Man seeks ‘companion/wife’ for year on deserted island

Some blind dates can seem interminable but one man in search of a woman has promised their rendezvous will only last a year — unless of course true love blossoms.

John McManus, a 36-year-old unemployed hotel manager, is looking for a “companion/wife” to live with him for 12 months on the otherwise deserted island of Inishfree off the Co Donegal coast.

John is unashamedly inspired by the book and subsequent movie released in 1984, Castaway, based on the real-life adventures of writer Gerald Kingsland who spent 1981 on a tropical island with a wife, Lucy Irvine, acquired by small ad — and he plans to write a book about his experiences once back on the mainland.