Netflix is known to have quite the variety of TV shows and movies on their platform. They have produced a number of Emmy nominated and winning television shows; “Stranger Things,” “Squid Games” and “The Crown” to name a few. Among those shows includes “Love is Blind”, an Emmy nominated reality TV show that tests the attraction of love between 32 male and female contestants. The reason “Love is Blind” is so popular, with viewership hitting 2 billion minutes streamed, is because the couples communicate through pods where they can only hear each other’s voices, not see their appearance. The couples eventually get engaged and get the grand reveal of their new fiance. Intimidating right? This reality tv show questions if love is truly blind.
The first six episodes of “Love is Blind” released on Valentine’s Day this year. My friends and I have been avid watchers of the show for quite some time, especially first-year, Maeve Cronin. She said “The thought of someone falling in love and getting engaged to someone without ever seeing them after only a few weeks is so mind-boggling that it makes tuning in so exciting!” After watching the first few released episodes, Cronin is elated with how the season is going.
I asked the college communication app “Fizz” how Fairfield students feel about reality TV posing the question, “Who watches reality TV? Is it good?” From that post, I got 377 “Yes” answers and 278 “No”. In that small percentage of students that saw the “Fizz” post, many more people answered positively than I thought they would!
Opening up season eight we are introduced to many people living in the Minneapolis area, where the season took place this year. So far, the banter is very funny, watching the stars bond over movies, favorite songs and family life. My current favorite couple is David, a medical device salesman and Lauren who is in educational sales. They seem to match each others energy very well and understand things about each other in a great level.
Many main characters have arisen and have made it on my list of favorites, being Lauren, 31, Brittany, 35 and Madison, 28, among the female contestants. As for the male contestants, Daniel, 30, Devin, 29, David, 33 and Ben, 28, have taken the spots for my favorite stars so far on the early episodes of the show.
32 contestants begin their days in the small pod with a couch, a few toys to fiddle with, a journal, some snacks and a nice outfit to speak to their hopefully future fiance. “Love is Blind” films for about 38 days, including time out in the real world away from the pods. After the couples match up and decide to get engaged on the reality show, they get the “first look” of who they are expected to live the rest of their lives with. In the second episode spanning into the third, there was already a couple revealed to be engaged and they were smitten with each other! Joey and Monica were absolutely obsessed as he placed her engagement ring on her finger after only a few weeks of speaking in the pods. As of 2024, after premiering for the first time in 2020, eleven out of thirteen couples have stayed married since saying “I do” on Netflix.
An episode spans around 50 minutes while viewers watch the various couples ask millions of questions; basically going on a date everyday with new people until they eventually narrow down who they have a steadfast connection with. The first episode spanned over an hour but I was greatly entertained by the contestants chosen for this season. It takes tears, laughs and late nights for the contestants, to see who they truly belong with, without ever seeing them.
This season, the big cliffhanger leaving us in a drought of episodes till Feb. 21, was the speculation that a couple had met before being contestants on “Love is Blind”. Kind of crazy right? Daniel and Taylor claim they have perhaps met each other before, Taylor assuming he had followed her a while ago on social media.
In all, it is quite a touching theory to test on individuals trying to find a connection on a globally streamed Netflix show. The season was very heavy in episodes taking place in the pods following the dating era of the couples, and in my opinion it made the show kind of repetitive. I believe the appeal of the show is the beginning, watching the couples in the pods, but I most enjoy when the couples go out into the world together to see if they are truly compatible.
The season seems to be off to an incredible start, and I am thrilled to see the path it will take following the Minneapolis couples.
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