TV shows we love: Love is Blind by Katy Turner

Is love blind? And can a bunch of singles hoping to find a life partner really answer that question?

Love is Blind is a Netflix reality show designed to come up with a conclusion, but the link is, of course, pretty tenuous.

A group of single men and women enter what the show terms the experiment and only meet each other from isolated pods – they can’t see each other and so struggle to form a purely emotional connection. An emotional connection that can be so strong it leads to a marriage proposal to someone, yep you’ve guessed it, they have never seen.

This, the show tells us, is regardless of age, race, height, weight etc. But all those taking part are in their 20s and 30s and scrub up pretty well in front of the camera. In fairness, they are racially mixed.

Those who find love then travel to a holiday spot in Mexico to get to know each other physically and then all move into the same apartment complex to set up an initial home with their chosen loved one – of course the number of couples making it to this stage is only a fraction of the people who started out.

The final phase is the wedding day – four weeks after the experiment started – where some taking part do not even get the support of their family. Will they say I do? Will they change their mind and leave their partner for ever? It’s a gripping climax.

Love is Blind may not answer the existential question it sets out to but it is reality TV at its best; lots of drama, people whose lives you are suddenly drawn into and a story arc that moves along quickly enough to keep you interested and concludes in one season. Four years after filming some people are still together.

And, the show is presented by Nick and Vanessa Lachey whose own wedding was the subject of a reality show special!!

For those gripped by the first season, the second has recently dropped on Netflix in Cyprus (with filming completed on a third) and shows from Japan and Brazil are also on the platform to tempt the really obsessed.