Love Is Blind might be the only reality dating competition formatted to actually create real relationships

The Cut

"In recent years, dating-show contestants have seemed less interested in an earnest search for 'the one' and more interested in the screen time necessary to garner enough followers to become full-time influencers," says Hanna Matyiku-Nuñez. "It’s the Rose Ceremony to the FabFitFun Box sponsorship pipeline. It seems, however, Love Is Blind contestants are there for the right reasons — or at least rightish reasons. (They did sign up for a reality-TV show, after all.) For starters, airtime is not guaranteed. We are not even introduced to all the contestants — if the pod experience ends with an engagement, Netflix might not even show it!" Matyiku-Nuñez adds that unlike other reality dating shows, villains don’t prosper on Love Is Blind. "Villains make great TV, historically," says Matyiku-Nuñez. "In most, if not all, other reality dating competitions, producers ensure baddies stay around long enough to create drama. It’s to the point where many dating-show contestants strategically play the villain role for screen time. It’s why season after season of The Bachelor viewers find themselves yelling at the TV."

ALSO:

• Season 2 wasn't as good as Season 1: "Season 1 of Love Is Blind was delicious: Every pairing was outrageously toxic, inevitably doomed, or actually quite sweet," says Scaachi Koul. "There was Amber and Barnett, who married and seemed like two of the worst people in the world, but maybe there’s some kismet there. There was Giannina, who was left at the altar by Damian, a man so bloodless that I can’t even think of a good insult for him other than 'triangle head.' (Giannina ended up running out of her wedding in tears before eventually falling in a small mudslide, an indelible image that will accompany me to my grave.) And of course, there was Lauren and Cameron, the only couple who seemed legitimately into each other in a way that could exist outside of the context of reality television. But Season 2 didn’t seem to capture the same magic, instead serving us bland, forgettable face after bland, forgettable face."
• What if contestants don't find love on Love Is Blind?