Can We Please Bring Back Low-Stakes Dating Shows?

As a longtime, avid consumer of reality dating shows, I’ve had plenty of time to develop a formula for what makes the perfect watch. There needs to be situationship drama (obvs), a ridiculous premise, and ideally some legitimate romance for people to root for. Bonus points if there’s a host that lovingly pokes fun at the contestants, lest things get too earnest or sincere. Most crucially, though, there should be nothing truly devastating happening on my screen — but unfortunately, Netflix’s dating shows are trending more grim than escapist lately.

I used to find the kind of lighthearted joy that I love getting from these shows when Too Hot To Handle premiered back in 2020. That reality series, which aired for six seasons, puts horny singles on a beach and asks them not to hook up with each other, at risk of losing money from the group prize pot. It’s silly, sexy, and doesn’t take itself too seriously. But when I tune into Love Is Blind, a behemoth now on its eleventh season, I don’t get the same carefree rush.

Instead, I’m watching people make a lifelong marital commitment to someone they just met through a wall, with whom they share less in common than I share with the average guy in my comments section. They’re settling down despite stark political differences, long-term incompatibilities, and even secret children off-camera. Maybe the concept was thrilling at first, but after six years on TV, the show has become less titillating and more disheartening, and all I want is my low-stakes dating shows back.

I’ll admit — I do find parts of Love Is Blind enjoyable, especially when producers get the cast together post-pods to see what kind of drama ensues. It’s an easier watch than The Ultimatum, a show with such a deeply problematic premise and concerning cast selection that its own loyal viewers are starting to get fed up. (Season 4 had to kick off a contestant for writing a deeply cruel and possessive letter to his long-term girlfriend.) Yet while Love Is Blind and The Ultimatum are both churning out new seasons like clockwork, the slutty chaos of Too Hot To Handle hasn’t graced our screens since 2024. As a consumer, I’m asking Netflix: What gives?

The closest thing to whimsy we have right now on the streamer is Perfect Match, an Avengers-style series that brings together fan-faves and villains from different shows and basically just asks them to backstab each other for a monetary prize at the end. It’s petty, it’s inconsequential, and no one in the cast seems to take it seriously. It doesn’t match the absurdity of the more out-there shows (don’t even get me started on Dated & Related), but when pickings are slim, I’ll take what I can get.

As I gird my loins for yet another round of inevitably upsetting Love Is Blind weddings, I’ll be thinking back to the glory days of sex bans, energy climax workshops, and public shamings led by a robot. Oh, Too Hot To Handle, how I miss you — we didn’t know how good we had it back then.