Reality TV mismatching: Why finding your true love is a lie
By Emma Lesyk, March 26 2024—
True love; how do you find it? Well, that’s what Love is Blind is trying to figure out, but the procedures of the experiment are questionable at best. Love is Blind works by placing various conventionally attractive contestants behind sides of a wall and allowing them to date around with the hopes of finding love, and ultimately, getting married. The objective is matchmaking contestants based on personality, not external factors. Except there’s one small issue; it’s starting to fail. Contestants are increasingly taking it less and less seriously.
After the disastrous release of season six of the series, where only one couple, Johnny McIntyre and Amy Cortés, were successful, many watchers have taken to X (formerly known as Twitter) to express that this season is proving Love is Blind to be a failure of an experiment.
However, it is not just Love is Blind. True love is failing all over the reality TV community.
Bachelor in Paradise, a spinoff of long-running reality TV forerunner, The Bachelor, ended its most recent season in absolute failure as well, as all final couples broke up merely a week after the finale premiered. Many of them claimed they were not ready for a relationship.
But why is this happening?
The cause is evidently because of the increasing trend of contestants auditioning primarily for fame, promotions, brand deals and the most shallow of all, Instagram followers. Not one, but two contestants of season six of Love is Blind are rumoured to have already been in relationships before filming started. As the world watches the contestants’ Instagram followers shoot up, it is becoming undeniably more difficult to believe these individuals are truly here for love and not a free ride to an influencer career.
Love is Blind, and other love-based reality TV, generally appear to be declining in reliability, as terrible confessions about the experience almost always come to light. Makes one wonder, who is actually as they seem anymore?
If all of this is true, it is curious as to why so many couples actually do end up marrying, or even simply remaining a couple after the show. If reality TV is doomed to fail because no one is authentic, what accounts for the couples that genuinely find love in these hopeless circumstances?
The answer is simple; being there for the right reasons and healing from past trauma.
The current sweetheart of TV, Joey Graziadei, has claimed the hearts of the entire Bachelor Nation for being charming, authentic, caring and even wiping the tears of the women on his season (and no, this is not an exaggeration). People love him for his easygoing nature and for probably being the best bachelor the world has seen in a while. There is little to no drama surrounding him online. He makes being the bachelor look fun, if that is even possible because he appears to be genuinely putting himself through this to find his happy ending. It’s people like him that make viewers believe in the reality TV process again.
Reality TV seems to work for some contestants, as seen with Love is Blind season four’s Zack Goytowski and Bliss Poureetezadi, who are expecting their first child. Additionally, it is possible to not be hated by the entire media, as Graziadei has shown. So, it is not the process of reality TV itself that is the issue, but the people that often get chosen. A lot of them are inauthentic and simply just not the best individuals.
Time and time again, Love is Blind has shown us the exact opposite; love is not blind. Whether it’s secret relationships, cheating or lying about being ready for marriage, reality TV in general, has been more about gaining fame and money. If Love is Blind gets renewed, it would be spectacular to see more authenticity, otherwise, it will be another season of hostility, possibly leading to the show’s cancellation. Whether Love is Blind gets renewed or not, the lesson is to always be authentic and please do not go on reality TV if you secretly do not want a relationship.
This article is a part of our Opinions section and does not necessarily reflect the views of the Gauntlet editorial board.