Would you propose without ever having seen your match..?

It’s a difficult question to answer. There are a vast number of variables, caveats, idealistic alignments, desires for the future and balances that will influence the suitability of any love match. But surely physical attraction is at least a component of that?

The question – to what extent personal aesthetics play in the success of pairing off, is exactly what’s under the microscope in the hit Netflix tv show, Love is Blind. The original series, which comes from that fertile factory of romantic reality TV – America, is ostensibly a social experiment, that follows its participants through the dating process with one sizable break from convention. The couples don’t get to meet each other.

We get front-row, courtship-side seats to see if red flags are (ironically) easier to spot when you’re not blinded by another person’s beauty. We get to watch deep connections form over a 40-day journey, without hindrance from cosmetic trivialities and see if they can ultimately transcend the physical when the lights come back on, on their wedding day. Yes, the culmination of the show, takes us right up to the moment of matrimony – where couples finally get to meet for the very first time just before they’re due to say their vows… will true love conquer all, or will there be acrimony at the altar?

Blind dates

Love might be blind, but it’s also contagious. They’re are currently five series of the OG American Love is Blind on Netflix, as well as  Love Is Blind: Brazil, Love Is Blind: Japan and Love Is Blind: Sweden. Further serialisations are also planned for the UK, Germany, Argentina, and now confirmed by Netflix MENA, Love Is Blind, Habibi with its lens firmly focused on prospective couples in the UAE.

What we know about the UAE show

We know this regional version will feature “young single Arabs living in the UAE on their quest to find true love”. We also know that it will be presented by Elham Ali and Khaled Saqr. Its release date is scheduled for sometime later this year.

How to apply

If you fit the criteria, are sick of dating apps, don’t mind the idea of your private life suddenly becoming a lot more public and are interested in signing up to this experiment, Wikipedia suggests that the show recruitment process involves the production team actively seeking out the participants via social media as well as in real life. There may also be more direct routes of application, but more news on that when we get it.

Lasting love?

Can this unconventional roadmap to love ever truly build lasting relationships? According to Business Insider – only 10 couples (from 28) from the five seasons of the American show eventually got married. Of those eight remain happily, romatically ensconced.

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