Love is Blind: UK on Netflix is a fresh, fun take on established reality-show franchise
US-based dating show Love Is Blind has had a refreshing return to form with a British edition that has been enjoyably messy and heartwarming
Love may be blind – but does it care about your accent?
That is one of the many questions confronted by contestants on Love Is Blind: UK, the latest international spin-off of the hit Netflix reality show about singles who fall in love through a wall and then decide if they want to get married after meeting face-to-face.
Japanese, Swedish and Brazilian versions of the show have also led to successful relationships. But lately the American prototype has been showing signs of the strain that affects virtually every established reality show, thanks to too many fame-thirsty contestants who know the rules of the game.
Enter Love Is Blind: UK, which put a distinctly British twist on the formula when it premiered in August – and has emerged as a welcome return to form for the franchise, delivering a satisfying blend of enjoyable mess and heartwarming love stories.
The latest incarnation takes the Love Is Blind hallmarks – the golden wine goblets, the windowless pods that look like Ikea displays, the delusional villain, the scarcely seen hosts who pop up just as you have forgotten their existence – and presents them in a context that is new enough to make things interesting.