I Asked Netflix’s Reality TV Boss Why So Many Men On Dating Shows Are Terrible

Because they pick people based on how likely they are to cause drama that leads to ratings, not who would actually be the best person to date 

This is not a mystery. The entire setup can't help but attract toxic or dysfunctional people of either gender since it's primarily about exposure...And that's even if the contestants themselves don't see it.

They choose these people because normal people are boring. No one wants to watch a bunch of people getting along. They want drama and controversy.

Who tf would sign up to be on a reality show? All of these people have main character syndrome.

Because you choose the terrible men for “entertainment” 🫩

Clearly the author has never watched Flavor of Love.

I still can’t fathom how so many people can’t grasp the idea of reality tv not actually being real life. They pick or encourage the worst and craziest people to make the shows more interesting. There’s a reason every single contestant on the apprentice are “delusional” and claim to be the best business people ever.

The people that audition for a reality TV show are the people that would be on a reality TV show.

Same reason the women are

Because functional people don’t want to go on those shows? 

“Half the country voted for Trump, right?” he says … hm no maga are terrible at math

The women suck too, it isn’t just toxic men on these shows

Should've asked why all dating shows are shit.

Nice guys finish last if you know what I mean

People are selected based on their online presence. You need to have so much audience that you bring to the show. They want people who know how to present themselves, set up for the camera, and talk for an audience. Regular nice people who quietly go about their day are cancer for a reality show.

There’s a reason you have always had to audition to be on these shows.

Because the good ones are already in healthy relationships. No mentally stable individual looks to a TC contest to find a relationship. They are there to inflate egos.

It’s getting not fun to watch…

Because reality dating shows are designed to produce drama and controversy, not healthy, lasting relationships. I didn't even have to read the article to know that.

Because they pick men and women who WANT to be on TV. Their agenda is already skewed.

A vast majority of people who audition for reality shows are wannabe influencers who want the attention. It’s a group that consists almost entirely of shitty people. The show Big Brother is a good example of this. It use to be a show full of people that were fans of the show. Now it’s a show full of mostly shallow, attractive idiots that just want attention and fame.

“I have cast all these guys who know their macro counts and failed out of high school but know that vaccines are bad, why aren’t they the desire of women everywhere?” Seriously, like I’m not expecting the best people out there but if this is truly what the representation of average ‘men’ are then I have truly misunderstood what it is to be one.

Answer: that’s how casting works

Targeting people that think too highly of themselves and want to be famous. Those are two genuine red flags no matter where pluck them from. Nor is the problem limited to the men. The women are just as assholish but its hidden for story along with their them actively wanting the over-confident a****** and then are inexplicably surprised when he is an a******.

Well adjusted people rarely make for compelling television.

Him stating that half the country voted for Trump is such utter bullshit. Trump received approximately 31.7% of the votes from the total Voting-Eligible Population.

Oh that’s easy. See, “reality” tv is no more real than scripted tv. They just don’t have to pay the actors.

Brandon Riegg tells WIRED he empathizes with the struggle to find “quality men” and that *Love Is Blind* has no MAGA agenda. Read the full article: [https://www.wired.com/story/netflix-love-is-blind-brandon-riegg-on-why-so-many-men-on-dating-shows-are-terrible/](https://www.wired.com/story/netflix-love-is-blind-brandon-riegg-on-why-so-many-men-on-dating-shows-are-terrible/)

It’s because all you women who watch this garbage can’t get enough of it.

I like how they think only men are awful on these shows and not also the women. Talk about sexism.

It makes for good TV.

I read the article. Reigg is definitely MAGA.

I think people on dating shows are often awful. And that is by design. You are casting these shows for entertainment, not really for finding love. If people do find love, its a happy accident. I think men's bad behavior towards women is just seen as worse than women's bad behavior towards men.

TLDR happy couples on dating shows are the most boring.

my wife and I had a good time talking trash about the guy in that pod show. we liked the nice guy too. but people want to watch conflict. obviously. this is the whole thing with reality tv. not a new thing.

People who are attracted to being on reality tv are general attention seekers with very toxic personalities. Look at how many people on Bravo have legal issues and skeletons in their closet that would have dissuaded any normal person from going in the spotlight.

