SINGLETON Jack Lomax is hoping to find love on a brand new TV dating show called Ex On The Beach.
The new series on MTV promises to be deliciously devious, as eight single guys and girls are taken abroad under the belief that they are being set up on a holiday romance.
But things go pear-shaped when their ex-boyfriends and girlfriends turn up on the holiday.
Jack Lomax, 22, from Ilkeston, said he had no idea what the show had in store.
"They were so sly about it, they kept it very quiet," he said.
He applied to the show after seeing an ad, which said only "Fancy finding love abroad?".
Jack said: "I thought I'd go for it so I emailed them – I got an audition and got lucky with it."
But under the premise of a straightforward dating show, all he expected was a sun-soaked beach and a lot of bronzed bodies.
"I just thought we were going to be put in a villa with loads of single girls and literally just have the time of our lives – but that all changed," he said.
It wasn't until the second day of filming in Marbella, in southern Spain, that the cast started to notice something fishy going on.
"We got a message that three random people had to go to the beach and meet a special guest.
"Everyone was really anxious, we didn't have a clue what was going to happen and then we found out it was one of the girl's exes.
"It was then that we all clicked on that we were being stitched up," he added.
Jack was one of the lucky ones – having never had a long-term girlfriend, there was no ex around to make his life a misery.
Still living at home with his parents in Ilkeston, Jack works alongside his dad and brother at a car body shop – he is also a semi-professional footballer and a black belt in karate.
"To be honest I'm at the gym every night and I'm out every weekend so I don't really have time for a girlfriend," he said.
Calling himself a "lad's lad", Jack lives for the weekend – Saturday afternoon, he'll be out and about in Nottingham, "eyeing up the girls shopping," followed by a night on the town.
"I'm all about going out and doing what I want – when I want," he added.
"I love Nottingham," he says. "When you go out it's about five girls to one lad, which no lad's going to complain about."
But Jack hints that he may have met a special someone on the show with the power to tame his wild heart.
He said: "I don't want to give too much away – bit there may have been someone out there who I quite liked."
The adventure took him on a number of exciting dates, jet skiing, cliff jumping, trampolining – but his weirdest date was a pleasant walk in the country – interrupted by a naturist.
"Me and this girl went on a walk down a long trail to a house.
"So I'm there, trying to impress her and then out of nowhere we saw this guy – he was just standing there in the middle of a field, totally naked.
"It was so awkward, I couldn't stop laughing."
And it didn't take long for the show to get explosive, he tells us, and Ex on the Beach is full to the brim with excitement.
"The show has a lot of drama, and I mean a lot," says Jack. "Much more than your average reality TV show.
"There were arguments, fights – and you've heard the term love triangles? Well this show has love squares."
But does 'Karate kid' Jack wind up opening a can of whoop-ass on someone?
"You'll have to wait and see on that one," he says.
And is there anything in the show he wouldn't want his mum to see?
"Oh god, every minute of it," he said.
"Well, I do get a bit naked – but it's more that I think I say some pretty rude things so I wouldn't want her to see that.
He added: "I'm going to have to watch the show on my own in a quiet room so that she can't strangle me."
MTV's Ex On The Beach starts Tuesday, April 22, 10pm.
