Single’s Inferno has blown up globally, having recently made its mark as the first-ever South Korean reality show to be on Netflix’s Top 10 list. Whether you’ve watched it for the tea and analysed each character’s red flags or simply because everyone else has watched it, you’ve got to admit that it was binge-worthy.
If you’re looking for other similar shows to satiate your appetite for drama, here are seven reality dating shows to add to your watch list.
Check out other show recommendations here:
When the U.S. version of Love is Blind was released in 2020, romantics and reality TV addicts instantly went ga-ga over the outrageous premise of choosing a soulmate without ever seeing them. Now, we have a new reason to buckle down for a serious Netflix binge sesh: Love is Blind: Japan, which hits a little closer to home.
The premise is pretty much the same: couples will “meet” in those iconic pods, then get engaged in the span of 10 days.
The first episode alone is already rather enticing, with so many questions up in the air. Will all the ladies fight over the comedian who’s an instant hit? Will the divorcee find love again? We can’t finish writing this cause’ we gotta go find out, now.
P.S. Season two of Love is Blind U.S. is also airing on Netflix on 18th Feb 2022.
Watch Love is Blind: Japan
Single’s Inferno is a chart topper that any Netflix user would have seen recommended on their Top 10 list this year. The South Korean reality TV show casts nine good-looking and flirty individuals, all of which are the very definition of single and ready to mingle.
The show is set on an island called “Inferno”, and the cast members have to cook their own food, fetch their own water and abstain from any form of technology for nine days. The objective? To find a partner – those paired up get to escape to a paradisal resort for a night. Grab a drink, sit back and enjoy, because there will be drama.
Tip: Do not Google this show before watching it, in case you come across any spoilers.
Watch Single’s Inferno
A saucier version of Single’s Inferno, Korean show Beach on The Beach takes a leaf out of other Too Hot to Handle’s book, adding in a twist. Instead of imposing rules on no intimacy, contestants are allowed to do anything they want with each other.
On the show, the participants go on a series of dates and play games to get to know each other better, and new ones are introduced midway to stir up competition. And like Single’s Inferno, participants make their final choice at the end of the show on who they’d like to date and successful couples will leave the house together.
Watch Bed on The Beach on YouTube
With a name like FBOY Island, it’s pretty easy to imagine the kind of people you’ll be watching on the show. It focuses on three women who have to weed out the “nice” guys from the playboys out of a pool of 24 participants.
During each episode, the women get to choose who they’d like to go out with and must eliminate three guys at the end. By avoiding elimination, the remaining players will be rewarded with a cash prize of $100,000 in total. The real question is, however, if “fboys” can be reformed and if nice guys really finish last.
Watch FBOY Island on Mewatch
Based on the international Love Island franchise, Love Island Australia features a group of contestants living in a luxurious villa on a secluded island. While it may seem like any other dating show that takes place on an island, rest assured you’ll be in for some hot, hot drama with this one.
Whether it’s for love, friendship, survival or money, each participant has to be coupled up with another in order to stay in the competition. The twist? It’s the Aussie viewers themselves who will vote for who stays or gets eliminated from the island.
Watch Love Island Australia on Netflix
If you think reality dating shows are scripted, you just might be right with this one. In The Future Diary, the main stars of the show Maai Nakasone and Takuto Wakamatsu are both handed a diary with a romantic storyline they have to live out.
Most of the exchanges they have are dictated by the diary, which comes with obstacles like not being allowed to reveal their true feelings till the end. A refreshing take on the normal reality TV trope, it’s interesting to watch and see if the two of them can genuinely fall in love in the process.
Watch The Future Diary on Netflix
Spanish programme Love Never Lies strays away from the usual dating show concept where participants are single and looking for love, instead focusing on six couples. With trust issues and temptation thrown into the mix, this show puts their relationships to the ultimate test.
This show is defo one filled with drama, with participants enticed by the prize money to reveal dark secrets like infidelity. Each contestant is asked a question about their relationship and will get €1,000 added to their €40,000 bond if they were to tell the truth.
What’s even better is that it’s almost impossible for contestants to lie their way out of the questions with EyeDetect, a technology that has 90% accuracy, being used to determine if they’re lying.
Watch Love Never Lies on Netflix
Terrace House is a show that requires little introduction. But for the uninitiated, the series follows the lives of strangers from different walks of life living under the same roof. If you’re looking for a show to really binge on, Terrace House has a total of five seasons with a whopping 206 episodes.
Unlike other reality dating programmes, Terrace House’s participants go about their daily lives and jobs while on the show and they’ll have to make time to actually go on dates and get to know one another.
Watch the latest season of Terrace House: Tokyo 2019-2020 on Netflix
Probably the trashiest of the lot, REA(L)OVE is a Japanese programme that brings a group of 18 misfits together who have had a history of bad luck in love due to a “dark” secret they might be harbouring, including addictions and even criminal history.
Each secret is exposed one by one at untimely moments to sabotage their search for their other half. Plus, this also makes it harder for them to reach the end goal – performing Kokuhaku, or love confession, in a fake church in the final episode.
Watch REA(L)OVE on Netflix
Whether it’s your guilty pleasure or if you simply envy the love lives of others, it’s hard to say no to a good reality dating show. Choose from spicy, hormone-filled shows like Bed on The Beach and Love Island Australia and juicy, soul-baring ones like REA(L)OVE and Love Never Lies and get comfy for all the bingeing ahead.
Check out more shows for your next Netflix spree:
Cover image adapted from: @loveislandau, Netflix
Originally published on 26th Jan 2022. Last updated by Kezia Tan & Jessica Fang on 12th Feb 2022.
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