Men who sign up for a job to either f*** women or get famous, and you’re expecting high tier human beings? Common sense is dead in the 21st century.

i thought all of it was fake and they are just normal people being paid to act weird and jerk like lmao

Because it sells. You’re welcome.

Rodney Acala was the OG.

To pair with the terrible women that are on the dating shows.

The same reasons the women are terrible. Decent people are busy with their decent lives to go on this garbage, and even if they weren't the producers are going to pick the ones that seem ok, but really aren't but maybe they are, but also they'll flip out and throw a tantrum at dinner at some point because they're selling the chaos.

It's by design. That should be pretty obvious.

Wow, what a way to not blame yourself and your showrunners for turning it into tabloid fodder You dont get good men, because you're not serious. Also, they cant just take that much time off jobs as quickly as needed. Up your game and they'll be there.

Because great people don’t want to deal with being on the show

Years ago there was a tv show where a bunch of amazing and talented cosplayers got on a reality show and I thought it sounded super cool as I love cosplay, but then saw and heard how drama was basically manufactured by the show runners to ramp up more views.

because the type of dude who would on on a dating show is that kind of dude.

Yeah it’s just the men that are terrible /s

Many of the women be sucky too just saying

You mean the genre of TV where you just get crazy hot assholes to be assholes to each other prefers... assholes? This shit is pro wrestling you can still kinda pretend is real.

I dunno, I’m a girls girl but I’ve seen a number of men on these trash reality shows who I actually really liked! The problem is, the assholes get better ratings so they’re shown more

The girl I’m dating wanted to watch Love is Blind. So I watched it too. I was more interested in the people who seemed more like extras. So I did some googling and apparently one couple was entirely edited out and didn’t get offered to go on the honeymoon trip since they weren’t interesting enough. They’re still engaged and living happily together. The executives only want drama. That drives viewership.

I feel like the reality shows want bad people because it’s more drama for their show

The men are usually alcoholic narcissists and the women usually suffer from some sort of self worth issues and depression, but mask with alcohol

Answer: Ratings; also—scripted

Because very few men with an ounce of character would subject themselves to a tv dating show. Literally why? What would you have to gain unless you enjoy drama?

It's by design for entertainment. The douchiest, cockiest, most falsely confident guys are the ones that get cast.

I'm assuming that a bunch of assholes with a few nice guys/girls for the audience to empathize with is the money-making formula in these kinds of shows, whether it happens naturally or through generous editing.

Really don’t have to make everything about gender, reality tv men and women are terrible

Everybody on dating shows are terrible. Dating shows are terrible. Cultural garbage

I wont reveal who, but a fun fact about me is that my ex wife was briefly friends with one of the winners of The Bachelor. The only reason she went on the show was because her and her friends all thought it would be funny if she tried to enter it. Another of my friends got to be filmed because he was one of the main instructors at a particular location she took the dude to in the episode where the bachelor goes to the girls hometown. Nobody else wanted to do it so he was basically voluntold 😆 im not sure if footage of him made it into the show, but he definitely had cameras in his face. He is not the type of person to be too happy about that.

What a stupid article. A producer on the show trys to pretend “oh no, I don’t intentionally hire controversial men with controversial opinions to stir up drama and also provide hate-watch material for my 95% female, 4% gay male audience - instead let’s go with “there are no quality men in the world”. This is getting tiresome. I actually do think there are a lot of men who suck but a tv show where you can choose a limited subset of men of course if you wanted to you could have the entire show be literal saints of men. It just wouldn’t make good television.

Not really a question that needed asking. Reality tv needs drama, so they cast for maximum drama. And at this point, it's a very specific type of person who even wants to be on reality tv. You get douchy bros and overly dramatic women. All of whom just want exposure for their socials.

Bc the people that would willingly sign up to be on a reality dating show in 2026 are most likely to be vain, shallow, stupid, and completely delusional. Men and women, no exceptions to this rule.

This entire piece is absurd. I’ve worked on these shows. I’m middle aged. The women are just as shitty as the men, they just have the right politics for this writer. The line included where they say it’s a broader issue that people have lots of cool female friends but not many cool male friends is simply the person telling on themselves. In a sample size this large an entire gender is simply not “better” than the other as a whole. I say all of this as a diehard Dem who has never voted red in 25+ years at the polls.

Unnecessarily gendered.