Is true love blind?

There is a popular new dating show on Netflix called Love is Blind.  The show is attempting to answer the question whether true love is blind, by having a group of men and women go through a speed dating type arrangement without actually being able to see each other.

The show starts with a series of blind dates each 8-10 minutes long. The men and women are each in their own small room referred to on the show as a “pod”. While they are in this pod, they can take notes as they ask personal questions of their date who is sitting in their own pod across from them.  They cannot see each other and they are separated by a door.

After they do the rounds of meeting different people during the ten day dating period, they have to make a decision if they are interested in proposing to someone or not. If they do propose, they are sent off on a vacation for a week with their new fiancee.  After the vacation, they go into an apartment where they can plan for their wedding.

This show has the unique twist in that the couples cannot see each other.  Other relationship shows on television allow the couples to see each other. There is the LifeTime series show called Married At First Site where couples marry after first meeting each other, then the couples live together for eight weeks and decide if they want to continue with the marriage or not.

There is also the Bachelor and  Bachelorette shows where couples can see each other as they go on dates. So the Love Is Blind show is unique in that if offers an opportunity for people to talk with each other and ask questions on dates, without seeing each other.

The underlying drama of Love is Blind is actually based on what happens when the participants finally see their new fiancee. Will they like the way they look and keep the engagement? People are tuning in to see whether the participants will still accept that person after finding out what they look like.

While these dating shows like to present themselves as experiments in finding true love, what they actually are is a mixture of part soap opera and part reality show. Participants are often asked to make quick decisions for drama and for ratings rather than on developing genuine trusting relationships. Developing trusting relationships takes time and the dating periods on these shows are always condensed due to television time constraints. So there is a race for the couples to have to quickly get to know each other.

Racing to the altar without taking the time to really get to know your partner makes the relationship unhealthy from the start. There is also the question of why you are putting your dating habits on television for all to see. Is it for finding true love or finding fame?

So is true love blind? We go deeper into this question. Click on the listen tab of this website to hear the answer in podcast episode #31.