MTV‘s Ex on the Beach: Couples host Kamie Crawford has serious respect for the couples and their exes who have the guts to appear on the series.
The original series concept went a step further by hosting six couples who put their relationship to the ultimate test when their exes arrive to help them decide to take their love to the next step – or walk away forever.
“It was as messy as you could possibly get, especially down to the sleeping arrangements,” Crawford told Showbiz Cheat Sheet about the series. “The fact that the exes are sleeping above their current partners is insane and it’s only going to get even more traumatic and crazy from here on out.”
Kamie Crawford understood why the couples signed up for ‘Ex on the Beach: Couples’ after meeting them
Despite being the host of three relationship reality shows, plus a podcast that explores relationships, Crawford couldn’t personally see herself diving into a show like Ex on the Beach: Couples.
“I personally was like, who would sign up for this show and why?” she pondered. “But then after meeting the cast and talking to them, like a lot of them, they’re trying to take the next steps in their lives and in their journeys, in these relationships. And they need to figure out, is this person the one?”
“And for some people it was actually the current partners that are like, I need to know if my boyfriend or girlfriend is truly over their ex,” she said. “I need to know so that I can move forward. And what better way than to do it on TV where I have proof of everything and I can see it and it’s unvarnished.”
‘Ex on the Beach: Couples’ confront individual trauma
Beyond the exes, Ex on the Beach: Couples also forces the individuals to face past trauma or issues they never dealt with beforehand.
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“For some people, it was like my ex has unresolved trauma that needs to be resolved,” Crawford said. “And even, they knew it themselves. Like I can’t move forward until I have come to terms with this past relationship and figure out why it’s held me back from every single relationship.”
“Because there’s a lot of patterns that come into play when you’ve been hurt or when you’ve been heartbroken,” she said. “So I was just happy to be there, as the uncertified relationship therapist, and kind of just get people to face some realities, but also have the conversations because these are real couples and some of them have never talked about some of the things that we’re going to talk about on the show before. Just because they haven’t had somebody else holding the mirror up to them and giving them a different perspective. So it’s going to be very messy, but it’s going to be also a learning experience for everyone watching.”
How does Kamie Crawford get the couples to open up to her?
Crawford is the perfect host for a show like Ex on the Beach: Couples because she has the inherent ability to empathize and get people to open up to her.
“I’m not a reporter, like an investigator. Like I’m not here to get the gotcha moment. It’s really just about I love relating to people,” she said. “And in sharing stories, you never know where you can connect with someone. It’s just natural for me, I guess. I don’t really think about it.”
“Even when we’re filming, I don’t think of it as like, oh, this could end up on TV. I just am sharing my own experience and hoping that the other person was willing to share theirs,” she said. “Sometimes they’re not. And that’s OK. And you know, that’s where other people can also relate to them. People who are watching can find themselves in these people in their stories.”
Ex on the Beach: Couples is on Thursday at 9 pm ET on MTV. Stream new episodes of the show after they air live the next day on Paramount Plus.
