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Dating in the Dark is your perfect fluff-TV that corresponds nicely with your indulgent sessions of watching The Bachelor or Top Model. It’s Blind Date, but more intimate and without the puns. Seeing as this was the broadcast of the American version, I was expecting more outrageousness and ridiculata than the UK. Instead, we were treated to a sweet, emotional and relatively controversy-free hour of viewing pleasure (well ... for reality TV standards anyway).
The premise is simple – place 3 guys and 3 girls in the pitch dark, and they date over the space of a few days. They get to know each other before finally being revealed in the light, and that’s when we get to discover whether looks really matter when there’s other chemistry involved. Now, the casting for the UK version is usually predictable here – you’ll have a hot but shallow/arrogant one, an average-looking yet interesting one, and a slightly-dodgy but quirky and outgoing one, and you can mentally pair them off within three seconds. Here however, the game was not as predictable – bubbly Aussie girl Léni bonded with awkward SAT tutor Stephen; gorgeous marketing manager Christine locked lips with chubby yet loveable Seth and ‘dashing’ Mancunian Allister shared his personal dramatic life story with hippy-like Melanie.
A part of me wants to say it was disappointing that there wasn’t more bitchiness or any love triangles (don’t tell me that that’s not what you tune in for when you’re watching a show called Dating in the Dark...), but then these people aren’t puppets. They were all genuinely hoping to find a connection beyond appearances, with two out of three couples succeeding, and I sort of liked them for it. I also liked the little twists the American version took – seeing and smelling the others’ clothes, asking sketch artists to draw how they imagined them to look, and the rather exciting ‘delving into each other’s suitcases’ (although we’ll have to wait until next week for that joy).
I’ll finish off with the evening’s best quotations:
“I’m a genius. Literally. I’m in Mensa” – Stephen, the SAT tutor
Stephen: I’m an SAT tutor. Léni: Oh, so you know about WORDS?! (They ended up together)
“Pheremone-speaking, I’m responding the most to this” – Stephen, after smelling Christine’s top. He went on one date with her before realising there was no connection.
“Am I a 10? No. Am I a hobbit? No.” – Seth describing his looks...before getting rejected by Christine in the light
“I never like to be judged. That’s why I’m wearing a tie. It’s like polishing a turd.” – Allister getting ready to be seen in the light – Melanie commented he was hotter than any guy she’d ever dated
Dating in the Dark US is on Living TV, Mondays at 8pm
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