Love Is Blind is so interesting to me, not just because of the concept, but because it’s a social experiment and testament of true love, yet still considered a dating show. While it has the thought and intention behind it, it just doesn’t always work, which is expected after 10 seasons in 10 different states in the USA alone. Now why is that? My guess is the contestants chosen to participate in this annual social experiment turned-dating show, are the true problem. Basically, while the show’s goal is to see if love isn’t just based on physical appearance or sexual attraction, there are benefits from being on this show. There are people who have come and gone, found love, or left more single than when they arrived. There are also people who have become influencers, received PR from companies, and have been paid to be contestants on the show. If this is about love, why is there so much monetary gain involved? Not only that, but please don’t get me started on the men.
Men with separate families, men with secret kids, men who don’t have a home or a job nor the ambition to get one either. There’s even men who go on this show with the pure intent of becoming famous. The men on Love Is Blind tending to be evil isn’t even the real kicker. What is the most jarring to me is that these men are being filmed the entire time they are on the show, they know they will have to meet these women, effectively share their own emotions, and communicate with them. These men are also aware that this is a popular Netflix show that has millions of viewers who all have access to their personal social media platforms, even when they don’t. These men willingly give up their electronics, hide things, and expect to come out rich and scott-free. Well, that is never the case.
Firstly, you have season six’s Trevor Sova who planned to go on Love Is Blind purely with the intention to become a celebrity and to get his name out into the public sphere. After being caught via social media and his very own girlfriend, he cleared the air at the season’s reunion confirming the rumors. Sova went on the show while actively dating another woman, even texting her before confirming he was going on the show while still wanting to be with her. These text messages were inevitably leaked and he received immense amounts of backlash from not only his costars, but the entirety of the Love Is Blind loyal audience. In the same season, there was also Matthew, a secretive and immature man who consistently would walk out on dates when asked difficult and important questions, told two women the exact same personal story back-to-back, and even refused to interact with his male costars with whom he had to live with while filming the show. He bothered the two women he had connections with so much that they both met up and decided to end things with him, leaving him un-engaged and forced to leave the experiment.
Even in season two, where contestant Shake found a beautiful and authentic connection with Data Analyst, Deepti, he took every moment outside of the experiment to talk about her looks and physicality. Specifically how much he wasn’t attracted to her, saying these things to everyone but her: his own family, friends, costars, matter of fact, the whole world and internet who watch the show. He humiliated her, even honing in at the reunion about how he must be physically attracted to a woman no matter what, which wouldn’t be as alarming if he didn’t apply to be on a television show based on the opposite. Another man who bothered me when watching this show was Carlton from season one. He played the experiment well and was in a couple who did get engaged, but their relationship fell apart quickly after he revealed to his fiancee Diamond that he was bisexual. Diamond was rightfully taken aback and asked why he hadn’t expressed this before they were getting engaged on national television. He then proceeded to yell at her and call her out of her name before lashing out, and ultimately ended their engagement along with any future hopes of rekindling a relationship.
All of this to say, season ten might be real competition for the messy men of the previous seasons. While season six has the most evil men in one season, some of the manipulation, gaslighting, and immaturity I’ve seen from the men of season ten might have them beat. While the whole show isn’t out, I will keep this article spoiler free until I can do a full review. I will say that now more than ever, these men are withholding information from their fiancees while attending dinner with their families. They are sneaking out and spending the night in another town. We have men who have dated multiple women at once, people who are rushing people into nomadic or travel-heavy lifestyles, men who aren’t prepared for marriage yet are still on bended knee. This season is the perfect example of entertaining television, but at the expense of real people’s lives and experiences. Love Is Blind is described to be a social experiment that takes away the physical and surface-level side of dating by eliminating seeing your partner to begin with. Its purpose is to allow people to look at the emotional and moral parts of their future spouse — but do the men know that?