The Honesty Box - Q&A with Executive Producers Sarah Tyekiff and Shaun Parry

Executive producers Sarah Tyekiff and Shaun Parry from Mettlemouse Entertainment, the creative team behind producing The Honesty Box, talk us through the creation of the series, filming on the island of Aphrodite, Cyrprus, and playing matchmakers for singletons ready for an honesty reset.

Where did the idea for The Honesty Box come from? 
Sarah: The Honesty Box didn’t actually start out as a dating show. We were discussing an idea where people in boxes were lying to try and get out of them but at the same time we came across startling statistics about lying in modern dating. In everyday life, on average people lie three times a day but when it comes to dating it’s so much worse - 90% of people admit to lying on dating apps and 73% of people lie multiple times to their long-term partners. 

Shaun: It’s a lying epidemic out there, however, nearly all relationship experts say trust and honesty is a key factor in finding and maintaining a healthy relationship. The advice and the reality weren’t matching up. So, we decided to create a dating experiment where you cannot lie, to find out if honesty really is the best policy when it comes to starting a relationship.

How did you make your vision for the show a reality? 
Shaun: Firstly, we did tonnes of research into modern lie detection systems. They’ve come such a long way since the traditional polygraph tests due to modern technology. We investigated lots of different ones until we came across some new software called EyeDetect, which is a cutting edge AI-based lie detection system with can detect lies with an incredible 88% accuracy. After months of rigorous testing, we knew we had the right one that we and, most importantly, our cast could put their faith in.

Once we had the technology we needed our location. We wanted to create a retreat type space called Truetopia - a sanctuary of sincerity to house the experiment of The Honesty Box. We looked all over Europe and found an idyllic location in Cyprus, it was beautiful, it was hot and, once we’d painted it pink, it was perfect. 

How did you match the cast? 
Sarah: The Honesty Box is all about trying a new way to find love without the lies.  For the experiment to work we needed single people who were compatible and had the potential to form authentic love connections. We had a casting team filter through thousands of applicants and really took the time to assess people’s dating profiles and quiz them on their likes and dislikes when it comes to a partner. It’s a complicated jigsaw puzzle that took months until we were happy that we’d found singles who had a genuine chance of finding love with each other. However, as you’ll see in the series, even after all this hard work we didn’t get everyone’s true love match quite right first time…

How does The Honesty Box lie detector work? 
Shaun: EyeDetect is an AI powered lie detector that measures slight changes in eye behaviour, such as blink rate, gaze fixation and pupil dilation to detect lies. During their visit to the Honesty Box, our Truetopians answer True or False questions and a high-speed camera records eye behaviours and movements. This data is then uploaded to a web server for analysis and immediate scoring to determine whether they are being truthful or deceptive. It has been used in the USA by law enforcement agencies.

Sarah: You don’t see this on screen but before the show each Truetopian was given a demonstration to get them used to the tech and they all went through an extensive test to calibrate the machine to them personally.

Shaun: We had a specific Honesty Box team on the ground who were trained up before the show and certified to write the questions and administer the tests. We even tested it on Channel 4 commissioner Steven Handley… but he’s made us swear to never reveal the results…

How did you introduce the cast to the idea? 
Sarah: We were upfront about the nature of the experiment very early on in the casting process. We were seeking singles who were genuinely looking for love but had all experienced issues in modern dating involving honesty and trust. Their experiences made them open to the idea of being in this incredible experiment where they could find out if their partner was being honest and equally prove they are an honest person themselves. 

Why do you think the castmates were enthusiastic to try this experiment? 
Shaun: The world of modern dating makes it really difficult and time consuming to filter through the bullshitters. Many of these daters are thinking about making plans to settle down and don’t want to spend ages “kissing frogs” via the apps. In this experience, they are not just getting a handpicked romantic match but also living together in paradise where being authentic is everything and getting a fast-tracked version of getting to know a potential love match.

Vicky Pattison and Lucinda Light lead the series brilliantly. What made you choose with them and how did you find filming with them? 
Sarah: Vicky was the perfect host for this show. She’s come through reality television herself and has had her own past experiences with lies and cheats so could empathise with our cast on multiplate levels. She filmed the show straight after returning from her wedding in Italy, so was very much in the mood for love! 

Lucinda was the breakout star from MAFS Australia last year and it’s clear from social that E4 viewers adored her. In MAFS, she really excelled at bringing out frank feelings from the fellow brides and grooms in the experiment. She’s also a celebrant and holistic therapist so was there was no one better to take on the role of Truetopia’s Sincerity Coach, guiding our cast and getting them to open their hearts and minds in her ‘Sincerity Space’.

What surprised you about making the series? 
Sarah: I think it was the growth and transformations that our cast experienced. Most shows that feature lying and lie detectors use these as a full stop, the results are revealed and the cameras stop rolling. However, having our cast go through this experiment over three weeks meant lies and the impact of these could be worked through. You get a better understanding of why people may have lied. We are all human and we all lie, it doesn’t mean you’re a bad person. And with Lucinda on hand to guide our cast in her sincerity space we had some incredibly emotional and uplifting moments which felt like group therapy as our cast worked through any issues they had.

Did you have any interesting hiccups along the way? 
Shaun: These shows are a huge undertaking, and you can spend months planning for every eventuality to ensure a smooth production but there are some things you just can’t mitigate against, such as a reggae festival at a nearby halloumi factory. It was around 7 o’clock in the evening and we were all set to record a big set piece in the show when the strains of very loud reggae music drifted across the valley to Truetopia. We had to delay the shoot until the next day but from the look of some of the crew, who were bopping away to the music, they were happy to take a break.

How did you find filming in Cyprus? 
Sarah: As the birthplace of Aphrodite, the goddess of love, setting a dating show in Cyprus just made sense. More and more reality filming is taking place on the island and it’s easy to see why. It’s a beautiful place and we received a warm Mediterranean welcome from the locals who were happy to have us there.

Shaun: One of our favourite activities you’ll see in the series was when some of the cast went to a traditional Cypriot dance class, where we got them to dress up in the customary local outfits. The boys were surprisingly more enthusiastic than the girls. 

Without giving too much away, would you say the experiment changed the singles’ style of dating for the better? 
Sarah: In modern dating, people don’t often see the impact of their lies. However, in The Honesty Box our cast had to live with this impact and work through it. Therefore, it has definitely changed their attitude to truth and honesty when it comes to finding love.

Shaun: It’s also changed them in other deeper ways. The Honesty Box provokes conversations about attitudes they may have towards dating which means they’re debated by the group and sometimes must reassess and change.

Sarah: We’ll have to go a long way before we solve the problem of lying in modern dating but it’s a start!

The Honesty Box starts Monday 28 April at 9pm on E4. 

ENDS