Following community concerns, plans to bring ‘Temptation Island’ to Maui on hold

HONOLULU, Hawaii (HawaiiNewsNow) - A plan to bring scores of reality TV production crew and cast members to Maui next month has been postponed following community concerns.

The USA Network had hoped to film “Temptation Island” on Maui starting in September.

The production’s 100 workers and cast were planning to stay and film at the Andaz Maui At Wailea Resort. And officials overseeing the production had pledged to follow all state health protocols.

But those assurances didn’t quell concern from some, including Maui’s mayor.

“I’m not too keen about it. I’m not too happy about it, but it’s been approved on the state level and the governor,” said Maui Mayor Mike Victorino.

That apparently changed on Thursday.

The Maui County Film Office announced the production “has been postponed to a later date.”

And Victorino followed up with a news release, saying that “considering the recent surge in cases on our island, all parties agreed to delay the show before production began.”

“We look forward to supporting the film production and other projects for our local workers and economy once case numbers decrease in our community,” he continued.

Hawaii State Film Commissioner Donne Dawson had defended the production, saying it was a safe way to begin rebooting economic activity in the islands. “This is the first major television show to showcase our film industry again in Hawaii based on the island of Maui,” Dawson said.

She added, “It’s super important that people understand, they are not going to be running around the hotel or running around Maui in a COVID situation and interfacing with the community.”

Rod Antone, executive director of the Maui Hotel and Lodging Association, also supported the production.

“This is the first jolt into the local economy that we can see and it’s not just the workers at the hotel in the visitor industry. It’s the local crews that would work on film jobs,” he said.

It was not immediately clear when production would resume.

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