Make it through the winter with the power of love, loss, and drama
With exams approaching, the start of our six-month winter, and a looming lockdown, odds are we need some way to pass the time in the coming months. Don’t fear, Ultra Vires has you covered! To help get you through this winter, I’ve collected some of the best (well, most enjoyable) reality dating shows from recent years. What better way to spend these dark days (figuratively and literally) than watching strangers compete for love in wonderfully warm tropical locations? In no particular order, these shows are sure to give your brain a break as you stop thinking about stare decisis and, instead, ponder if Tayshia will ever find love.
Disclaimer: These choices are from my personal watch history which tend to include North American and British productions. I’m still exploring the many dating shows out there, so I hope to have a more internationally-represented list soon! UV is also not sponsored by any of the following productions, although we are open to receiving any and all free merch (Love Island personalized water bottles, I’m looking at you).
The Bachelorette (available through CityTv.com for free, with ads)
A tried-and-true classic, The Bachelorette is a go-to show on the reality-tv circuit. For those that don’t know, The Bachelorette and its companion show, The Bachelor, involve a group of contestants competing for the affection of the bachelor (or bachelorette) with the hopes of securing a marriage proposal. This season of The Bachelorette has been quite the spicy ordeal. The season began filming in March with Clare Crawley, a long-time Bachelor Nation contestant, but then the pandemic hit! Who could have expected that? Filming initially stopped and recommenced later in the summer at an isolated resort. The season premiered October 13 and introduced us to Dale, the former football player with a winning smile. Clare fell in love almost immediately and they were engaged by episode three! Tayshia Adams then took over as the Bachelorette and it seems like Tayshia respects the “process” a little more than Clare did, so we probably won’t see an engagement soon but there’s sure to be plenty of drama.
Love Island (British Version; any season, although I personally prefer Season 3)
Next up, we have another classic. Love Island is an obsession across the pond and was recently introduced to the North American market with Love Island USA in 2019. However, if you want the true Love Island experience, you must stick with the original British program. To set the scene, imagine a group of twenty-somethings living in a villa 24/7 attempting to couple up with each other. Oh, and the winning pair receives a large sum of money. In the UK, the show airs every day, so there are plenty of episodes to watch (across the six seasons, there are 244 episodes). Sit back, learn some British slang, and feast on the inevitable passive aggressive showdowns.
Too Hot to Handle (available through Netflix)
Many of you may have already seen Too Hot to Handle when it came out this April. However, if you haven’t seen this Netflix Original yet, I recommend it for a quick eight-episode commitment with many interesting characters as the very diverse cast includes Brits, Americans, a Canadian, an Australian, and an Irishwoman. The concept of Too Hot to Handle is partly inspired by the Seinfeld episode “The Contest” and involves the contestants forming couples with the hope of splitting a cash prize in the end. But wait, there’s a catch! Any form of sexual activity reduces the overall cash prize, so each kiss or caress will literally cost you. With such high stakes, how can you stay away?!
Are You the One (available through MTV, lol)
For those of you that enjoy probability, Are You the One is the show for you! The premise: the producers pair up contestants using a top-secret matchmaking algorithm. The contestants then live together and try to find each other’s perfect matches; if the entire group finds their partner, then they share a whopping $1 million. The best part? When the group thinks they’ve found a match, they send the couple into the Truth Booth where a biometric scanner tells us if they’re meant to be. If not, the couple is sent back and the group has to try again, narrowing down the possible pairings each time. Being American, Are You the One has some high-octane drama compared to the more reserved Brits on Love Island. Crunch the numbers and try to figure out everyone’s match! If you can do this, I’ll personally give you $1 million (generally, there are over 30,000 possible combinations). Are You the One gets bonus points for breaking the typical heteronormative model by including exclusively LGBTQ2S+ and sexually fluid contestants on the eighth season.
Honourable Mentions
The following are a collection of shows I have not personally watched, but have heard many good things about (my eternal thanks to everyone who offered recommendations for this list).
- Love is Blind (Netflix): Part social experiment, part reality show where people first speak to prospective partners in an enclosed pod before seeing them. Everyone’s conventionally attractive, though
- Indian Matchmaking (Netflix): A docu series that follows famed matchmaker Sima Taparia as she helps young Indians, both in India and abroad, find partners for life
- Ex on the Beach (MTV): Based on a British version of the same name, the show features other reality TV stars living on a beach with their exes
- Dating Around (Netflix): An in-depth exploration of human connection as one person goes on dates with multiple different people and must choose one person to go on a second date with
- Love on the Spectrum (Netflix): A more wholesome dating show with less drama but more compassion
