This Season Of Love is Blind Was A Train Wreck, & I Can't Look Away

Saying someone is "not here for the right reasons" has basically become a requirement for reality dating television. And in the age of social media, when a 30-second appearance on television can gain you major cash in followers, the line has become sincerely blurred on what exactly that right reason is.

But, as vague and overused as the phrase may be, I can't think of any other way to describe the current season of Love is Blind on Netflix. I can say with complete certainty that pretty much no one is there for the right reasons this season — and I simply cannot look away.

This Season on Love is Blind…

Love is Blind is currently in its sixth season, focusing on a group of singles based in Charlotte, North Carolina.

The concept for the show is fairly simple: The men and women meet in "pods" where they cannot see each other. Instead, they'll engage in hours and hours of conversation before deciding whether they'd like to get engaged and meet in person. Hence, they'll test to see if love really is blind (clever title, eh?). The engaged couple will head to a couples' retreat with the other engaged folks and spend the week there. If they move forward, they can choose to live in the same apartment, live together for three weeks, and then either get married or not.

Over the years, we've seen a range of results: married couples, couples who get dumped at the altar, those who don't make it past the resort phase, and even those who leave the pods single. Each season also has plenty of reality TV tropes — you can expect several villains mixed in with some genuine love and couples that have made it the distance. The formula makes for an addictive watch as you cheer for couples like Lauren and Cameron or take pleasure in Irina getting revealed for her treacherous ways.

Season 6 Goes Off the Rails

While Love is Blind has had its fair share of drama on and off-screen in the past, I would argue that this season has been particularly unhinged. To start with, there's been ~so much~ off-screen drama. "Main characters" Jimmy and Jeramey, as well as the early-eliminated Trevor, have been accused of being in relationships when applying to or appearing on the show (accusations they all denied until Trevor's cringeworthy appearance on the reunion).

Onscreen, the behavior of many of the men has been appalling. At the resort, Chase had a whole conversation with AD about her needing to stay in shape, which made me want to throw my television out the window. Jimmy accused Chelsea of "lying" to him by saying some people have said she looks like actress Megan Fox (a similarity that does exist, by the way!). And don't even get me started on Jeramey's awful behavior onscreen.

Yet… I cannot look away. It's trainwreck TV at its finest, the kind that is delightfully entertaining but also makes me turn to my husband after each episode and say, "Gee, thanks for being a decent human," because apparently it's rough AF out there.

Seeing the men's behavior on the show certainly tones down my annoyance when I see dishes left in the sink at night because neglecting a household task is about 5,000 miles above telling your future partner they need to keep their body in line once they have children.

What We Need to See in Season 7

Listen, has this season of the show been a freaking delight to watch? Yes. But it has also made me feel kind of icky after each episode. And honestly, there's an easy solution: cast better people. I understand that it's reality TV, and this is not my plea to get rid of some complicated characters and even villains. However, we need to have some actual potential for love in there, too.

The concept behind the show is genuinely fascinating, and it's why I've loved and cheered for couples like Lauren and Cameron, Bliss and Zack, or Tiffany and Brett getting together. If you can survive this wild experiment and come out the other side, you may just have a shot at love!

There were things about this season I loved, too. In the pods, I appreciated that the series showed conversations about politics and social media followers; those frank topics are often danced around, at least in the edits we see.

Like all dating shows, Love is Blind started out with a more vulnerable group of people, contestants who didn't know what they were in for for the show, with less of a guarantee for social media followers after the fact. As the show gained in popularity, it was never a question that more and more people would be looking to step in the door (or pod, as it were) to boost their potential online earnings.

And while I can't fault that, I do wish that we could return to more of a balance of folks who may not be there for the "right" reasons but, at the very least, are there for an actual potential of love (i.e., not already in a relationship). Because while I'm here for unhinged reality television, I much prefer my guilty pleasure to come with just a touch less of the ick.