‘Are You the One?’ Set the Bar High for Reality TV. Now It’s Back to Do It Again.
Although I’ve cried and gasped while watching many televised lovers’ quarrels, I will always uphold one series of romantic riffs higher than the rest. I play favorites. Sue me. But this show—nay, this experience—is complete and outstanding. Whether perfecting reality television tropes or serving us one hell of a concept, Are You the One? is my perfect match.
And after a four-year hiatus, Paramount+ has swooped in as my savior. The show is returning for another season of match-game goodness, which means anyone who’s made an excuse not to watch because it was “old” or “over'' no longer has one. Unlike some of the boy bands we adore, this one is getting back together.
Are You the One? started on MTV back in 2014, blessing viewers with eight seasons of heartbreak, turmoil, and, yes, love. In its initial five-year run, the show tasked an even number of singles with finding their “perfect matches,” after completing interviews, compatibility assessments, and more.
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A typical episode started with a challenge, in which contestants compete in physical and mental tasks. The housemates often compete in pairs, with the winners being awarded special dates and the chance to enter the Truth Booth.
While victorious couples leave the house and date it up, their roommates vote on who to send to the Truth Booth, where they learn if the selected pairing is a perfect match. If you’re not a perfect match, then you return to a house of mixed emotions. Some are heartbroken, while know-it-alls may flaunt the rest of the night.
Receiving a “Perfect Match” verdict in the Truth Booth is the only way of knowing a perfect match, besides an A-plus performance at a Matchup Ceremony.
At the end of each week, everyone meets at the Matchup Ceremony. Each ceremony is the housemates’ chance at finding all perfect matches and winning the $1,000,000 pot. There are 10 ceremonies—and thus, chances to get it right—per season.
Here, the men or women pick who they’d like to match up with based on strategy, heart, horniness, or whatever random reason they give. Which housemates do the picking switches from week to week. For example, the men pick the first week, and the women pick the second week.
Once the selections are locked in, light beams illuminate the night sky to reflect the number of perfect couples sitting together. Unless they pair themselves up 100-percent correctly, at which point there will be a full set of light beams, contestants do not know who their perfect matches are. The end goal is for the contestants to pair all perfect matches, winning $1,000,000 in the process. The potential for finding real love and growing one’s social following is nice too.
If they receive no light beams besides already confirmed matches from the Truth Booth, then they have achieved a “blackout,” and $250,000 is cut from the prize fund. No one is eliminated, but couples who are deemed a perfect match in the Truth Booth spend the rest of their time on the season in the honeymoon suite. Additionally, the housemates receive no money if they don’t find all the perfect matches at the final Matchup Ceremony. That means all the castmates must cooperate to bring home the prize, which has been proven difficult for intoxicated and infatuated adults.
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Something like this—a reality dating competition—may not sound like obvious rerun fodder. But since the show began, and even while it's been off-air, I’ve found that I’d rather indulge in old episodes of AYTO than sample a new and shiny series. The series has an unmatched hold on me, one that can’t be replicated by The Bachelor, Love Island, and other seemingly similar second-fiddle dating game options.
First, unlike its peers, Are You the One? involves rich, delectable, sexy strategy. Imagine a hybrid of Survivor and Love Is Blind, and you’ll get this series. The contestants regularly weigh following their hearts, no matter whether their crush is right for them, vs. playing the game to win by seeking out the game’s proposed match. It is a lot of fun for us viewers to follow along with; I love to solve mysteries as much as I love solving puzzles. Whether crafting or watching strangers make out, I love when every component fits together.
As I watched each season, I created a table to track pairings, notes on their relationships, and theories about who the perfect matches were. I make it my mission to figure out the perfect matches before the contestants do. This type of challenge is something I can’t pose for myself while watching other dating shows. Yes, Too Hot to Handle has a genius premise, but I can’t play detective with those hot, horny twentysomethings. Instead, I’m offering $500 to the first TV show to make me want to buy a deerstalker cap—and it’s Are You the One?, easy.
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Are You the One? also delivers on the drama. Alcohol-induced screaming matches? Check. Secret hook-ups? Of course. Plot twists and expert casting? Only the finest.
Despite those stakes and mayhem, Are You the One? still has empathy for its cast. It’s earnest in its efforts to showcase each cast members’ diverse personalities. Unlearning one’s poor dating habits is never a pretty process, and the show brilliantly captures that very human experience.
This makes the romantic dilemmas even more exciting—they deserve thousands of chef’s kisses. Imagine you’ve fallen in love with someone, but then a TV screen tells you that you should love someone else. That’s quite dystopian.
Comparing personal beliefs and each others’ views on compatibility drives the series’ intensity. One contestant realizes they love someone, but the Truth Booth deems them unfit. To be rooming with the one you love but be told to pursue another, all while being filmed, is a uniquely hard quandary. The whole notion of personal truth comes into question. It’s quite philosophically sophisticated for reality TV. Color me impressed.
The show outdid itself with the masterful Season 8. MTV made an already great concept better by casting 16 sexually fluid or queer contestants. First, their options for perfect matches increased and made for a more complex puzzle. Second, the LGBTQIA+ representation nourished reality dating TV fans looking for queer identities in the media. This season was widely and justifiably acclaimed by fans. In a world of heteronormativity, Are You the One? was a breath of fresh air.
Despite all the compelling TV goodness, Are You the One? stopped filming for serious and respectable reasons. MTV paused production in 2021, after cast member Gianna Hammer alleged another contestant of drugging and sexually assaulting her during the filming of Season 5. Other contestants from that season claimed the production was corrupt, and there was a cover-up to hide incidents of racism. The behind-the-scenes drama resulted in the show going off-air indefinitely.
News like this pops the escapist bubble of reality TV. It keeps viewers, the show itself, and society in check. I can only hope that the production team has made changes to ensure the safety of everyone involved for this new season. Perhaps four years away has given the creators lots of time to work on evaluating and rebuilding the program, in order to prioritize contestant well-being.
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Premise-wise, the reboot’s trailer suggests there are other changes already in play. The show appears to be asking a new, bigger question: “Where in the world is my perfect match?” By casting contestants from all over planet Earth, the show’s now gone global! I’m excited to see how cultural differences will impact the love-finding process, and I’m ready to savor all the yummy accents.
Even if I know all the answers by now, rewatching Are You the One? is always as much of an adventure for me as it is for the castmates. With the reboot coming Jan. 18 to give me something new to obsessively theorize about, I’m a nervous schoolgirl again, waiting to go to the homecoming dance. Paramount+, you have a difficult and important task ahead of you: Sweep me and my fellow diehards off our feet all over again.
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