This male dating pool… isn’t great.
An Introduction to ‘Love Is Blind’
The premise is simple. A group of men and women try to date one another in secluded pods, not being able to see who they’re dating. At its inception, Love Is Blind was intriguing, unconventional, and even heartwarming.
This blind-dating idea attempts to point a finger at modern dating life. It targets the people who are tired of swiping left and right on bodiless avatars, just waiting for Prince Charming to come and love you for who you are, at your core.
If you’ve ever seen Love Is Blind, you’ll watch this basic, relatable idea devolve into misogyny, manipulation, and drama, drama, drama. But why has it become so detached from a seemingly great experiment?
Season One: The Lauren and Cameron Show
When it started, the producers of Love Is Blind got what they wanted. Two couples from season one said ‘I do’ at the altar and remain married to this day. Since this success rate is rapidly dwindling throughout the years, let’s discuss where it all began.
Anyone who’s seen the first season will tell you who the stars are: Lauren and Cameron. Seeming the most genuine of the bunch, this couple found a connection more quickly than anyone else.
When Lauren asks Cameron what kind of partner he’s looking for, he says, “someone who’s not afraid to tell me things that are difficult.” This response is raw, showing his utter respect for women and what they have to say.
Ultimately, Cameron proposed after only five days. As a result, you might imagine that this love would fizzle after a simple heated argument.
As the show continues, however, they continue to be vulnerable without lashing out because of their differences. One of their major discussions is race, and they handle this with dignity and respect for one another.
It’s no surprise that these two are still married today. But now, I fear that Lauren and Cameron are the staples holding the fractured pieces of Love Is Blind together. This one success story will likely keep the producers trying again and again to replicate the same results.
Season Two: Let’s Shake Things Up
Enter: the contestants for season two. As a now-viral show, Love Is Blind had practically nothing to lose. Everyone was clamoring for a chance to see couples find each other sight unseen once again.
This all changed with one pivotal moment:
“If we were to be at a music festival… will I have trouble picking you up?”
It happened. A man, Shake, figured out how to cheat the ‘Love Is Blind’ game. He asked a vacuous question intending to weed out the fat girls, leaving him the blonde skinny beauties he was really looking for.
This begs the question, why was Shake actually here? It certainly wasn’t for blind love, so why else?
To me, that answer is very simple: manipulation. For a man like this, the chance to come on live television, twist a woman’s emotions beyond repair, and squeeze a couple hundred thousand followers out of the experience was too great to pass up.
Unfortunately, this interaction also makes people, admittedly including me, think: how do these women not see it? Shouldn’t you, the moment a man asks you this, immediately realize he’s here for ill will? To answer that question, let’s dive into the most recent episodes.
Season Three: The Last Straw
This all leads up to the vilest collection of men I’ve possibly ever seen on a reality dating show. Let’s recount our main troublemakers.
Both Bartise and Cole seem to value physical attraction above all else, despite being engaged to exceptionally attractive women (Nancy and Zanab, respectively).
In all of Matt and Colleen’s fights, Matt reacts as a potential abuser. He yells, gives her an intimidating stare, and regularly threatens to leave her. When it ends in tears, he gives in and they ultimately reconcile. Yikes.
Not to mention Andrew, who fakes tears after rejection. Coincidentally, he remembers the eye drops in his pocket and whips them out for dramatic effect:
Looking back on Lauren and Cameron, it’s hard to believe we got here. But, unfortunately, I believe it was inevitable.
Love Bombing In ‘Love Is Blind’
Love Is Blind is centered on love bombing. This is a form of abuse where, usually a man, pays excessive devotion early on in a relationship. Showering the woman with gifts and separating her from her friends, he confesses his love unexpectedly early.
If you frame Love Is Blind with this in mind, it all clicks. Hopeful singles physically remove themselves from their homes and try to forge connections with strangers. They basically live in tight rooms (or ‘pods’) and wait for love to hit them.
In this environment, love bombing is expected. After one or two meaningful conversations, someone will say something like “This might be crazy… but I think I love you.”
Love bombing is a manipulation tactic. So why are we surprised when men come on the show to explicitly manipulate their partners with and without a wall between them?
We also shouldn’t be surprised when these women fall for it. The producers essentially set them up for abuse, encouraging the love bombing and hoping that the men turn one-eighty once the curtain opens.
After all, this is reality TV. If you didn’t record the scummiest man on earth telling a beautiful woman he doesn’t want to fuck her, did it really happen?
Conclusion
The point of Love Is Blind is this: marry someone without the biased factor of physical attractiveness. If it was what it claims to be, however, they would extend the time in the ‘pods’. Have couples dig deeper over a few months, then ask them if they want to get married.
For those of you yelling “IT’S JUST A STUPID REALITY TV SHOW”, I beg to differ. Although it has an unconventional premise, it is, at its core, a dilution of modern dating life. In reality, these men exist and will continue to make women cry for years to come.
Did you have a different take on Love Is Blind season 3? Let me know in the comments below!