Single's Inferno

Compared with other reality dating shows available on platforms like Netflix, it lowers the stakes — trading shock value, ever-flowing alcohol, and handsy ...

To match, contestants of one gender put a “ticket” in the mailbox of the person they’d like to go with. Season after season, the show’s [abhorrent treatment of its Black cast](https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/stephaniemcneal/the-bachelor-racism-matt-james-chris-harrison-rachel-lindsay) (when Black contestants were cast at all) also became obvious and painful. Because they are all incredibly ripped, they basically all have the same “hobby,” working out, and default to talking about it. The show is replete with these moments: Seo-eun finding it cute that Yoong-jae brought a printed-out science report with him for casual reading during a morning on the beach, or Jong-woo, who desperately wants to go to paradise with Seul-ki, helpfully offering her zinc when she is feeling tired. I watched nearly every iteration — The Bachelor, The Bachelorette, and Single’s Inferno’s most direct comparison, Bachelor in Paradise — during the 2010s. Contestants of the other gender then go outside one by one and say the name of their chosen person aloud, waiting to see if interest was reciprocated. Contestants try to be subtle about checking out their crush or admitting, “I’m curious about you.” And it doesn’t present rejection like a death sentence, even as it’s honest about the way rejection hurts. And while it’s still selling a fantasy — contestants are hot and even “inferno” is gorgeous — it’s a much more low-key version of it. Contestants must cook their own meals from provided ingredients like daikon, egg, and green onion, and have to get water from a well, which they deposit into a working sink. Instead, the mood is excitement and nervousness — everyone is gorgeous and stylish to boot. Instead they hang out, compete in silly challenges, and anonymously submit “paradise tickets” indicating who they’d like to go with. [Love Is Blind](https://www.polygon.com/2020/2/28/21158070/love-is-blind-netflix-reality-dating-show-couples), in which contestants get engaged without seeing each other, stressed me out; [Too Hot to Handle](https://www.polygon.com/2020/4/17/21225046/too-hot-to-handle-review-netflix-reality-series-no-sex), which puts hot people on an island and docks their cash prize anytime they hook up, made me more sad than intrigued.