Region First – By Latrishka Thomas
Region First Inter Regional
Ten singles. Seven countries. Three weeks on one island, cameras rolling the whole time. That’s the premise behind Love Link Caribbean, the region’s first inter-regional reality dating series, which brings its cast back to Antigua next month for a premiere screening.
The series, produced by ‘Love Link TV’ in collaboration with the Antigua and Barbuda Tourism Authority, is an expansion of the hit Antiguan dating series ‘The Mixer,’ which originally launched on YouTube. Director and producer Donald Watkins, who runs the project alongside founder Jamila Watkins, said the earlier series was always meant to be a starting point.
“We knew all along that we wanted to go regional, but we just wanted to put the pilot out to feel out whether there was interest,” Watkins said. “By testing that, we realized there’s significant interest in reality TV in the Caribbean, because personally, as we know, there’s nothing like that that exists of this type in the world.”
While The Mixer featured only cast members based in Antigua, Love Link Caribbean brings together 10 single men and women, aged 21 to 45, from seven different Caribbean countries, all of whom travelled to Antigua to take part in the series. The countries involved have not yet been announced, with Watkins saying that reveal will roll out in the coming weeks.
The show was filmed over three weeks last October, with cast members living together and travelling across the island to various restaurants, hotels, and attractions, including ziplining and excursions to Shirley Heights.
“One of the major highlights is that we really wanted to showcase the destination of Antigua and Barbuda,” Watkins said.
He described the format as similar in spirit to international dating shows, but distinctly Caribbean in flavour and language.
“It’s literally made by us for us,” Watkins said. “The show made by Caribbean people for Caribbean people… We really want it to feel authentic.”
Watkins said the production was intentional about preserving local dialect rather than smoothing it out for a wider audience.
Watkins confirmed the series does include a prize element, crowning what he called the “ultimate love linkers” at the end of the season, though details of the prize itself have not been made public.
The August 28 event at Weatherills Hotel will be a limited, ticketed screening rather than the show’s full public release, giving attendees a first look at the opening episodes along with behind-the-scenes footage before the series rolls out more broadly.
Watkins said the production leaned heavily on regional support to get off the ground, with the Antigua and Barbuda Tourism Authority among its biggest backers, alongside LIAT Air, whose regional flight network made it possible to bring cast members from across the Caribbean to the island.
More information on Love Link Caribbean, including cast reveals, will be released in the coming weeks across the show’s social media platforms and YouTube channel, Love LinkTV.
