Best Dating Shows on Netflix

Created by: Chris Coelen

This Emmy-nominated dating show Love is Blind asks contestants and audiences alike whether love is truly blind and how much aesthetics really play into courtship. Hosts and married couple Nick Lachey (Newlyweds: Nick & Jessica) and Vanessa Lachey (NCIS: Hawai’i) place 15 men and 15 women in their own pods for 10 days, where they can only get to know their prospective mates using their voice and charm. The show strips away the primary tool used by the collection of hot singles and forces connections to be built on a platform of mutual understanding and emotional bonding. It’s a really interesting premise that continues to draw new thoughts and feelings from the love-seeking singles who have to decide whether to get engaged before seeing their potential fiance’s face.

Created by: Richard Cowles

Based on the hit British reality of the same name, Love Island is a fun twist on the Big Brother model of reality show where contestants are secluded in a single location together and surveilled from afar. Love Island has contestants couple up and face the challenges together as a team, while anyone left single is dumped from the game. With a combination of audience votes and in-game eliminations, the Islanders must charm everyone inside and outside the villa while constantly having to look over their shoulders. This is one of the most addictive reality shows of the last decade, and you’ll keep coming back for the wild tasks, the crazy drama, and the steamy couplings.

Created by: Lotte Offenberg Bergqvist

Married at First Sight takes a group of singles that are ready to settle down and, with the help of relationship experts, are paired together to be married immediately after they meet. Based on a Dutch series with the same concept, the format has been reproduced all over the world and continues to thrive after almost a decade. The real draw of the series is watching the couples get to know each other as their ideas of marriage collide in ways they never expected. There is a real human aspect of the show, as audiences get to share these intimate moments at the start of a half dozen relationships and are able to follow them as the couples are forced to reconcile with whether the partner they pictured in their minds line up with the person they’ve just legally married.

Producers: Bill Hobbins, Simon Welton

Sexy Beasts is one of the freshest concepts out there, offering the perfect combination of masterful cinema-level prosthetics and the awkwardness of a blind date. Hot singles have to project their personalities through layers of sci-fi alien and animal makeup covering every one of their physical attributes so they can be chosen by a prospective match at the end. Narrated by comedian Rob Delaney (Deadpool 2), who perfectly matches the bonkers energy of this dating show, viewers get to laugh their way through demons, pandas, and mantises trying to flirt their way to long-lasting love with an equally ridiculously decorated creature.

Created by: Chris Culvenor

The next in the trifecta of blind date-themed shows has some of the best awkward and cringeworthy moments of all of Netflix’s catalog. Dating Around has a single love-seeking individual go on five blind dates with a variety of people that often range from very compatible to way beyond their comfort zone. A really great aspect of the series is the diversity on-screen, featuring many different ages, races, and sexualities that aren’t as represented in most dating shows. Dating Around is one of those shows that viewers can watch with a group of friends and gab about the mismatches and horribly relatable terrible dates.

Created by: Chris Coelen

Ultimatums have a tendency to blow up in people’s faces, so it makes sense that they make for great television. Hosts Nick and Vanessa Lachey make long-term couples either step up or step off as they give them eight weeks to decide whether to get married or split forever. Through their time on the show, these six couples have to reevaluate their relationship and figure out if they are truly with the person they want to spend their lives with or if their hesitance is a sign of something much bigger. There is heartbreak, introspection, and a wholesome amount of growth throughout the season, making this an incredibly bingeable show.

Created by: AbemaTV

Falling in Love Like a Romantic Drama is a Japanese reality show where eight up-and-coming actors are put into classic romance scenarios to see if true love blossoms between them. Each season features a different set of actors who perform dramatic love scenes with one another that typically end in a fiery kiss. But the act doesn’t always stop when the scene does. Love triangles and heartfelt confessions abound as the line between performance and passion gets blurry. Another really fun aspect of the show is the panel that reacts to all the sparks of chemistry with hilarious commentary. By the end, you’ll be the one falling in love with all the amazing actors.

Created by: Masaya Arai, Kotaro Itani

The Future Diary is a Japanese reality drama where two strangers are given a diary that maps out their whole relationship from start to potential finish. The series offers a sweet journey through the wonderfully chaotic meet-cutes and dates that we often see as tropes in romance movies and television shows but with real people at the center of it all. The premise begs the question of whether these predetermined tracks laid out by the diaries will ultimately lead to real love, and that’s a determination I think the viewers will have to make for themselves. However, as the couples careen towards the last page of the journals, the show sucks the audience into their relationship in surprising ways, making us root for them with every step forward.

