Netflix’s Love is Blind has a great hook: Is love blind? The answer is no, at least with the small sample of singles on the streamer. Blind’s spinoff, The Ultimatum: Marry or Move On doesn’t really have a hook – and it’s a disaster.
Why did I watch? Something had to fill the World Cup void.
David Atkinson and Haley (photo courtesy Hey Alma)
On The Ultimatum, couples “break up,” enter “trial marriages” with strangers for three weeks, followed by another “trial marriage” with their original partners before making their decisions. This season, the cast of eight includes a former professional basketball player and a couple who used to competitive cheerlead together. Spoiler: The female cheerleader’s “trial marriage” ends in divorce with her walking out.
Meanwhile, the male cheerleader is a recipient of a salacious group chat, yes, being delciate here. The text, of course, triggers lots of “drama,” albeit tedious. As for the basketball player, he’s a bit of an enigma, however, he wants a sumbmissive partner. At one point, he picks up his Barbie-esque trial spouse so she can dunk a basketball as his “ex” surreptiously looks on from a car.
It must be noted that even though the couples are in “trial marriages,” they’re constantly texting their original partners. Thus, there’s lots of conflict with the trial spouses, as well as the originals. By the way, the term “trial marriage” is misleading. I’ll address the elephant in the room: There’s no consummation. However, there’s lots of bickering.
Indeed, that’s basically the entire show.
Attention all vulnerable wannabe reality show contestant couples: Going on The Ultimatum will not give your relationship a boost. Yes, it might boost your social media following … or perhaps not.
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Jon Hart is the author of Unfortunately, I was available, the undeserved sequel to Man versus Ball: One Ordinary Guy and His Extraordinary Sports Adventures.
