 The Year of the Sex Olympics has been praised for its foreshadowing of the rise of reality television programmes such as Big Brother ( 1999 – present ) and Celebrity Love Island ( 2005 – 2006 ) . The critic Nancy Banks @-@ Smith wrote in 2003 that : " In The Year of the Sex Olympics [ Kneale ] foretold the reality show and , in the scramble for greater sensation , its logical outcome ... This is satire from a TV insider , but it mutates into something far more desolate and disorientating . " The island locations scenes for the production were filmed on the Isle of Man , Kneale 's homeland . 
