Does the Love Is Blind experiment actually work?

Remember Love Is Blind season 1? It came out just before the pandemic and captivated entire nations. People were fascinated by the new Netflix dating show and its characters, and wanted to see if love really could be blind.

The premise of Love Is Blind is that contestants "date" each other in pods where they can hear the other person's voice, but can't see what they look like. If two people choose to get engaged after ten days of talking, then they can finally see what the other person looks like. 

The show is six seasons deep and has inspired spinoffs in three other countries: Brazil, Japan and Sweden. Love Is Blind Season 6 dropped on Valentine's Day and it has already sparked a ton of discourse. 

Even though the show is six seasons in, hosts Vanessa and Nick Lachey still call it "an experiment." But is it still an experiment at this point? And, more importantly, is it still working?

Just Asking wants to know: What questions do you have about the boom in reality TV and its impact on our lives and our minds? Fill out the details on this form and send us your questions ahead of the show.

To unpack the results of this so-called experiment, culture critics Amil Niazi and Kathryn VanArendonk join host Elamin Abdelmahmoud on Commotion.

We've included some highlights below, edited for length and clarity. For the full discussion, plus a conversation with Montreal Gazette writer T'Cha Dunlevy about the cancellation of the Just for Laughs comedy festival, listen and follow the Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud podcast on your favourite podcast player.

LISTEN | Today's episode on YouTube:

Elamin: Kathryn, you've watched the entire season. No spoilers, but we're going to try to get through this. What did you think of this season of Love Is Blind? 

Kathryn: I do think this season, which is set in North Carolina, is a little bit more of a return to form for this show. But that said, a return to form still means that there's a lot of unexpected things that happen, that there are these big moments between people that everyone wants to be able to predict. I think one of the things that I have noticed with this season, which I feel like has been increasing since the first season, is that there's an unending amount of chatter about it. It does feel increasingly like monoculture is gone — except maybe for Love Is Blind.  

Elamin: There have been reports that some of the contestants were in some relationships while they were auditioning or filming the show. They've denied these accusations. Amil, what did you think of the casting this time around? 

Amil: I think the issue with the casting is an issue that's prevalent across the reality TV landscape, which is that you have people who are acutely aware of how the show works and how best to come across. They understand that it creates its own ecosystem. But afterwards, you can become an influencer and you can get all these different deals. You see it in Salt Lake City. You know, you have Monica who's the newest housewife. She's obviously a fan of the show. 

I think as viewers, we want a little bit of suspension of disbelief that the people on these shows are acting, that there's artifice there. We want them to be real and vulnerable. And I think that what we're seeing with the casting of Love Is Blind this season and all of this stuff coming out about how they were in relationships and they were presenting a certain persona for the show, is that it makes us feel cynical about the whole experiment.

Elamin: The show first dropped in February 2020, and it was billed as this experiment, Nick Lachey could not stop saying the word "experiment" on the show. There was a sense of sincerity there. I think there was a sense of: "These people are genuinely hoping to find love." Amber and Barnett did. Cameron and Lauren found love. 

When you look at the arc of the show — six seasons in four years — how would you say this show has evolved since the first season? 

Amil: I think the first season was such a hit because it's so difficult to have novelty in reality TV, and there are so many different kinds of formats, but we have a real understanding of how this thing works by now. When Love Is Blind came out, it felt so different. The contestants aren't going to even see each other. They're in these pods. Everyone involved genuinely seemed new to reality TV. I think it felt very fresh. And then, like I said, it's evolved in a way where now people understand how the show works. We've seen some people get influencer deals. Lauren and Cameron basically quit their jobs to be full-time influencers

And so you have people coming into it now who completely understand how the format works. And they're sort of manipulating it and using it. Now, it feels much like The Bachelor or Real Housewives. It feels like part of that universe as opposed to something fresh and exciting and new. 

Elamin: Kathryn, every show has to become established. You're familiar with the format. What's your sense of how the show has evolved since the first season? 

Kathryn: I think everything Amil is saying is correct in the sense that, like any reality show, once it's been around for several seasons, the players start analyzing the game. They understand how it works, they understand what buttons to push. I do think there's an important distinction between Love Is Blind and something like Real Housewives, though, where the ideal housewife is a multi-season deal. They are cast members who are going to return. They can become their own executive producers, or they have a lot more stake in the seasons that they're making. 

Love Is Blind is closer to a one-season anthology model where you're actually filming for a very short period of time, like you're really only filming for six weeks at the most.

You can listen to the full discussion from today's show on CBC Listen or on our podcast, Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud, available wherever you get your podcasts.

Panel produced by Amelia Eqbal