We can evade all we want, talking about “experiments” and interesting storylines, but we all know everyone who watches Love is Blind does it for the drama.
Sure, it’s interesting to see how those connections made in the pods hold up once reality comes crashing down, but the real hook of Netflix’s hugely popular reality series is the tea. The unyielding spectacle of watching romances clash and the slow reveal of those true personalities remains the show’s primary hook, along with the tantalizing theater of the reunion episode.
In the American version of the show — and even in other iterations, like Love is Blind: Sweden — the reunion episode is notorious for its drama. It gives participants an opportunity to address talked-about moments from the season, air dirty laundry, and get the final word in fights sometimes more than a year in the making. It’s a whole mess, but it’s our mess, and we love every second of it.
Which is why the lack of spectacle in the reunion episode of Love is Blind: UK was so startling to fans. The episode still had its moments, of course — Steven and Sabrina seemed on the verge of full-out fighting once or twice — but overall, fans found themselves disappointed by the lack of excess.
There’s actually a good reason it was such a tame reunion, however, and it all comes down to where the series is set. The UK is known for its predatory press — just ask Harry and Meghan — and in the past, that tendency has had some serious consequences.
This was discussed by viewers in the wake of the episode’s release, with UK-based viewers pointing to examples like Sophie Gradon, Mike Thalassitis, and Caroline Flack as evidence of why the UK version of the series will never lean too hard into the mess. Each of the above examples was involved in reality television in some manner, the first two as contestants and the latter as a host, and all three tragically took their lives in the wake of their involvement with Love Island.
It wasn’t so much their time on the show that reportedly led them to end their lives, but the backlash they received after. The treatment they endured from the public and the press has come under heavy fire in the years since they passed, and it’s changed the way the UK approaches reality television. No one wants more lives to be lost due to bullying behavior, and as a result many UK presenters — clearly including Matt and Emma Willis — steer well clear of any potentially triggering discussions.
We may wish there was more drama, but that caution is a very good thing. Sure, it felt like Catherine got off easy after spending so much of the season snapping at her fiancé and flirting with Ollie, but the Willis’ were simply being careful. She’s already received plenty of hate online, and they didn’t want to pile on. They also cut off Steven and Sabrina before things got too toxic, in another attempt to keep things as genteel as possible.
It’s not necessarily going to become a trend across all Love is Blind iterations, but with the UK’s enhanced caution where these things are concerned, it almost certainly will be in at least one version. Future seasons of the UK-based Love is Blind will almost certainly proceed in a similar fashion, with any potentially damaging drama taking a back seat to caution and care.