Stars: 4/5

I’m the type of person who needs to meet someone face-to-face, get to know them, fall in love, then consider maybe getting married to the person I’m dating. It seems like the safe route when picking your person. However, Netflix has taken the entire concept of love and put it into a whole new, crazy approach to it. 

Netflix released a reality show called “Love is Blind” where single contestants meet, go on dates, then get engaged, all without seeing the other person face-to-face.

The show began with 30 contestants inside of a facility where men and women live separately then go about the process inside of “pods” with only a wall and a blue glass separating them. This process goes on for about 10 days, and the contestants could either get engaged with another or “break up” to leave the experiment. (Married) hosts, Nick and Vanessa Lachey, ask the pressing question, “is love truly blind?”

The show follows Cameron Hamilton, Lauren Speed, Matt Barnett, Amber Pike, Damian Powers, Giannina Gibelli, Kenny Barnes, Kelly Chase, Mark Cuevas, Jessica Batten, Carlton Morton and Diamond Jack.

Similar to real life, each of them sat down together and got to know each other, their families, etc. on these dates. For some people, they got up and left the pod when someone was boring them, but for others, they cried together when they learned they both loved each other after a solid two days. 

If the contestants decided to get engaged, they wait until the next day to meet their partners, face-to-face. Then, all of the couples were flown out to Mexico for a “honeymoon,” but little did they know, they were all staying at the same resort. This caused some drama with the other contestants because everyone met the person they thought was “the one,” face-to-face, as opposed to the person they decided to be engaged to.

Once the honeymoon ends, they’re all flown out again to live with their fiances in an apartment complex. Again, little did they know, they stayed with the other contestants in the same complex. Of course, the drama is still there. Finally, the betrothed has to meet each other’s families, as some people need the validation of their friends and family to get married. Again, there is plenty of drama. 

Some of the couples didn’t know if they could handle marriage with one another until they ultimately arrived at the altar. This was chaotic for the hour-long finale episode because if you think they’re going to go through with marriage, you just might be wrong.

It really puts things into perspective when looking at how the love stories shaped up throughout the process. There was black woman who said she had never dated a white man before, and yet she ended up with him. As someone in an interracial relationship, I thought it was very beautiful to see that unfold, considering the question: would she have dated him in the real world, if she saw him first, rather than met him through his personality through this experiment? Besides, it’s very rare to see successful interracial relationships on TV. 

Call me shallow, but I don’t think I could or would love someone who I never met in person before.

The concept of the show was very crazy, but absolutely genius; it was something I’ve never seen before on TV. With all reality shows, you should always expect a lot of drama, some of it scripted, some of it not, but I found everything on this show very authentic just because some of these people really decided to make the biggest commitment of life to one another and marry one another. 

Although I think the show has a great concept, it cannot reach 5/5 stars, just because some of the cast members made the show too chaotic for my own taste. The contestants were upset when the person they fell in love with in the “pods” was not the same person once they spent time together, physically, and this is very difficult for everyone because this proves that if you put so many expectations on people, they will never live up to the standards. It’s a heartbreaking truth. 

Netflix is releasing a “where are they now” panel on Thursday, Mar. 5, so you and I could see if some of these couples really stayed together, maybe got back together or just really hate each other now.