'Love Is Blind' is the bizarre reality TV experiment you've been craving

First came The Bachelor franchise in 2002, a competition-based, reality series that propagated the idea that (heterosexual) couples could meet on a television show, foster a relationship, and get engaged in a matter of months. A decade later, Married at First Sight pushed these sorts of expedient televised relationships to the absolute extreme, getting couples agree to marry each other without even having met before.

It goes without saying that the draw of The Bachelor(ette) franchise and Married at First Sight isn’t their abilities to document true love, but the rocky road that couples take in pursuit of romantic partnership. As viewers, we don’t usually care if those engagements and marriages succeed. In fact, if these relationships crash and burn, isn’t that all the more entertaining?

Spoiler alert: Nick Lachey introduces himself as "obviously Nick Lachey" in the premiere episode. Credit: netflix

Hosted by Vanessa and Nick Lachey, Netflix’s newest reality TV series capitalizes on our increasingly widespread, visceral desire to watch eligible singles jump way too fast into late-stage relationships that usually take years to build. Love Is Blind successfully hits the sweet spot between its aforementioned predecessors -- and provides ample romance, crashing, burning.

The series markets itself as “an experiment” to test if love is blind, or if one can fall in love with someone else without ever seeing them. So, to eliminate the factor of physical attraction, contestants go on a series of dates inside “pods,” which are essentially two lounges connected by a translucent wall. Contestants can clearly hear each other, but they cannot see each other; the women sit on one side, the men on the other. After five to ten days, the contestants settle on their fiancés.

Once couples have gotten engaged, they meet in person. (Love Is no longer Blind, it was only blind at the beginning.) Then, they go vacation to Mexico… with all the other couples who got engaged in the pods. Because all the contestants have dated, the drama throughout their couples retreat in Mexico is heightened.

Couples who break up in Mexico are eliminated from the show, while those who make it through Mexico move in together in an apartment complex -- you guessed it -- all together.

A romantic date in the pods. Credit: netflix

I’m proud to announce that Love Is Blind is just bizarre enough to work, if and only if reality television is already your cup of tea. From the first episode, the stakes keep building: Will a contestant choose to propose to someone they’ve only spoken to for a cumulative ten hours? Will that proposal be accepted? Will the couples be jealous of other couples? Will parents approve? Can they handle living together? Will both of them actually say “I do” when “I don’t” is a viable option? All throughout, the question of whether or not love is blind is constantly posed, but never definitively answered.

Because multiple couples are rushing full steam ahead toward marriage, the series is more captivating than watching a series of expected, orchestrated break-ups with the same lead contestant. Plus, because the viewer never truly knows what each contestant will say at the altar, watching Love Is Blind is a delightful, cringe-worthy romp to the last, fateful episode.

Love Is Blind had me at the edge of my seat, laughing out loud, audibly gasping, and feeling gratitude that I wasn’t on the show myself, which is my preferred feeling when watching shows that, at times, resemble watching trash burn. (And I say that last part with love.)

The moment of the big reveal. Credit: Netflix

What does the person on the other side look like? Credit: netflix

The constantly salacious series is messy in the best ways. Contestants continuously change their minds about getting married. Their parents don’t hold back when granting (or withholding) blessings for the marriage. People make profound, meandering speeches at the altar in front of all their loved ones. And the wine never stops flowing.

What sets Love Is Blind apart from its contemporaries is the way in which it hilariously attempts to mimic a couple's daily life leading up to their wedding. All the couples (who are still getting to know each other) live together in sterile apartments, draft up guest lists for their weddings, attend respective wedding dress and suit fittings, and have combined bachelor and bachelorette parties with their fellow contestants (whom they are still getting to know).

Each successive step is somehow more awkward and unnatural than the next, which robs Love Is Blind from much of the poise maintained by The Bachelor(ette). However, unlike Married at First Sight, a subsequent marriage isn’t guaranteed meaning the show feels less certain and more exciting.

As long as you have faith that a heart that was broken as quickly as a relationship was formed can heal, Love Is Blind is harmless, entertaining, and satisfying. Tune in to the premiere with your significant other or by yourself for a timely, Valentine's Day treat. Either way, you'll be glad you aren't finding love on Love Is Blind.

The first five episodes of Love Is Blind are now available to stream on Netflix.