Netflix launches first original dating show promising "flirty banter, awkward exchanges and moments of true connection"
Is Dating Around Netflix’s answer to First Dates?
Dating shows are a mainstay of our TV schedules – think Blind Date, Dinner Date, First Dates and Naked Attraction, to name but a few.
Channel 4 expanded its dating repertoire further earlier this year with Flirty Dancing, a feel-good dating show that looks to match singletons based on a specially choreographed dance routine.
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And now Netflix is entering the matchmaking game with its own original show.
Titled Dating Around, each episode follows one hopeful looking for love across five first dates with different potential partners. They must then choose which of their prospective suitors they'd like to go on a second date with.
A spectrum of singletons are invited to try their luck at finding love, with the first trailer featuring daters with a range of sexualities, ethnicities and ages heading to a bar or restaurant for their blind date.
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The show, which aims to take “an honest and compelling look at the real world of dating”, promises it won’t shy away from some of the more awkward aspects of blind dates. Toe-curlingly awful sexual innuendos, open talk of previous drug use and “culture clashes” are all caught on camera, alongside genuinely heartwarming moments in which couples connect.
“I hope you’re not a serial killer,” says one hopeful as she raises a toast to her date.
It’s fundamentally a glossy, American version of First Dates, backed with a hefty Netflix budget.
If you think Dating Around sounds like a match-made in bingeing heaven, the first series drops on Netflix on Valentine’s Day (February 14th).
