“We observed better outcomes with Season 3 compared to Seasons 1 and 2. The new season has a longer viewing time than the previous ones. I’ve been enjoying the positive response from the viewers,” the show’s creator Kim Jae-won told The Korea Times during a recent interview held at a cafe in Jongno District, central Seoul.The reality dating show invites a group of singles — six males and six females — to be stranded on a deserted island. The only way to escape the island is by forming couples, which grants them access to a luxurious hotel suite known as “the Paradise” reserved for their romantic evenings.The 11-part show secured the third position on Netflix’s top 10 charts for non-English series during the week of its release. Impressively, it has maintained a spot on the chart for five consecutive weeks, amassing a total of 24.5 million hours of viewing.The show’s creators and producers, Kim Jae-won and Kim Jung-hyun, aimed to make this season different than the previous ones, switching up some of the elements. This season started with a twist, where the participants were split into two inferno islands on the first two nights.“We felt that the show’s format, location and rules had become too familiar as people around the world watched for two seasons. So we wanted to go in a completely different direction in every aspect with this one,” Kim Jae-won said, explaining how they intended to refresh the series and encourage more spontaneous interactions among participants.
“In the previous seasons, there was a rule preventing participants from revisiting the paradise with the same person they had just been there with. However, this rule made participants more cautious in their actions. For this season, we created two infernos to completely separate them, allowing them to freely explore new connections without external influence. It seems to have had a positive effect.” The creators shared that the key to producing the latest season was discovering candid and down-to-earth participants and establishing an environment that allowed them to fully immerse themselves in the experience.”We downgraded the inferno to have a more rugged tone and manner. The previous seasons featured a fancy campground setting. However, we felt that such an extravagantly decorated setting might lead the participants to act in a more polished manner,” Kim Jae-won said.”So this time, we just placed container boxes and had them act and express themselves more naturally and honestly. Creating such an environment made them more desperate and candid.”They said the process of scouting the cast members took about four months, involving an exhaustive search for potential candidates through every available avenue.”In Seasons 1 and 2, many female participants tended to be passive and preferred men to approach them. In this season, we tried to cast more proactive women who are determined to actively pursue love,” Kim Jung-hyun said. Lee Gwan-hee, the professional basketball player for Changwon LG Sakers, undeniably became the most talked-about cast member on the show. Despite hisblunt and sometimes awkward demeanor, he went on dates with three different women.
“Lee applied for Season 2. And when we interviewed him, he was a genuine, straightforward and confident man. So we definitely wanted to cast him … but his training schedule didn’t work out (with the show’s production timeline) so we had to give up,” Kim Jae-won said, adding that Lee is the perfect type of reality star that keeps the show going.“Unique characters like Freezia, Dex, and Lee lead the show. There are so many diverse people for reality stars to keep emerging. This season’s key point was ‘Who will be the next Dex?’ However, there was no other Dex. The vitality of this show lies in that new types of characters will continue to appear.”Kim Jung-hyun also acknowledged and appreciated how Lee completely immersed himself into the show and his significant contribution to the dynamic of the program.”Lee Gwan-hee had the most honest character out of any dating show and showed everything about himself (on the show). I appreciate that he seemed genuinely eager to be in a relationship and chose to reveal that aspect of himself,” Kim Jung-hyun said.This season had four matches. When asked about the real-life couples after the show, the producers said they left it up to the participants to reveal their relationships.“They don’t tell us. We feel like they hide it from us. What we told them was that since the show’s over, each of their relationships is their private matter. So we just ask them to express their stance at an appropriate time and in an appropriate manner,” Kim Jae-won said.The show’s immense popularity has sparked discussions of a potential Season 4, although its renewal has not been officially confirmed. The creators expressed enthusiasm about helming a fourth season, as well as a possible spin-off featuring cast members from 토토사이트 different seasons, if the opportunity arises.
