Live on a full season
by Overlan

One line into the villa.

CastChat is the messaging system for reality TV contestants. Production reaches every islander in real time, on locked phones that do nothing else. Islanders can only talk back to you.

CastChat production panel showing the villa group chat, two pending requests and fourteen islanders online with battery levels
villa-08 An islander's phone showing a sealed message from production and her own request
18contestant phones run for a full season
24/7live control from the gallery
1 appon every phone, locked in kiosk mode
5panel languages: EN, SV, NO, FI, ES
How it works

Production talks. Islanders answer. Nothing leaks.

01 / Production sends

Run the format from one screen

Announcements, twists and recouplings go out from the production panel, to the whole villa or to one islander.

  • Broadcast to a group or message one person
  • Walk a recoupling line by line: "Amara, you get to choose first."
  • Show a message on every screen, or black them all out
  • Schedule messages for later
Production panel with the villa chat and moderation queue
Illustrated production crew member with a camera, on the phone
02 / Islanders receive

A sealed text, opened on camera

Messages from production arrive sealed. The islander taps to open, so the reveal happens in front of the cameras, and you can see who has opened it.

  • Phones are locked to CastChat: no browser, no other apps
  • Islanders send photos and videos straight to production
  • Phone sounds, light and buzz can be set remotely
villa-08Islander phone with opened production announcements
villa-08Islander phone with a sealed message and a sent photo
03 / You approve

Nothing reaches the group unseen

Every message an islander writes lands in a queue first. Approve it, reject it, or open the group for free chat when the format calls for it.

  • Three modes per group: approval required, media free, or free chat
  • One-to-many groups keep islanders talking only to production
  • Photos stay hidden in the panel until an operator opens them
Islander roster with photos, assigned phone and battery for each contestant
The fleet

Every phone, at a glance

Know which phone is about to die before the islander does. Phone Status shows the whole villa in one table, updated live.

  • Online state and last seen, per phone
  • Battery, charging and uptime, so restarts never go unnoticed
  • Wi-Fi network and signal, free storage, and volume
  • Every phone is labelled and linked to its islander, so you always know which device is which
Phone Status table with online state, battery, charging, last seen, Wi-Fi network, uptime and free storage for each villa phone
Built for the format

The tools a dating format actually uses

Recouplings

Guide each choice one message at a time, with the whole villa watching the same screen.

Missions & polls

A library of tasks and votes, ready to send. Votes can be anonymous.

Villa timeline

Couples, nominations, eliminations and arrivals, logged as they happen.

Media pool

Every photo and video an islander captures, sorted by person and synced to Google Drive.

Islander lifecycle

Not arrived, in the villa, eliminated. New arrivals join with a QR code on a phone that is already enrolled.

Team roles

Operators get only the monitor. Producers get everything. Every sensitive action is locked while on air.

Add-ons

Heart Rate Challenge

Chest straps stream each islander's live heart rate to a screen in the villa. Production runs the round from the same screen, and the results appear on screen at the end.

  • Live BPM and a running chart for every islander
  • Peak heart rate recorded per round
  • Standard chest straps, no custom hardware
Heart Rate Challenge screen with live heart rate and a chart for six islanders
Security

Closed by design

Any phone in the villa can leak the show. A CastChat phone can't: it runs one app, talks only to production, and every action is logged.

Locked devices
Phones are managed through MDM and run CastChat in kiosk mode. No browser, store, settings or other apps.
Device certificates
Each phone carries its own client certificate. A phone outside the fleet cannot connect, even with a valid link.
Moderation first
Islander messages wait for approval before anyone else sees them.
Full audit trail
Every blackout, message deletion, elimination and phone change is logged with who did it and when.
Your media, your Drive
Photos and videos go to production and your own Google Drive. Nothing is posted anywhere else.
Request a demo

Planning your next season?

We set up the phones, the panel and the server for your production, and support the team on air. Tell us about your format and we will walk you through a live demo.

contact@overlan.fi
Illustrated islander holding up her phone