Fool me once, ‘Love is Blind’

‘Love is Blind’ is back for a sixth season, and I don’t know who is more delusional between the participants who still arrive there thinking they’ll find genuine love, or me for starting episode one hoping that the producers finally got their act together.

Don’t get me wrong, I love watching desperate people clawing for a chance at love and debasing themselves for millions to see as much as the next guy, but at this point I think I’m willing to start a riot and force Netflix to do a better job of vetting their reality stars and giving us what they promise us at the start of every new batch.

For those who don’t know, this long-running reality dating show is a ‘social experiment’, according to hosts Nick and Vanessa Lachey, in which they try and find out if love can truly be blind.

As in can two people fall in real and lasting love without any regard for each other’s physical appearance?

They do this by separating 15 women and 15 men, and having them sort of speed date each other with a wall between them.

They then each have to narrow down who they want to see, and when they find the ‘one’, propose marriage.

This process, from first introduction to getting down on one knee, is only about two weeks long, and afterwards the couples get to meet and see each other’s faces for the first time.

The producers then whisk them away for a short honeymoon, move them into an apartment and then let them prepare to say their ‘I dos’ a few short weeks later – all while being filmed and followed around by cameras.

If that sounds absolutely absurd to you, it’s because it is. I feel like even if it were possible to develop a genuine connection with someone you have not seen with your own eyes, the time frame is way too short, and the setting is too superficial.

Now, I don’t want to be a sceptic. When I head into each season I am hopeful they will give us a few good love stories we can tune into to laugh, to smile and cry over how beautiful it all is, but time and time again Netflix shows us why we should not put too much faith in them.

From the success of the first season, and how genuine everyone seemed, it was easy for me to believe the rest of the show would follow suit.

But only season 1 had people who seemed to be there for the right reasons – even if some of the relationships did not work out.

As each new group of singles come onto our screens, the problems with the show become even more glaring

As much as drama, crying and fighting is entertaining and fun to watch, I know I’m not the only viewer who wants to actually see people falling in love and meaning it.

We are tired of watching liars, manipulators, gaslighters, fame whores and attention seekers filling up the spaces of people who could actually take the process seriously and give us good, wholesome content. We don’t want to see any more grifters, please!

So as this season rages on, so far I’m impressed with the cast selection.

Six of 12 episodes were released on Valentine’s Day – how apt – and I can already see there’s been a slight improvement from the disaster we saw last time around.

Five couples have found each other and promised to get married in a few weeks. A few red flags have already cropped up, but I’m hopeful for now.

Overall the production quality is as stellar as usual, and they still managed to make the concept feel new and exciting after so many runs.

I am hopeful that the good energy I’m seeing from the cast persists, and that the producers actually scrutinised their people correctly.

This show has the potential to go for many more seasons and to help people find their happiness, but they are going to have to do more to give us authentic people, because it comes off on camera pretty plainly when they don’t.

To the Lacheys, I hope this time around they actually ask participants the questions we want answers to and hold them accountable for their actions when reunion time comes around.

But that’s in the air still and anything can happen, as the rest of the season is set to come out over the next few weeks.

– Anne Hambuda is a writer, social commentator and poet. Follow her online or email her annehambuda@gmail.com for more.