Love is Blind: Staffers Share Differing Opinions on Netflix’s New Reality Show

You could call me a romantic. I mean, not the whole “Twilight,” my-heart-beats-for-you type romantic — but definitely enough to dedicate every Monday night to “The Bachelor.” So, when Netflix released its own version of a matchmaking show, “Love is Blind,” the combination of my love for reality TV and my soft spot for sappy romance, I knew it would be my newest addiction. 

The producers of “Love is Blind” came up with an experiment — their words, not mine — where single men and women can find lasting love. The only catch is they can’t see each other. At all. They spend their time in “pods,” which are like mini-rooms separated by a foggy glass wall.

The first 10 days of the month-long experiment are dedicated to getting to know one another — some couples really took this to heart and used their time to get to know each other’s “souls” before they could rely on physical attraction. Once they found the one for them, someone proposes. If the proposal is accepted, then — and only then — they can finally meet face-to-face and are whisked off to a beach paradise to further their… ahem, physical relationship, before they head to the altar.             

Even as a fan of the show, I totally understand how ridiculous it sounds. But I promise watching Barnett, the show’s playboy, juggle three girls and telling two of them he’s ready to propose, is too funny not to watch. But let’s compare it to my Monday night favorite, “The Bachelor,” where one man dates thirty different women and then picks a wife by the end of four weeks. And that’s not unrealistic? Yet when two people sit together for hours on end talking about their lives and fall in love, without making out every five minutes, it’s somehow “completely insane.”

Nay-sayers doubt the legitimacy of love found in only a month, but many of the participants seemed to genuinely connect with their future spouses. The show provides entertainment and is freaking hilarious to watch. Like the way Jessica, a contestant on the show, was obviously repulsed every time her new fiancé, ten years her younger, went in for a kiss — I mean hey, not every couple can be a perfect match. But there are couples that have a bond so real it’s worth sitting through the inane mechanics of the show, like Lauren and her new boo-thang who just couldn’t get enough of each other. 

The show provides a perfect balance between practicality and a good time. Sure, you’ll have to stammer through the phone call to your mom explaining that you found your life partner in a blind dating experiment after five days. But these couples actually get to spend weeks together after before the wedding, even moving in together before they trade “I do’s.”

Even if you don’t love the idea of getting engaged in less than a week, “Love is Blind” provides ample entertainment — even for critics of the show. Whether you’re laughing at the contestants or with them, “Love is Blind” is the perfect reality TV show to binge on Netflix. 

Hi, are you okay? If you’ve read Sarah’s obsessive take on “Love is Blind,” and are already knee-deep into Lauren and Cameron’s relationship, I highly doubt you’re doing well.

I’m certainly not — sitting through 10 hours of people attempting to fall in love with someone they’ve never seen in person was a concept I couldn’t wrap my head around — and as a Bachelor-groupie, I’m surprised.

The premise of Netflix’s newest reality dating show — oh I’m sorry, social experiment — is simple: a potential couple spends 10 days chatting through isolated “pods” in which they’re separated by a wall communicating through conversation alone. They then meet for the first time on the day of their engagement and then finally, live together for a month before their wedding — yes, an actual wedding.

The shallow plotline alone should’ve turned me away from choosing to watch but instead, I abandoned the familiarity of my Netflix queue and laughed my way through the NINE freaking HOUR-long episodes of utter stupidity.

Now, if you’re as lost as I was, let’s start from the excruciating beginning. We start with an aerial view of Atlanta, a limo pulls up and our suitors arrive — but, to my disappointment, this isn’t a knock-off “Bachelor” episode. 

D-list hosts Nick and Vanessa Lachey who make their first, and what seems like their only, appearance explaining the insane rules of the show before setting our contestants free to trick themselves into faulty marriages. Don’t get me wrong, it would be nice to think that physical appearances aren’t a factor in relationships. But let’s be realistic.

The supposed heartfelt and true love show had me laughing at moments when the contestants were crying. No, not because I have an ice-cold heart, but because watching these people pretend their communal love for Italian beef sandwiches is enough to consider spending the rest of their life together is comical.

I watched as playboy Barnett — I mean come on, he exclusively goes by his last name — coaxed three women into falling for his somewhat bland personality and old-lady Jessica nearly puked at the looks of her new man, or boy if you will, given their 10-year age gap — as if we thought strong relationships would surface from intoxicated decisions made alone in a 10 by 10 room.

Hearing someone pop the question through a literal wall is nuts. It’s not practical or romantic and it’s hardly a hot-take — once the pod experiment evaporates, the show takes a sharp turn into “Married at First Sight” and “90-Day Fiance” territory. 

Their days in Mexico living together before their wedding are wasted with drunk, irrational decisions. Even if some of these marriages work out, saying yes to a proposal from someone you’ve never seen before is batshit crazy. And if any of these couples are an example of that, I can tell you — love is not blind.