Created by: Kim Jae-won, Kim Na-hyun

South Korean reality show Single’s Inferno — originally Solo Hell, which I mention only to contextualize the devilish font choices — strands 12 singles on a deserted island, where they have to fend for themselves, and the only way to escape to Paradise is to win over their love interest. The survivalist hellscape of the Inferno is a perfect contrast to the lavish and luxurious suites of Paradise, which the contestants have to charm their way into, lest they be rejected and discarded to their lonesome quarters. The series is great at capturing the awkwardness of these city singles trying to flirt while struggling to make camp, start fires, and forage for food, and things really heat up as the couples start pairing up to fight for their spots in heaven.

Created by: Laura Gibson, Charlie Bennett

Inspired by the infamous Seinfeld episode “The Contest,” Too Hot to Handle takes a group of contestants who thrive on one-night stands and run from commitment like the plague, puts them in a house for four weeks, and challenges them to abstain from sex, kissing, or masturbation on order to win the grand prize. As to be expected, things get pretty wild when you put this many horned-up singles in one place and ask them to suppress their desires, but with $100,000 on the line, the stakes couldn’t be higher. One fascinating aspect of the show is watching the relationships develop organically once all physical contact options are off the table, allowing the contestants to not just explore each other’s internal lives but also their own hangups.

Created by: Chris Coelen

Perfect Match is the Avengers of Netflix reality TV shows, bringing together fan-favorite singles from their other dating shows, including Too Hot to Handle, Love is Blind, and The Circle. Placed in a tropical villa, these sexy singles compete to find their perfect match through compatibility challenges and one-on-one dates until only one couple is left standing. The series turns the drama all the way up to an 11 and knows how to get the perfect shots of the arguments, love triangles, and endless makeout sessions. The thing that really makes the series stand out is its shirking of the typical heteronormative pairings that dating shows tend to stick to by including a nice amount of bisexual representation in the group. Perfect Match a silly, horny, good time with bonkers challenges and salacious hookups.

Created by: Smriti Mundhra

For a look into a different culture with an expert to help navigate the world of arranged marriages, look no further than Indian Matchmaking. Mumbai marriage consultant Sima Taparia (A Suitable Girl) gives a peek into her process and the type of clientele that seek her out to find the perfect match. The series approaches relationships from the perspective of desi culture and showcases the expectations and obstacles people face when trying to find a partner. While not a perfectly comprehensive dive into the full scope of the intricacies of life in Indian society, it is a pretty grounded look into a number of individual stories that effectively tug at the heartstrings.

Hosted by: Melinda Berry

Dated and Related has a provocative — and purposely misleading — title, which should help prepare you for just how insane this show is going to be. The series puts pairs of siblings in a villa, where they try to help each other find a match based on their types and past relationships. As you could imagine, the show has an abundance of awkward moments, as brothers and sisters watch as their sibling flirts and smooches the other contestants all around the house. But it’s not just matchmaking. The siblings also try to shield one other from their worst tendencies — to varying effect. This is the best kind of junk food reality TV that will keep you consuming episode after episode.

Created by: Tim Harcourt

The Circle: Singles is the fifth season of the hit series — and the first to have an official subtitle, which takes the show in a fresh and flirty direction. After the popularity of the first season, Netflix has continued to iterate on the format to keep viewers guessing, and this season is a welcome addition. Taking the concept of isolated contestants only interacting via custom social media profiles to gain popularity and become the number one influencer of the group, then adding the layer of dating and potential love creates the perfect cocktail of intrigue and betrayal. Catfishing is a big part of the show, with a number of contestants pretending to be friends or family members to gain favor among everyone just being themselves, but now the truth can hit twice as hard when their hearts are on the line.

Created by: Cian O’Clery

Based on the Australian show of the same name, Love on the Spectrum follows six people on the autism spectrum who are out in the dating scene looking for romantic partners. Presenting a wonderful variety of perspectives and personalities that shatter the typical stereotypes associated with people on the spectrum, the show provides nuanced and personal stories about the difficulties of finding love in a world that often infantilizes and dehumanizes autistic people. This docuseries is sweet, respectful, and a great representation of how diversely neurodiversity can present across each individual’s experiences.