UK Review: The Results Are In – Love Isn’t Blind

In the opening episode of Love Is Blind: UK, the residents of the “male living quarters,” overcome by the imminent possibility of meeting their future wives and with testosterone surging through the air, break into a spontaneous rendition of Craig David’s 7 Days. This nod to the UK “flava” of Netflix’s hit dating show sets the stage for the whirlwind romances about to unfold, only slightly more protracted than David’s week-long tryst and with much higher stakes.

After six US seasons, the Love Is Blind format is now well established: men and women, confined to separate pods, go on a series of dates, getting to know each other from opposite sides of a wall. Within 10 days or fewer, they choose someone to get engaged to, only then laying eyes on them and testing their connection in “the real world” before deciding at the altar, a month later, whether they wish to proceed with the marriage. David’s packed schedule seems restrained by comparison.

Since its debut in February 2020, Love Is Blind has become one of Netflix’s most popular titles, inspiring adaptations for Japan, Brazil, Sweden, and Germany. The show’s premise is persistently justified as an “experiment” to test whether romance can bloom better without such distractions as physical attraction and lust. Ollie, one of the UK contestants, hypothesizes that the absence of visual inputs will heighten “all my other senses.”

It’s worth noting that everyone involved is conventionally attractive, often indisputably so. Despite the loose scientific method, audiences can feel quietly confident of the outcome after six US seasons. Vulture crunched the numbers and found that, out of 178 participants, Love Is Blind has resulted in 11 marriages with two couples now divorced. The odds aren’t great, even for those willing to overlook the associated baggage of doing it all on TV.

This UK version adheres closely to the US formula, down to the gold goblets (reportedly for ensuring continuity in the edit) and the husband and wife hosts. Emma and Matt Willis provide a good match for Nick and Vanessa Lachey’s star power, even if they don’t share the American couple’s supreme ease with the undertaking. Discussing feelings is, after all, essentially un-British, yet Love Is Blind participants are obliged to do so constantly.

The biggest difference between the UK and US shows is the presence of God, often thanked in the original for bringing soulmates together. Instead, the UK daters have football teams. An Arsenal fan’s mid-date discovery that there is a Spurs fan on the other side of the wall is met with mutual dismay: “This isn’t gonna work!”

Faith may not be a factor in Love Is Blind UK, but a fundamental conservatism shines through. “I want to come out with a husband,” says Catherine, a dental nurse from Jersey, who claims men objectify her for her abs and long hair. Steven, a CrossFit gym owner talking about his desire for children, says he wants “a little mini-me, that is part of my DNA.”

There are frank discussions on fertility issues and family planning, refreshing and relatable as the number of older singles grows. However, the melancholy music that plays when Sabrina, a marketing director from Belfast, speaks about her ambivalence about kids, underscores the show’s values. A sacrificial lamb exists in Demi, a sweet security guard struggling with self-esteem in a sea of six-pack physiques. The explicit competition for dates within the “female dating quarters” doesn’t help.

Although Love Is Blind claims to counter a superficial modern dating culture, it persists in the pods. The obvious villain of the UK series is Sam, a product design manager and self-described “smooth talker” who complains of women failing to see past his shirtless selfies to the fun-loving scamp beneath. “That’s who I am: I’m Peter Pan,” says Sam, 31.

This may not register as a red flag to him, but it does to many of his dates, who call him out on his pat answers and skittish energy. Love Is Blind: UK may also be the first in the series to feature an ally in Benaiah, a sensitive and spiritual structural landscaper who warns a woman dating Sam about his conduct behind the scenes. Yet, it doesn’t stop her from booking a one-way ticket to Neverland.

The pods are as much a fantasyland as Neverland, and the injection of reality—in the form of sex, friends, family, and finances—hits hard. Only four episodes of Love Is Blind: UK were available for review, showing just enough to see the engaged couples released from their quarters, but it is already evident that there are unhappy endings in store.

What makes the show difficult to dismiss as mere mindless entertainment is some contestants’ high hopes for the “experiment” and the vulnerability they display in the process. Where Love Island is explicitly gamified, Love Is Blind presents itself as a path to a lasting partnership, even though the results are in: love isn’t blind. One has to wonder how long we’ll be expected to keep watching.

Love is Blind UK is available on Netflix.

Source: The Guardian, Vulture