‘Are You My First’ Producers on Virgin Casting, Future Seasons

SPOILER ALERT: This story contains spoilers from Season 1 of “Are You My First?,” now streaming on Hulu.

Although the promos for “Are You My First?” read “from the producers of ‘Love Island, USA,’” referring to ITV America, the show also comes from Plimsoll Productions, a UK-based company that’s used to creating documentaries. So, when head of factual entertainment Karen Plumb began casting what was then called “Virgin Island,” she was in for a treat.

But we’ll get there.

In 2021, Plumb was meeting with the “quite young” development team and the topic of virginity came up. “We were talking about when everyone lost their virginity, and there seemed to be a bit of a disparity. And we talked about Japan. I think 50% of Japanese Gen Zs are virgins. And we realized that wasn’t just in Japan, it was around the world,” she recalls.

Quickly, they began brainstorming what they were calling “Virgin Island.”

She then brought the show to Disney exec Rob Mills, and “it was the closest I’ve ever got to selling something in the room.” Mills, who oversees Bachelor Nation among dozens of other unscripted hits, knows what works and knew the Hulu audience would respond. “It took a long time, but really interestingly for the format, it’s only become more prevalent and more zeitgeisty.”

Then, executive producer Peter Geist got involved. After more than a decade working on Bachelor Nation, he was excited to take on a new format — or lack thereof. This show, however, doesn’t have an elimination each week. Instead, there are “virgin sacrifices” every few episodes, each one working differently than the last — sometimes they vote on who should go home, sometimes it’s about who wants to continue pursuing who.

“What was freeing about doing a first-season show and something brand new — virgin territory, if you will — was that we could just make up our own rules,” he says. “I like throwing in some twists and turns for my cast and for my audiences, so that nothing feels totally expected.”

In the reality dating show landscape, nearly every season is followed by some sort of scandal.

So, when casting this show, how does one confirm that someone is being honest about their sexual past? How do the producers know that a contestant’s ex isn’t going to speak out and claim they have a history with that person? Well, the short answer is, they don’t.

“Honestly, there’s really no way to know. Through casting, we got to know these people pretty closely, and I think we have a good sense of who these people are. Is there the possibility that someone wasn’t telling us the truth? Absolutely,” Geist says. “The vast majority of them were super clear and honest about why they were virgins, and it just all kind of made sense. Then, it was funny when we were filming for a few days, especially coming from other dating series — my last dating series was ‘Milf Manor’ — you could just tell. These people are virgins!”

Casting was done in two waves — first by Plimsoll Productions and Plumb was “blown away” by the quality of people who came out.

“Casting in America, as Brits, is like casting on steroids — the characters, the beauty, the confidence,” she recalls. “We got about 40 or 50 really interesting virgins. Then, when Peter and ITV came on board, they supplemented that again. But it was amazing how many really good quality, beautiful, confident virgins there are out there. Like all dating shows, there were a lot more women than there were men.”

Geist had worked with hosts Colton Underwood and Kaitlyn Bristowe for years, giving the three of them a shorthand on set. Together, they worked on finding a way to ensure the cast wasn’t treated like any other dating show contestants from the past.

“These are virgins. We need to make sure that people are given time to really flourish and explore these complexities about their personalities and about their decisions about their body and their sexuality,” says Geist. “Just because the rules exist in another show doesn’t actually have to apply here. We can make up our own stuff that feels more suited to the speed at which virgins moved.”

At one point, Underwood and Bristowe decide together to give two late arrivals more time, even though they hadn’t made strong connections. They all decided, Geist says, “we don’t need to be as ruthless as maybe another dating show.”

He also crafted the “virgin sacrifice” title for the eliminations and the “virgin cocktail bar” title — which did have alcohol available for those who wanted it. He also came up with the idea for beaded necklaces for the men, since they were usually shirtless and needed to be mic’d somewhere.

In the future, Geist would love to extend the show by bringing in members of the LGBTQ community — something Plumb says Hulu has expressed interest in.

The first season was filmed in July 2024, more than a year ago, and ended with two couples deciding to stay together and pursue a relationship in the real world. As for a reunion or “where they are now” special, there are no plans just yet.