Everyone who knows me knows my obsession with any Netflix reality show, specifically when they involve romance. If it involves drama and an outrageous plot, I will probably be watching it. Their newest creation, “Age of Attraction,” might be their craziest reality show yet.
“Age of Attraction” is a brand new show where single adults of all ages mingle and attempt to find their person, all without knowing each other’s ages. They are only allowed to reveal their ages when they have found who they would like to continue the show’s journey with. I know, crazy, right?
The show is hosted by Nick Viall of “The Viall Files” podcast and his wife, Natalie Joy, who have an 18-year age gap between them. The show attempts to present a more normalized and welcoming environment for these age gap couples, but there are still some creepy elements to this whole process.
One of the most outrageous age gaps we see is with Jorge and Vanelle, who are 33 years apart. You read that correctly. Jorge is 60 years old, and Vanelle is only 27.
After attempting to make their relationship work by sharing an apartment, the age gap proves to be too large as personal values and power dynamics come into play. I mean, Jorge almost begins to act like a father would when attempting to discipline his child. Thankfully, Vanelle walked away from what could have been a very toxic and disastrous relationship.
Another tumultuous couple is Theresa and John, with a 27-year age gap, as she is 54 and he is, once again, 27. Their true test was how Theresa’s children would react to this relationship, as her eldest child is older than John.
This was definitely the most difficult aspect of the relationship for me to watch, as I just could not imagine how her kids could accept this. As far as we know, her children were not aware of John’s age but ultimately saw how happy Theresa was and gave her their blessing. While partly disturbed, I felt happy for them as they seemed the most stable and in love out of all of the couples.
I would say that some of the contestants on the show were just too young to be involved in such drastic, age-gap relationships, particularly Pfeifer and Libby. Pfeifer is only 23 years old and falls in love with 43-year-old Derrick, who has two children.
Although they seemed to have a wholesome and true bond, it was difficult for me to watch her struggle with whether she should move states to be with him, which she ultimately decided to do. I just feel that she should have time to build her own life, as it has literally just begun, instead of giving up her entire life and becoming a stepmother to a boy who is only eight years younger than she is.
Similarly, 22-year-old Libby falls in love with 38-year-old Andrew, who also has two children. Libby would also be stepping into the role of stepmother to children that she is closer in age to than she is to Andrew. Once again, this situation just feels very weird, and like there could most definitely be better situations out there for her.
The age gaps of the other couples were definitely still large, but the drama with their relationships did not feel as though that was as much of the issue. For Chris and Leah, their 15-year age gap seemed like less of a problem than Chris feeling like he could not get time alone.
He continuously alluded to feeling as though she was clingy and that he was not used to doing every single thing with his partner. When meeting his family, his mother even said that this relationship and process looked like it was killing him. This was an interesting dynamic to me, as I feel like the younger person in a relationship is usually more clingy, but not in this case.
Another interesting dynamic was Vanessa and Logan, who have a 20-year age gap. From the beginning, their relationship simply felt dysfunctional and like it was lacking chemistry. You could tell that all she truly wanted was a partner, but I just do not think that she and Logan were a great match.
Every single time they were on screen, they would be arguing, or he would be speaking to her in a demeaning manner. Their entire vibe felt weird and toxic to me. I am genuinely surprised that they decided to stick it out by the finale, but we won’t know for sure until the reunion comes out on April 1.
Overall, I think this show was a bit of a train wreck. From the strange premise to the lack of explanation of the process by the host and producers, I do not think that a second season is warranted. Although slightly entertaining at times, Netflix is capable of creating much better shows than this.