Netflix has expanded into reality TV with a range of new shows, including Love Is Blind and Sexy Beasts. Both shows have gotten a lot of attention from fans and critics, but Love Is Blind has been lauded as much more entertaining than Sexy Beasts.
Love Is Blind is meant to help contestants go beyond physical appearances when choosing a life partner, forcing them to get to know each other without knowing anything about what their potential partner looks like. The couples date by talking to each other from couches in separate rooms. They then see each other for the first time after they get engaged.
Sexy Beasts has one contestant go on a date with three other “beasts,” all of whom are wearing outrageous disguises. Two contestants get a second date before the person picks their “sexy beast” by the end of the episode. While the shows sound similar, here are all the reasons why Sexy Beasts wasn’t nearly as popular as Love is Blind.
The Format
Though both shows have a similar goal of forcing contestants to make deeper connections, fans have noted that Love Is Blind does that much more successfully than Sexy Beasts. In the former, the contestants have no idea what their future spouse looks like, while the latter only has facial features covered, so the rest of the body is still visible. The dating is still superficial in Sexy Beasts, with James the Beaver even telling the cameras he is an “a*s man” and would choose someone at the end with the best body. Sexy Beasts also changes contestants after every 20-minute episode, giving viewers much less time to get invested in the cast members.
The Contestants
Speaking of contestants, many fans found most of the cast members from Sexy Beasts to be rather unlikable. One fan said on Reddit that “the dates were boring and the people were vapid and not even a little bit interesting.” Some couples from Love Is Blind annoyed fans, but there were some lovable couples who kept viewers interested in the show. Fan favorites Cameron and Lauren Hamilton come to mind, with one fan saying “my fave couple by a long way, they seem so genuinely in love.” Amber and Matt Barnett are also going strong. Many fans have seen that this show has a high success rate by reality TV show standards. Called one of the best reality dating shows, Love Is Blind has proven itself able to break the reality TV curse, as two of the couples have stayed married long after the show ended.
The Stakes
The stakes in Love Is Blind are also much higher than in Sexy Beasts, making it much more captivating to watch. In Sexy Beasts, contestants pick whoever they have the strongest connection with, see them without their outrageous costumes, and share a kiss before likely going their separate ways. Love Is Blind forces contestants to make the biggest decision of their life and get engaged, sight unseen, to a near stranger. The show also brings more drama, as the couples have to go through with the marriage or reject their partner after walking down the aisle. While Sexy Beasts has been called a mix of The Masked Singer and Love Is Blind, it has not nearly lived up to the hype of Love Is Blind.
