We here at The A.V. Club use Google Sheets to keep track of boring things like the stories we’re working on and Erik’s birthday. (It’s coming up... we forgot to get him a card.) But one online genius is using the digitally savvy cousin of Excel for an infinitely cooler purpose: creating a spinoff of Netflix’s unexpectedly mesmerizing reality dating show Love Is Blind.
“Who will you meet in the pandemic pods? A friend? A Lover? Who knows!?” reads the Instagram bio where our host and co-organizer “T” (a.k.a. “not Obviously Nick Lachey”) is posting his casting progress and “show” updates. It all kicked off Tuesday evening with T’s first crop of daters signing up, then being randomly paired by gender preference and going on 30-minute dates where they can’t see each other. After that first round of dates, T shared feedback from some of the participants:
If this all sounds like an awful situation to put yourself in but you kinda want to watch, there’s that option too! Fans can join a viewing party in a separate tab to discuss what’s going on in the virtual “pods.”
After the first round of dates, there was even a Barnett of the bunch, Red, who found himself in the center of a love triangle, and people were apparently living for it.
“RED is like the golden retriever of the pods. He’s lovable, simply put. He’s looking for a real partner! But who is he gonna pick? Brooke? Our sweetheart content creator or Hayley, we don’t know what she does but she is quirky,” reads an Instagram caption to a video of Red giving fans an update. “We need context Ladies! We need Context!!!!!! Red, keep doing your thing - you’re a star. A real national treasure....let’s just say THE BAR has never been higher.”
If you actually want to be like Red—or “RED”—you haven’t missed out on your chance. T is currently casting season 2, which will kick off tonight at 7:30 p.m. ET. As of early Wednesday morning, more than 275 people had signed up to be considered, and the list was getting longer by the minute.
In a perhaps unexpected twist, T seems to be a genuinely good guy. Tuesday evening he posted a video acknowledging the attention his little project is getting and asked people to suggest a non-profit he could help by raising awareness.
Aw geez, T, are you single?
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