The Honesty Box cast and release date announced - but the sexism makes me want to switch off before it's even begun

So, if any new dating show gets announced I feel excited and I want to love it too. I want a new show to binge and obsess about. I want something else to help fill the gaps between the two respective seasons of MAFS and Love is Blind which come out each year to be honest. And with Lucinda at the helm - along with reality favourite Vicky Pattison - I really didn’t think The Honesty Box could fail.

But, first I found a glaring error in the format which put me off a bit, but I said I’d still watch. Now, the cast list has been announced and my heart just sank looking over all the contestants and reading their pre-show interviews with Channel 4.

Take a look through the bios yourself below, taken from parts of the cast’s pre-show interviews with Channel 4, and see if you notice a trend and start to feel the same as me:

Chantelle

A 28-year-old Digital Marketer from north London

Question to Chantelle: Have you been honest in relationships?

I have cheated in the past emotionally. I have a bad background of doing that. I’ve cheated on three out of four of my relationships, but I did not cheat on the last one so that’s growth! While I’ve been single, when it comes to dating, I’m a busy lady, so I will not be dating one person. It will be multiple; it will be easier and more time efficient. I don’t have time to waste.

Jacob

A 27- year-old Marketing Director from London

Question to Jacob: Have you ever cheated in a relationship?

I cheated on just one partner and unfortunately, I cheated a few times on her. I got caught. I didn't confess. She found out. She heard a rumour, and I had to tell her it's not a rumour.

Jess

A 29-year-old Property inspector from North Wales

Question to Jess: Have you experienced cheating in the past?

With an ex, he was speaking to other girls while we were together, which I forgave him for, and I convinced myself it wasn't that serious. But in the end, he did actually sleep with somebody else. That was the end of it for me. I actually found out through a friend of a friend. It wasn’t a nice situation.

Jessie-May

A 27-year-old Marketing Manager from Somerset

Question to Jessie-May: Have you ever been cheated on?

I have been cheated on twice by one guy. The first time he cheated on me, I found out because women's gut instincts are just on par. I found a really long hair. It definitely wasn’t his mother's. It wasn’t his dad's. It wasn’t his dog's, which he actually blamed it on. Cringe, I know. I swiftly broke up with him. Then six or seven months later, he was like, “I am still thinking about you”… You know, the whole script. Stupidly, I took him back. He moved in with me and was living with me in my apartment. But then I had a couple of people send me some pictures of him and his ex sitting in a country pub, which was so fun for me. Instead of this time around being whiny and crying, I decided to pack up all his nice bits and send them to charity.

Kane

A 25-year-old Roofer from Bolton

Question to Kane: Are you honest in relationships?

I have cheated in the past. I cheated on my last partner. It started off as a kiss and escalated to sex. I didn’t confess to it, and then she looked at my phone and saw it all. After I cheated, the relationship went downhill and that’s why we’re not together anymore. I cheated three or four times when I was a lot younger, but I would say I’m changed man now. I’ve grown up and I’m looking for something proper.

Maldini

A 29-year-old Housing Associate from Basingstoke

Question to Maldini: How long have you been single?

I've only ever had one serious relationship. Over six, seven years ago now. In that relationship, everything was amazing. Then one lads holiday kind of changed everything.

I was helping my buddy out because there was a girl that he liked, but this girl was interested in me. I ended up having a threesome with her because I was trying to help my buddy out. My girlfriend had my passwords for my social media and one of my friends messaged me to ask what happened on the holiday. I messaged him back saying that I ended up having a threesome.

My girlfriend must have read all the messages. I got back to England and when I went to see her, she just said “Threesome?!”. The trust within the relationship kind of broke down from there. We stayed together, but there were a lot of trust issues now, so it just didn't make sense for the relationship to carry on. We ended up breaking up. I took that quite hard. I think it took me roughly three months to actually get over it.

Noel

A 29-year-old Finance Administrator from Leeds

Question to Noel: Have you ever cheated?

I've definitely made mistakes that I'm not proud of, but I've never cheated on somebody. I want to treat the person I am seeing or dating the way I want to be treated. And cheating for me shows me that you just you don't value me that much. You're not loyal to me, and I'm a loyal girl.

