Montrose is dabbling in the arcane arts with The Love Experiment (RTÉ2, Thursday, 10.15pm), a yeasty mix of dating show and psychological investigation. Each week two sets of singletons are seated opposite one another and handed a questionnaire. Contained therein are 36 teasers crafted in the 1990s by a psychologist, Arthur Aron, to “promote intimacy” and “create the conditions of love”.
Creating the conditions for love used to be the job of regional nightclubs with names such as Sinnerz or the Left Bank (of Mullingar). Now love seekers must go on TV and quiz one another, Mastermind style. If this isn’t a dystopia I don’t know what is.
Week one introduced Shannel and Jason, both native Liffeysiders, and Máiréad and Jonathan, from Dublin and the United States. Second time out we meet Hasan, living in Kells and originally from Bosnia, and Sarah, from Mayo, plus the inner-city Dubliner Brona and the New Zealander Brodie.
They all come across as genuine in their pursuit of romance and open to trying something different. And The Love Experiment clears the low hurdle of being sufficiently distinct from other dating shows – First Dates, for instance – to score novelty points.
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The problems start when we get to the questionnaire. The guru who inspired the series is internationally respected: the New York Times has heralded Dr Aron for “fostering closeness through mutual vulnerability”.
Alas, on TV his questions land as either drippy and obvious or a bit loopy. Who would your ideal dinner guest be? What would be your perfect day? If you were able to live to 90 and retain either the mind or the body of a 30-year-old for the last 60 years of your life, which would you want?
I had to read the last one twice to understand what it even meant – by which time I was all set for a break-up with Dr Aron and his theories about attraction. Happily, the crew assembled on The Love Experiment are more open to new ideas.
Their conversation reveals real heartache. Hasan recalls his family being assailed at gunpoint when he was just eight years old, during the Balkan conflict. Brona talks movingly about her depression and about grabbing her mental health “by the scruff of the neck”.
So it’s intense. But is intense what you want from a first date? The tone then flips to bonkers as the potential couples are asked to lock gazes for four minutes – by the end of which everyone seems giddy yet ultimately relieved the experiment has come to a close.
Every dating series ultimately ends up at the same yea-or-nay? pinch point. The Love Experiment is no exception. Hasan isn’t sure about attraction. Still, he’d like to see Sarah again. Brodie is up for meeting Brona for a pint. The first thing they’ll talk about, I’m sure, is how they ever got suckered into this bizarre dating show.
