Fox has finally proved the critics wrong. All those who wrote last year that Who Wants to Marry a Multimillionaire? was the ultimate in depravity and that Fox could do no worse can now hang their heads in shame. Temptation Island makes Multimillionaire look like a serious documentary.

Ironically enough, Temptation Island is Fox's first reality special after Multimillionaire, following which the network promised to be classier with its specials.

Fox's latest has about as much class as a dog in heat at a society gala. The new show, which premiered at 9 p.m. Wednesday, took voyeurism to dizzying heights and evoked a storm of controversy even before the show started, a fact for which Fox must be proud. Religious leaders, TV critics and peers from the TV industry criticized the show for trivializing relationships and setting dangerous precedent.

In case you had better things to do on Wednesday, like grooming your nose-hair, the show features four couples on an island off the coast of Belize. Andy, Billy, Taheed and Kaya are housed at one end of the island with 13 women representing a combination of their personal preferences. Shannon, Mandy, Ytossie and Valerie are at the other end with a similar group of men.

Each person is allowed to date anyone he or she wants for the period of 12 days, while they are on the island. The point of the show, as far as there is one, is to see which of the couples decide to stay together and which are lured by temptation.

Sick? You betcha.

The couples are a sight all by themselves. Fox seems to have combed the country (or California and Florida at least) to select eight of the most superficial people walking the face of this planet.

Andy, for example, said of the contest: "It's like taking part in the Pepsi challenge, except having bodies instead of soft drinks."

I rest my case.

The show also features "twists" in which each group selects one of the 13 singles that makes them most nervous and kicks him or her off the island.

Individual restrictions also apply. A contestant may not date a specific person chosen by his or her companion.

It is easy to see that most of the show is a lame excuse to show a lot of flesh. It is harder to see how the situation will test the commitment of couples who freely admit that they have cheated on each other in the past. The sheer absurdity of the situation completely destroys any semblance of plot that Fox writers must have spent sleepless nights trying to concoct.

Is there anything good about the show at all? Of course. It ends half an hour of total agony, which airs right before Temptation Island that Fox advertises as a sitcom called Grounded for Life.