On ‘Love Is Blind,’ Love Is Earnest

This show is entertainment masquerading as a sociology experiment. But the experiment is bogus because none of the participants is anything but physically attractive. The "Beauty and the Beast" situation is avoided. It would make for bad feelings (and worse ratings) if the Beauty rejected the noble, kind Beast after weeks of deepening friendship simply because of how he looked. It makes it a lot easier to be a contestant if you know, going in, that the producers were making sure that the person on the other side of the wall was going to be TV-ready attractive.

Lauren and Cameron made the show. She was gorgeous, hilarious and charming. Cameron on the managed just barely to transcend the stalker vibe with his quaint earnestness. They were genuinely cute and in love. The rest of the shows, in standard reality tv fashion, were something between pathetic, narcissistic, and psycho. I’m not sure how much if any of it could be believed. Either way, i cant wait for season 2!

Binged watched it. Giannina is a magnificent woman! I’m surprised you failed to mention that. She’s independent, feisty, sexually aware and emotionally open, supports her family back in Venezuela, loving, and beautiful. She’s the ‘breakout star’ of the show. I predict we will be seeing and hearing more of her on our screens.

The Dating Game...I can hear the theme song.

I've scanned this show a bit- not really watching it - but what I can say is that everyone one on that show is good looking. They may not be all "Hollywood types", but if you were to see them in a bar, you would definitely think: "yes, fairly good looking". With a mix like that, of course love will be 'blind'.

Haven't heard about this show but got totally swept up in Australia's "Last Resort" series which takes 5 couples in troubled relationships to see if they can rekindle the romance and make it all the way to the altar. Totally fascinating, great stories and couples. Very hard to know in advance, who would be successful.

I am 74, and have said for a long time; love is not blind, lovers are.

The show proved that Love really is NOT blind. It was only once the couples finally saw each other and those that found they were also physically attracted towards each other "made it". No sex in Mexico meant no love long term.

I watched this entire show despite many reservations— primarily that I don’t watch “reality” shows or TV in general. I know those reasons are tired cliches. The reason I made it to the end was the strength of a couple of the pairings and the obvious villains. It was also a decent litmus test for racial and gender acceptance. Two other thoughts: The use of alcohol on the show was profligate and there was clearly at least one alcohol abuser. Second, the show was bearable for me due to lack of commercials and the manufactured false narrative arcs they impose every 7 minutes to keep viewers watching. That’s not to say there wasn’t plenty of “drama” manufactured through editing, but there was improvement over the norm.

Something like this works best when you were born at the ascent of the Internet, which dehumanizes people as ciphers to be kept ("1") or discarded ("0"). And the more people ascribe to "love being blind" (it is not), even using the fabled "36 Questions" - which is perfectly valid, EXCEPT - at the END of the 36 questions, you must look into each others eyes for 4 MINUTES UNBROKEN, which is a critical requirement - the more you might believe in this "blind experiment." Human nature being what it is, there is usually a modicum of self-preservation required, so that your deepest secrets are NOT recorded on a TV camera (one you KNOW is there). One would have to be The God/Goddess of Truth to be immune to such self-preservation, and I doubt any of the (all-too-human) contestants qualify, no matter how much they are liked. Haven't seen it. WON'T see it. Wisdom prevails here, and while Hope Springs Eternal, Wisdom Understand Humanity. I still wish them all well, and in the third to fourth year of being together (which is when most relationships reach Critical Mass and begin to unravel as you realize "This is who he/she is going to be for the rest of their life! I'm not PREPARED! I'm not even WORTHY!!"), I will wish to see what Prevails: Wisdom, or Despair. And, in this society, the ratings will show what the viewers believe:" Was it Truth or was it Fantasy??" I know which one I believe already.

Excellent piece that captures the gentle nature of this show. It was refreshing to see people connect without technology, with a sincere desire for a life with another. Just what we need in these unsettling.

I watched some of this show and I think it's very sweet, though improbable.

Jessica was a total plant and an awful person, which may explain her lack of serious relationships IRL. Poor Mark, he never had a chance. Lauren seems like the loveliest, realest person, and Zi hope her and Cameron make it. Kenny and Kelly worked on paper, I was surprised by how shallow she was. The rest were really not interesting. No personality tests or matches like “Are You The One?” from MTV? I expected more pod time. All they had to do to get out was pretend to get engaged. Kind of lame. Too many other people we never saw. Seems like they should match a bunch of people who intersect and see who hits it off. Overall, the schadenfraude was delicious. The breakups/makeups/disasters were interesting. Problem is, chemistry happens in real life. We have certain expectations and we know what works on a surface level. Fun to watch. We were screaming at the TV.

This show ended last week. It was a major thing all of February. Um, this piece feels kinda of late.

He’s clearly too eager and a little bit ignoring her concerns. Even if they’d been together for years her concerns are valid, but a few weeks? Yeah he needs to be more emotionally grounded. I hope she gets it annulled and they can date while she’s an independent queen.

Hello. Corona.

A better test of the Love is Blind premise would have been to have a mixture of attractive and unattractive people. All of the participants were fairly attractive and sexually appealing. How many would have proceeded to the trip to Mexico had that been the case?

Ha ha. I started watching first episode last night. decided I'm going to wait until weekend to watch!

After being persuaded that watching this show would be a rewarding endeavor, something novel and -- dare I say it -- authentic, I was sorely disappointed. Perhaps had the producers allowed us to eavesdrop on some of the more substantive, contentious conversations of both the pairs that ended up as couples and those that didn't, I wouldn't feel so shortchanged. However, I have seen the future of dating shows and it is called Terrace House. A reality dating show and cultural artifact, it dissects the intricacies of dating in Japan. Of course it's quite contrived, but it gets closer to "real" than anything I've watched since the first or second season of The Real World.

"Mild spoilers"?

One suspects that the real success of shows like this lies not in the scenario, but in the careful selection of people likely to be susceptible to the scenario. Just as a "Real Housewives" show selects those prone to conniption fits, romance shows pick those most likely to buy into the romantic myth. Japanese audiences lap up humiliation, and the show runners find people who will step up for it. Americans should be thankful they only worship romance and money.

Oy vey!

I did watch this show, probably out of curiosity over such an improbable premise. I have attempted to watch other dating shows (for what reason, I'm not entirely sure) but quickly drop them once I sense that quality of the show is sub-par. This was not the case with "Love is Blind." I soon found it believable and serious. The conflicts were readily observable and the sincerity of the contestants unquestionable. I thoroughly enjoyed the show and sincerely hope it is not just a one-time series.

The show would be more appealing if it was unscripted, starred real people, and had a counsellor on site to help them work through their issues.