We have watched Love Is Blind since its inception in 2020. The general concept is a group of people speed date each other while sitting in pods and don’t see each other until they are engaged. Once engaged (some) of the couples are whisked away for a grand vacation, then they move in together, and the ultimate goal is to walk down the aisle in a matter of weeks. In the grand scheme of reality TV this is no lofty Top Chef or Great British Baking Show. There is a distinct absence of feel good vibes. It is junky reality TV that leans into the cringeworthy.

Why do we watch this? I have talked about my fascination with cults and the horror genre and watching Love Is Blind kind of fits the bill. Participants are isolated, have no access to their phones, and no contact with family or friends. They start using lingo such as “pods” and “experiment” or “experience” in a very specific way. All cast members drink from odd gold goblets and cups – supposedly this is so that the audience doesn’t notice when the show is heavily edited and events/conversations are drastically out of order. Whatever the reason, the gold goblets give the impression of an odd religious ceremony chalice. When contestants finally start speaking to people in the outside world you hear “it is really hard to explain” and “it would be difficult for you to understand”. You eventually see friends and family members try to execute informal interventions to break their loved one out of the spell they are under.

Season 1 was strangely compelling and seemed a bit ground breaking at the time. This was a COVID show at its finest, a welcome distraction from viruses, social distancing, and lockdowns. One couple steals our hearts and by all accounts the experiment has exceeded expectations. Viewers wait with bated breath through the wedding ceremony and wonder if these two are actually going through with it. When they do, you feel excited and celebratory. You feel like you have gone on a very intimate journey with them. This couple becomes the ultimate goal, a real life against all odds success story.

I would recommend watching season 1, but do so with caution. Catching lightning in a bottle is a very rare thing indeed. It isn’t that I haven’t rooted for any couples on Love Is Blind since Season 1, but that first best dopamine hit has long passed. The show has devolved from some lofty goal of finding love for all the right reasons to watching most relationships fizzle, disintegrate, and sometimes implode before your very eyes. Frankly, they are doomed from the start. Unless you are going to keep living in your culty pods and drinking from those cups forever, transitioning to the real world is just too much of a challenge.

I have some major problems with the show. First and foremost I detest the hosts Nick and Vanessa Lachey. They give the impression of disengaged, out of touch managers who drop in to the work place every now and again to inappropriately micromanage employees. Vanessa is obsessed about Love Is Blind couples birthing children and monopolizes the conversations during reunion episodes. Every time she shows up at a wedding dress fitting I roll my eyes.

Another problem is the seemingly tacked on goal of speed racing to the altar. If the show is called Love Is Blind, what does that have to do with a wedding? I find this extremely weird and totally unnecessary. I suppose this self imposed time frame adds some level of drama and pressure that could be lacking if the casting department epically fails. At least the countdown to the altar provides a clear cut ending to every season.

Finally, speaking of casting, inevitably there is a large percentage of clout chasing cast members. They are there to be on TV as long as humanely possibly. You especially see this as the speed dating portion of the show winds down. Palpably desperate individuals try to turn the person they haven’t really ever been that interested into “the one” in order to avoid being cut from the show. They REALLY want to go on vacation and extend their episode run. Every season it seems that at least one drama free couple who gets engaged is cut from filming after they exit the pods, maybe show runners aren’t actually interested in following success stories that look a bit more normal.

Andrew and I are huge fans of Survivor and The Traitors, so we like a bit of deception in our viewing. I adore a well executed bluff. Some of my favorite people in The Circle have been successful catfish, and this makes sense for that particular game. In Love Is Blind the audience gets to see all the lies, deflections, and the social tells that occur during private conversations between two individuals that are supposed to be honest with each other. Some people are on a love bombing game show and are trying to win at all costs, lies and omissions be damned.

I think we keep watching Love Is Blind because you know that the train is going to jump the tracks and crash, but the ride on the way to the crash is still kind of fun. As an observer I get to feel villainous without actually getting any blood on my hands. I look forward to the awkward social mixers where everyone is a bit too tipsy. I love seeing liars outed and most of these relationships end. My absolute favorite is when a mistreated partner finally gets their chance to give a scalding speech at the altar.

There are a ton of people who watch this show. It has blown up with at least 10 international versions and each has their own distinctive flavor. We watched both seasons of the UK and Freddie from Season 1 is my all time personal favorite cast member and this was our very favorite season overall. Japan was interesting because they have such respect for each other that anyone approaching the aisle, but not really feeling it, broke up in advance rather than putting each other through unneeded stress and turmoil in front of family and friends. Mexico is even trashier than the US version. Sweden participants were refreshingly honest, direct, and forth right. We have only watched a bit of Brazil, it seemed manic and chaotic. There are still plenty of other countries to chose from: Germany, France, Italy, Argentina, Habibi, and I may be missing some.

If you are a fan of reality TV, let me know the shows you can’t miss.