedly attacking her boyfriend Lewis Burton in 2019