Richie

A 31-year-old Sports business owner from Gloucestershire

Question to Richie: Have you ever cheated?

I have cheated in the past. It was my first ever relationship. I was on the other side of the world in Australia for a year. Before I left, we did sort of call it quits. But it all got a little bit… uh, messy. I did end up cheating while I was out there. Something that I regret for sure. I owned up to it. That’s honest.

Rose

A 25-year-old Cruise ship entertainer from Yorkshire

Question to Rose: Have you ever been caught out in a lie in a relationship?

My ex-partner had come back in and I was pretending I was asleep with an eye mask on, because I couldn’t be arsed to talk to him. But I did this for about four nights running, and he did figure out that I was awake and just unresponsive. The relationship didn’t last very long after that.

Tobias

A 29-year-old Car dealer from Kent

Question to Tobias: Have you cheated in the past?

I have cheated before. I'm not proud of it at all. Drunken antics. I wasn't particularly happy in the relationship at the time. I'm a believer that you shouldn't really cheat. If you find yourself cheating with a girl, then you're not meant to be in that relationship. You might as well come forward and be truthful with it.

Tommy

A 24-year-old Online fitness salesman from St Albans

Question to Tommy: Have you ever cheated in a relationship?

No, I’ve not cheated. If I’m in, I’m all in.

Vikki

A 34-year-old PR consultant from Dorset

Question to Vikki: Have you ever cheated?

I’ve never cheated. I think if you do, that’s a big telltale sign the relationship is over and that you're ready to look elsewhere. That's fine – Look elsewhere. But maybe have the conversation first before going elsewhere! When I’m in a relationship, I give it my all. I have a lot of love to give. That’s something I want to receive back, I’m not interested in anything less.

The Honesty Box seems to just reinforce negative gender stereotypes

. . . Anyone notice the pattern? All apart from one of the men have cheated on past partners. Thank goodness for Tommy! While most of the women, again apart from the one who admits to being a cheater herself, have found themselves on the receiving end.

It feels sexist and predictable. I recently wrote how the Love is Blind season 8 reunion felt a bit like a man-bashing exercise, if I’m being truthful, and now The Honesty Box cast looks like the men are automatically set up to be the villians. I truly feel sorry for the respectable young men out there - who I know exist - who must want to scream at their TVs every time they see this representation of 20-something year old males.

If this isn’t casting purely for drama then I don’t know what is. It saddens me that this casting both reinforces the stereotype of young men being unable to commit and keep it in their pants, and also the stereotype of women as being the victims.

Now, what I’ve included here is just one of the questions asked of each of the cast members from the pre-show interviews. If you want to read all of their full interviews, you can do so on the Channel 4 website. But, I still feel there’s a pattern emerging as a focus does seem to be on cheating and there does seem to be something of a divide between the men and women when it comes to past experiences.

But, there’s a lot more to trust and honesty in relationship than whether or not two people have cheated on each other or would be willing to do so. Obviously that is a huge factor, but there are other big factors too. Are people truthful about their values, their lifestyles, their habits and so on, for example. These things also play a huge role in building a successful union.

When the show was first announced in August last year, Channel 4 said the series would bring a cast of singles together in “Truetopia”, a sunny and romantic paradise where truth and honesty reign supreme. They described the show as a “new radical dating experiment”, and said contestants would know they will be tested in the hope it will lead to true love. There doesn’t seem to be anything radical about this on the basis of the pre-show interviews.

The creators of The Honesty Box had an opportunity to do something truly unique with this show and open up important discussions about relationship expectations, boundaries, little white lies, big black lies, forgiveness and more. But, instead, it seems they’ve fallen back in to familiar and boring terrority of f***boys and cheaters - although with one or two exceptions. They all may as well have taken their ex-partners on the other new dating show which is coming to our screens this month: Cheat - Unfinished Business. At least that show is very upfront about what it is.

When does The Honesty Box start?

For those who do want to watch, The Honesty Box starts Monday 28 April at 9pm on E4. I am willing to watch the show and give it a chance as these are only my opinions on the basis of reading pre-show interviews. I hope I can be proved wrong.