FBoy Island
Created by	Elan Gale
Presented by	Nikki Glaser
No. of seasons	3
No. of episodes	30
Production
Executive producers	Ben Bitonti Sam Dean Elan Gale Nikki Glaser Jason Goldberg
Production locations	Cayman Islands Cabo San Lucas Malibu, California
Production companies	STXalternative TheYearOfElan Productions
Original release
Network	HBO Max
Release	July 29, 2021 (2021-07-29) – August 4, 2022 (2022-08-04)
Network	The CW
Release	October 16 (2023-10-16) – December 8, 2023 (2023-12-08)
Related
Lovers and Liars

FBoy Island is an American dating reality television series which focuses on three women trying to identify the male contestants as either womanizers ("fboys") or seeking a serious relationship ("nice guys"). The series is hosted by Nikki Glaser and premiered on July 29, 2021, on HBO Max.

In August 2021, the series was renewed for a second season,^[1] which premiered on July 14, 2022.^[2] In December 2022, the series was canceled, with STXalternative planning to shop the series elsewhere.^[3][4] It was also removed from the streaming service.^[5] In March 2023, The CW picked up the show for a third season, along with its spinoff Lovers and Liars.^[6][7][8]

Hosted by comedian Nikki Glaser, the show centers on three female contestants and 24 male counterparts.^[9] Of the men, 12 are self-professed nice guys, while the other half identify as fboys, the former being interested in forming a relationship and splitting the $100,000 prize, while the latter are competing^[10] for the $100,000 cash prize.^[11]

During the progression of each episode, the women select men to go out with.^[12][13] The ending of the episode consisting of three men being chosen to be eliminated and afterwards revealing if they are a nice guy or not.^[12] While the nice guys that are eliminated are sent to a mansion called "Nice Guy Grotto" in a limousine, the fboys, sometimes also called Lotharios, are sent to "Limbro". This place lacks luxury and consists of huts made from bamboo, cots and hay-filled pillows.^[14][15][16] At some point in the first half of the series, the remaining male contestants reveal their own labels to the women and audience.^[16] The show always uses the abbreviation fboy; never during the complete run of the show is the full term fuckboy used by the contestants and host.^[17]

Apart from being entertainment, creator Elan Gale has stated that the show's alternative purpose is "to try to see if people can change for the right person,"^[18] with the playboys becoming better partners and the "nice guys" getting recognition for their personality.^[12]

Key

  The Nice Guy was CJ's final choice, and received half of the prize money

  The FBoy was Nakia's final choice, and chose to split the money with her

  The FBoy was Sarah's final choice, chose to keep all of the money for himself and lost it to a charity of her choice

  The contestant escaped Limbro and returned to the game

  The contestant entered the competition

  The contestant was in CJ's bottom two

  The contestant was in Nakia's bottom two

  The contestant was in Sarah's bottom two

  The contestant was eliminated by CJ

  The contestant was eliminated by Nakia

  The contestant was eliminated by Sarah

  The contestant was eliminated by both CJ and Nakia

  The contestant left the show for medical reasons

  The contestant was brought back as a guest

Returning contestants from season 1 included: Peter Park, Garrett Morosky, and finalist Casey Johnson.

Notes

Key

  This guy was Mia's final choice

  The contestant was in Mia's bottom two

  The contestant was eliminated by Mia

  This guy was Louise's final choice

  The contestant was in Louise's bottom two

  The contestant was eliminated by Louise

  This guy was Tamaris's final choice

  The contestant was in Tamaris's bottom two

  The contestant was eliminated by Tamaris

  The contestant escaped Limbro and returned to the game

  The contestant entered the competition

  The contestant chose to take himself out of the running

  The contestant was brought back as a guest

The season featured returning contestants Mercedes Knox, Benedict Polizzi and Danny Louisa.

Key

  This guy was Katie's final choice

  The contestant was in Katie's bottom two

  The contestant was eliminated by Katie

  This guy was Hali's final choice

  The contestant was in Hali's bottom two

  The contestant was eliminated by Hali

  This guy was Daniella's final choice

  The contestant was in Daniella's bottom two

  The contestant was eliminated by Daniella

  The contestant escaped Limbro and returned to the game

  The contestant entered the competition

  The contestant chose to take himself out of the running

  The contestant was brought back as a guest

The series was created by The Bachelor producer Elan Gale and showrun by Sam Dean.^[12][18] Executive producers included host Nikki Glaser,^[31] Ben Bitoni, Sam Dean, Elan Gale and Jason Goldberg.^[32][33] The title comes from the slang term fuck boy, used to refer to a male womanizer.^[18][34] HBO Max marketed it as "a social experiment that asks the age-old question: Can FBoys truly reform, or do Nice Guys always finish last?"^[35]

The series premiered on the streaming service on July 29, 2021, with the simultaneous release of its first three episodes,^[10] with another three being released on August 5 and the final four on August 12.^[13][36] Upon release, it became the streaming service's most-watched reality program.^[33] On August 18, 2021, HBO Max renewed the series for a second season.^[1]

