The Ultimatum review: It's anti-Love Is Blind but it's not short of drama
Netflix's new dating series is nothing like the popular dating show, but it's full of surprises.
What do you do if you want to get married, but your other half doesn't want to? Well six couples are about to test out this exact theory on Netflix's new dating series, The Ultimatum: Marry or Move On.
From the creator of Love Is Blind, Chris Coelen, the 10-part series see individuals giving their partners an ultimatum to commit and get married, or split. But, as with all dating shows these days, there's a twist. While they make up their mind about the person they've been with for several years, they can date someone else from one of the other couples, and choose to spend three whole weeks living with that person in a "trial marriage", before testing out the same process with the partner they came on the show with. And there's more... at the end of it all, they can then decide whether they'd rather be with the new person or their original partner.
Yes, this is a real show, and it starts on Netflix on Wednesday 6th April.
Why anyone would want to sign up for something like this beats me. The whole premise sounds like a recipe for disaster, and after watching the first eight episodes before the couples make their final decision (where they'll either destroy whatever relationship they came on the show with and start something new, realise they were with the right person all along, or skip off into the sunset by themselves) I can confirm that it pretty much is, mainly for those who issued the ultimatum in the first place.
Nothing like Love Is Blind, which sees singles getting to know one another in pods and forming a bond based on personality first, The Ultimatum is the complete opposite. It's more like a free pass for couples to go off and do whatever they want without any consequences - only that doesn't really work, with the cast getting jealous about what their "ex" got up to while they were having their "trial marriage" with someone else, despite that basically being the whole point of the show - to date other people.
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Where LIB promotes love based on deeper connections, it's hard to really take the cast seriously on The Ultimatum. The decisions made on The Ultimatum feel very sexually motivated, and it seems like the cast could potentially be jeopardising whatever they did have with their original partner for a three-week holiday romance that's never going to compare to years spent with their original partner.
What could you possibly have to argue about while sipping on cocktails by the pool? Yes, they do move in together - and one person out of all the six couples appears to go to a day job in an episode - but you're just never going to get the same experience in such a short space of time, let alone experience something similar to a marriage.
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When in the real world have you ever had to sit and drink margaritas with someone who hooked up with your partner while you were on a break, and watch them gloat and grin about the great time they've been having? It's not very likely, mainly because it probably wouldn't end well. But on The Ultimatum, the cast are just expected to sit there and deal with, because they signed up for this. And it just feels a little bit punishing...
When it comes to entertainment, The Ultimatum provides that in bucket loads. It's full of drama and twists, in scenes that will definitely have viewers shocked, and lots of explosive discussions during dinner parties, perhaps though at the expense of the cast at times.
Viewers won't find out what each couple decided until the finale episode, which arrives on Netflix on Wednesday, 13th April. Based on the first eight episodes, I'd be interested to see if the experiment actually worked for anyone.
The Ultimatum: Marry or Move On starts on Netflix on Wednesday 6th April. Visit our Entertainment hub for more news and features, or find something to watch with our TV Guide.
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