Virgin Island star splits from partner as ‘challenging’ sex surrogacy blamed

Virgin Island put the work of sex surrogates in the spotlight when the documentary series aired on Channel 4 earlier this year.
The show saw 12 virgins living on a Croatian island for two weeks. And, during that time, they were coached in all things intimate with the help of a team of experts.
Two of the show’s experts – one male and one female – were working as surrogate partners. Surrogate partners do everything an actual partner would do – up to and including sex for one of the show’s participants.
However, it’s a career that not only raised eyebrows with Channel 4 viewers, but also with those closest to the therapists, as Virgin Island’s Joy Rigel told ED! in an exclusive chat…

Virgin Island saw therapists help 12 virgins with their intimacy issues (Credit: Channel 4)

What does being a surrogate partner entail?
Surrogate partners, once known as sex surrogates, work alongside a therapist and the client to address intimacy and sexual issues. The surrogate partner, under the guidance of a therapist, provides a safe and structured environment for the client to explore and address these issues. And it potentially includes physical touch and sexual contact. The goal is to help the client develop comfort, skills and confidence in intimate relationships.
Going into Virgin Island, Joy told ED! that she was approached to sign up as a surrogate partner. However, because it’s a role that she thinks is “misunderstood”, she decided to appear as an intimacy coach instead.
She told us: “I was nervous about it because being a surrogate is very misunderstood. And a lot of people just can’t do it. I ended up not going on as a surrogate because I just felt like it would be too much.”
Joy added that she’s stopped working as a sex surrogate because she found that “when people feel sex is possibly on the table, it closes the potential for an emotional connection”.
“As soon as the idea that sex is on table, it changes the energy,” she said. “But if we just take sex off the table, something really beautiful opens up. And that is what I did with Virgin Island and the participants.”