There are a few reasons I don’t see myself going on a dating show anytime soon:
- I’m in a committed relationship.
- There’s no way I’d be able to fall asleep in an Annie-style bedroom with a dozen sunburnt singles.
- I’d probably never get to go for a run.
Up and down an increasingly crowded category — The Bachelor/Bachelorette, Love Island, Love Is Blind, Too Hot to Handle — there’s a familiar, repeatable formula for corralling contestants and making good compelling television. The participants are confined to a dedicated campus, offered alcohol on a daily basis and expected to adhere to rigorous standards, like talking-head interviews, early shoots and continuity in production.
That wouldn’t appear to leave much time (let alone permission) for a four-miler in the hills behind the villa. But what does that reality say about these shows? Particularly when the shows’ stars are often wellness-obsessed models, actors or physical trainers? Should the planet’s most popular form of cardio — which, ironically, has recently been a reliable matchmaker for young singles in the real world — have a place on the set of a dating show?
The Dating Show Physique
It isn’t controversial — I’d hope — to point out that, on conventional dating shows, contestants arrive in absurd shape. They know they’ll be shot in swimming suits for a month or more (usually oiled up for the cameras, too) and in order to secure a spot on said show, then feel confident during it, they do what needs to be done. That means employing “fire drill” fitness strategies familiar to Hollywood stars gearing up for romcom shoots: bulking/cutting, HIIT circuit training and the like.
From a male perspective, let me tell you, I would not feel comfortable going on one of these shows without putting on some mass. The commentary incessantly reinforces these standards, too. The most common prompt is “What’s your type?” and contestants often feel liberated — no doubt with some prodding from production — to say what they really want. Big arms. Big butts. Big-ness.
It’s rare, on the male side, to see the prototypical runner’s build (or even a cyclist or swimmer’s build, for that matter). Sometimes you see a guy with a more realistic upper body, but this detail often enters the “type” conversation — along with one’s shorter stature — as something that must be weighed or considered. A demerit. At the start of the most recent Love Island USA season, a hulking 6’8″ contestant was initially “chosen” by three girls. After he committed to one of them, the other two walked over to their smaller consolation prizes.
Strength Sticks Around
Another reality to consider: these shows don’t typically last long enough for super-sized contestants to experience atrophy. According to research, it takes an average of three weeks without strength training sessions before adults start to lose muscle. The “decay rate” of any detraining period isn’t as serious as most people would believe.
Plus, a lot of these contestants are fitness nuts. Production teams generally sprinkle shots of them working out at an outdoor gym with weights, and they aren’t just sweating on account of the Mallorcan or Hawaiian sun. They’re working hard with the time they have, most likely aware of the exercises they need to churn out a few days a week in order to maintain their built physique throughout the experience.
If a contestant’s primary mode of exercise was running, though, it’s likely that the dating show lifestyle would catch up to them immediately. As soon as five days without running, “your blood plasma starts to decrease,” according to Runner’s World. That means less oxygen firing throughout your blood, and an immediate setback in your VO2 max. Nightly mixers will only make the situation worse.
Should They Be Allowed to Run?
It’s hard to imagine that anyone going on a dating show would expect a permission slip to go for daily runs. Some of these contestants are literally putting their livelihoods on pause. Surely they can table their Strava stats for six weeks, in exchange for vacation time, hookups and potential Instagram ad dollars.
But it’s worth mentioning that running has been widely adopted throughout the wellness community in recent years, and especially by those with the “dating show physique.” Beefcakes are most definitely leading the “hybrid fitness” revolution (in which a solid marathon time is as coveted as a high mark on the squat rack).
And that’s to say nothing of running’s well-reported mental health benefits. The activity has been linked to the release of endocannabinoids (which trigger a sensation of “calm euphoria”), and in study after study, running improves mood and emotional outlook. In this review, 96% of subjects noticed mental benefits from running.
If a contestant is a runner, and they’re suddenly separated from that activity, it stands to reason that they’d be crabbier, insecure and unsettled. What kind of platform is that for meeting the love of your life? According to Psychology Today, dating show contestants “struggle without psychological support.” This isolation can sometimes carry over into real life — and in truly tragic ways. Is it crazy to suggest that contestants should have a larger suite of mental health offerings available to them, potentially including a running loop?
No Distractions
The reality, of course, is that reality shows tend to look out for their own entertainment value above all. Even self-righteous shows like Love Is Blind — which supposedly operate with a less superficial premise — have been described as toxic workplaces, on which contestants sign draconian NDAs and muddle through a “sensory deprivation tank” for weeks on end. Here I am complaining about them not getting to go for runs; well, they’re not allowed to watch movies, read or listen to music, either.
So there are all sorts of ways in which the humanness of participants is stripped back, and the producers just want them stripped down. What’s left? Ideally, they just want them saying the sort of viral TikTok nonsense that comes out of the mouths of anyone following a strange, stressful and sleepless routine.
Has anyone in dating show history gone for a run? Yes. A Bachelor in Paradise contestant said they were allowed to run on the beach (with MP3 players!). But in general, he reported, the showrunners didn’t want distractions. They required continuity, structure and predictability, in order to generate batshit unpredictability.
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