What Does the DC “Love Is Blind” Tell Us About Life in the District?

For six seasons, Love Is Blind was one of Netflix’s most discussed and dissected shows, an insane concept in which single people date without seeing each other, then decide whether they want to get married. Only at the point of engagement do they get to see what their fiancés look like, and the rest of the show follows them to see how their “blind” match plays out. Will they actually get married in the finale?

Season 7, which premiered October 2 and recently aired its final episode, has the distinction of focusing on the people and places of the District of Columbia, and—in the opinion of these two writers and also apparently most of the internet—it was kind of a dud. Still, we gulped down every minute, eager for drama but also insight into what it’s like to live in the District right now. What follows are some of our takeaways.

Dating Here Really Is That Bad

One thing this season definitely got right: It’s hard to find true love in DC. This time, only two couples made it to the altar (in most previous seasons, four or five got that far), which seems like an accurate reflection of partner-hunting in a city where your degree of career success is often paramount and a higher-­than-average number of residents are literal experts in image management and spin. Too often, the packaging is slick but the reality proves less appealing. Who hasn’t dated somebody like Nick Dorka, a Virginia real-­estate agent who tells his partner early on that he has “a brand” to uphold but later reveals he doesn’t know how to boil pasta? Or Ramses Prashad, a progressive nonprofit worker who turns out to be both condom- and commitment-averse? The depressing depictions onscreen seemed like a pretty accurate representation of the reality on dating apps.

The Show Didn’t Capture DC

Which high-profile area location did the producers select for contestants to live in during the second phase of the show? Washingtonians might have guessed the Wharf or Union Market. Instead, the HQ ended up being . . . an apartment-style hotel in Arlington. Things improved when contestants went on dates at places like Artec­house, the Logan Circle bar the Crown & Crow, and the Kalorama plant shop Plntr. Still, B-roll of the Washington Monument and other visual clichés dominated. The worst sin of all? A fifth of the cast members were actually from Baltimore.

We’re Too Image-Conscious for Good Drama

One big issue with the DC season is the lack of blowout fights. Whereas previous editions featured mid-series partner swaps, screaming matches, and mean girls galore, most of Season 7’s craziness happened offscreen, apparently because these media-­savvy couples waited until the cameras stopped to have their fights. Then producers later had them hash out the aftermath—far less exciting to watch.

DC Needs Better Reality TV

This isn’t the first reality show set here that whiffed: 2010’s The Real Housewives of D.C. is the only American installment of that franchise not to be renewed for a second season. Now we get The Real Housewives of Potomac, which, after nine seasons, is a grueling bicker-fest, and OWN network’s Love & Marriage: DC, which returns for a fourth season in January. If you’re looking for an actually endearing and entertaining DC-related reality show, we do have one suggestion: The Golden Bachelorette, which just wrapped its first season, is filmed in LA, but the central figure, Joan Vassos, lives in Rockville. Close enough for us!

This article appears in the December 2024 issue of Washingtonian.

Kate Corliss

Junior Staff Writer

Molly Szymanski

Editorial Fellow