It’s simple logic: if you fall in love with someone while their face is covered in synthetic mouse hair, your relationship can survive anything…right? Not exactly. As the latest of Netflix’s reality dating shows, Sexy Beasts inadvertently reiterates an all too familiar lesson of reality dating shows: physical attraction is the most pivotal component of any worthwhile relationship.
The trailer—which features contestants throwing axes, skeet shooting, and searching for love while concealing their true appearances with animal prints and fur—immediately sparked interest across the globe with its flashy disguises and snappy one liners. In the very first episode, we meet Emma, who donned a devil costume with an impressively chiseled chin, and her group of three suitors. The various pairings mingle, and the show takes a sudden deviation from other reality dating shows when Emma is quickly instructed to kick one of her men to the curb after the initial meet and greet. In hindsight, this was the first red flag concerning both the superficial and dull turn the show was about to take. While other trendy dating shows (i.e. Too Hot to Handle, The Bachelor) allow several weeks for connections (and the more entertaining drama) to develop, Sexy Beasts makes it clear that its viewers are in for a short, drama-packed episode.
Unfortunately, the short, drama-packed episodes quickly lost their novelty when it became clear that every twenty minute episode followed the same formula: costumed strangers meet over drinks, pontificate how difficult it would be to make out in animal masks, and eventually cross their fingers and hope that the soulmate they chose is attractive (with the occasional bonus clip of a rich twenty something throwing a fit because he wasn’t picked, or an adult man dressed as a beaver regaling the cameraman with his dating policies, including the motto “Ass first, personality second”).
Shockingly, the general nature of a show where one is instructed to find the love of their life after a single date isn’t conducive to a multitude of long term relationships. In fact, according to some deep social media digging done by Screen Rant, none of the couples that ended up together on the show are still together. This tidbit, although entirely unsurprising, reaffirms one of the key problems of the show: its fast paced nature, intended to keep audiences entertained, failed to create relationships which scratched below the surface in terms of both genuine connection and entertaining chemistry. You wouldn’t find yourself rooting for a couple, but rather wondering how long until the episode was over so you could see the next group of bizarre animal costumes.
However, the problematic pacing of the show paled in comparison to the clear messages conveyed when the contestants finally stripped off their animal costumes. The most tension and intrigue that the show possessed always preceded the unmasking of the winning suitor, where the bachelor/bachelorette anxiously informed the camera how much they wished for their partner to be hot. In the trailer, Emma the devil had posed the all-important question: “What if I pick you, and I’m not what you expect underneath?” Fortunately for Emma, she is exactly what everyone expected, as are the rest of the cast members, as the show exclusively features young, conventionally attractive individuals, to spare any of the beasts the heartbreaking ordeal of spending time with someone they aren’t ridiculously attracted to.
The show, which attempted to market itself as a place for people to fall in love with each other for what “really mattered”—their personality, energy, and ability to connect—consistently seemed to reverse the lessons imparted on us by Beauty and the Beast, as the focal point of each episode was consistently the appearance “reveal,” rather than the making of a strong couple.
Most reality show enthusiasts aren’t naive—we don’t watch reality tv for lasting connections, but for drama and amusement; unfortunately, Sexy Beasts disregards any pretense of attempting to form genuine connections and entertainment in favor of repetitive content—once you’ve watched the first episode, you’ve essentially watched the entire season.