A FORMER Carlisle College student has joined the islanders on E4 TV series Shipwrecked.

Brad Mattinson, 19, from Temple Sowerby, near Penrith, arrived with four others on the remote Cook Islands in the south pacific during Monday night’s show.

The programme focuses on two rival tribes, the Tigers and the Sharks, who live on two remote islands and battle against each other in the popularity contest.

In each episode, new arrivals land ashore where they’ll spend a day and night with each tribe.

Then, both the Tigers and Sharks will do whatever it takes to win the new arrivals over in a bid to prove that they are the better island, with a decision made at the end of each show.

Some new arrivals have to duel each other to stay, with the tribes also having to compete to win crucial advantages. The rules of the game can change at any time. At the end of the series, the biggest tribe will win a cash prize of £50,000.

Brad, who is a former media student at the college, describes himself as a social media influencer.

Before appearing on the programme, Brad’s biggest claim to fame used to be his old YouTube channel.

“I had a video on there when I used to be a YouTuber a couple of years ago and apparently, I used to really look like Harry Styles because I used to have long hair and that video got millions of views.

“There were so many comments and I had followers from all over the place.

“I got quite into doing YouTube from that.”

On his first impressions of the Cook Islands, Brad said it was ‘ridiculously unreal’.

“You would think it was fake. I didn’t think places like this really existed on Earth until I was stood there.

“And the fact that it was so remote. You actually are stranded.

“You are shipwrecked.”

“I didn’t grasp that concept until I was there.”

Brad, whose favourite food is crisps, added his first night on the show was ‘massively overwhelming’.

In the episode, Tribal Challenge Week got underway with a series of tasks.

nShipwrecked airs weeknights at 9pm on E4