On December 5, 2022, HBO Max canceled the series, with the show's production company, STXalternative, shopping it to other networks and platforms.^[3][4] On March 16, 2023, it was reported that The CW had picked up the series for a third season, along with the spinoff FGirl Island.^[6] On May 2, 2023, it was announced that Glaser would return as the host, and that the third season would premiere on July 16, 2023,^[37][38]

On September 28, 2023, it was announced that the third season would premiere on October 16, 2023.^[39]

The series was filmed in the Cayman Islands, in part due to "its low number of COVID-19 cases" with the cast having to arrive at Grand Cayman^[40] 14 days before shooting commenced in March 2021 to quarantine and be tested for COVID-19 on alternate days until April.^[41]

On May 2, 2023, producer and writer Jack Piuggi of Flipp Productions, LLC filed a lawsuit^[42] claiming the show's concept was stolen from him, alleging he shared the concept of a reality-based documentary called "Instafamous" under a non-disclosure agreement with production companies affiliated with HBO.^[43][44] On February 24, 2025, the court ordered the complaint dismissed with Prejudice. Upon review, the court determined that Instafamous was not substantially similar to either Fake Famous or FBoy Island. The court found that the "total concept and feel" of the works were vastly different. The court concluded that Jack Piuggi had failed to establish substantial similarity and dismissed the claim.^[45]

In the UK, BBC Three acquired the show.^[46] On April 28, 2022, HBO Max announced local versions for Denmark, Sweden, Spain, and The Netherlands.^[47]

A New Zealand adaptation began airing on TVNZ in October 2022, hosted by Shav Ruakere and filmed in the Cook Islands. One of the male contestants named Wayde Moore was edited out of the show prior to the premiere after it was learned that he had been on trial for attempted suffocation of a drunken woman; he was found not guilty but the judge described his behavior as "deeply inappropriate and disrespectful".^[48][49][50]

An Australian adaptation was announced by Foxtel in October 2022 and was released on its streaming service, Binge, from May 2023.^[51][52][53] It was hosted by Abbie Chatfield and was filmed in Casuarina, which is located in north-eastern New South Wales in the Tweed Shire.^[54][55]

Salon.com's Kylie Chung called the show "highly self-aware and entertainingly self-deprecating," while pointing out its central theme of "couple goals", when the female contestants choose their partners.^[31] In a separate Salon.com review Melanie McFarland commented that the show "flaunts its identity as the messy, issues-burdened lovechild of dating app culture as brightly as a neon wristband," mentioning that it is destined for both fans as well as critiques as the genre, such as commenting that the women shrug off the misogyny the men express and hoping they can alter their behavior."^[56] Lea Palmieri, writing for Decider, stated that it "feels like a modern dating show throughout" since "it takes itself less seriously and celebrates how silly it is that this show even exists."^[57]

The Washington Post's Inkoo Kang commented that it "works so well because it takes the 'fboy' part seriously: They're there to be ogled, judged and ultimately taken down a peg" which creates "something encouraging about a show that isn't just about whether a woman can find a man, but the right one for her."^[58] For her part, Time's Judy Berman, in a two-show review of the series and Sexy Beasts, commented on the former that it "happens to be a funny, addictive, shrewdly executed twist on a familiar format. I can't say the same for Beasts," and calling the female contestants "relatively intelligent and perceptive, but also generally have each other's backs."^[59] The A.V. Club's Danette Chaves concurred with Berman, calling the women "likable and clear-eyed about the choices they're making," concluding that the show "is a work in progress, but still worth checking out."^[60]

Other critics were not as favorable, such as Variety's Caroline Framke, who started her review by stating that "[i]t didn't take long for FBoy Island to make me feel like my brain was leaking out my ears, drip by stupefied drip," calling the use of the abbreviated term fboys "one of [HBO Max's] most baffling, annoying mysteries."^[14] For her part, Alessa Dominguez of BuzzFeed News called it "an anemic The Bachelorette", observing the lack of time "to get to know anyone … and the guys all play even bigger caricatures of the types favored by the typical reality show," calling the men "even more one-dimensional than the women."^[11] Metro Weekly's André Hereford partly agreed with Berman, Chaves and Dominguez's characterizations of the female contestants stating, "[they] are all likable, but they don't make astute choices," giving the show two out of five stars for "[saving] a few jaw-dropping twists till the end, which might be too late for some who have already escaped to more inviting shores."^[61] While The Daily Beast's Cheyenne Roundtree wrote that it "somehow manages to teeter between an exciting, funny concept and a half-baked idea that needs to work out its kinks," the latter referring to scenes such as when the remaining contestants reveal their label and yet the women continue to foster relationships with some of the fboys.^[16] Megan Reynolds of Jezebel stated that "dating shows are past the point of reinvention," with the "[attempt] to place the power back in the hands of the women, a limp gesture towards something that could be called feminism."^[15]

• FBoy Island on Max
• FBoy Island at IMDb