u/Beneficial_Air4714

I'm currently watching two Korean dating shows that are airing live, Better Late Than Single, and Noona Is A Woman To Me. BLTS is obviously about eternal singles getting their first chance at love, and NIAWTM is about older women and younger men trying to match, and I'm not sure either show will produce a single actual couple. Although, apparently it's been revealed there is a couple still dating after NIAWTM finished, we just don't know who it is yet.

It's got me wondering, how do you guys feel about watching dating shows that don't lead to any actual couples? BLTS is obviously not going to produce any real couples, and NIAWTM seems to only have 1 couple that I can imagine genuinely dating, but they have a 12 year age gap and I just don't know how long that will last. Ultimately I know these shows are just entertainment, and I shouldn't care that much about what happens afterwards, but watching a dating show that doesn't lead to any real couples makes it feel a little pointless. Singles Inferno is easily the most popular Korean dating show, but across 5 seasons I think it's only had 3 real couples come out of it, 2 from the latest season. One of Singles Inferno's biggest criticisms that I've seen online is that it's a dating show that doesn't have any real lasting couples, and that most people go on there for attention.

My favourite dating show of all time, Nineteen To Twenty, is about teenagers transitioning into adulthood, and there's a couple that's still together today after like 4 years. It just made it more interesting to watch that show knowing that there was a genuine couple that made it out.

I’m currently watching two Korean dating shows that are airing live, this show Better Late Than Single, and Noona Is A Woman To Me. This show is obviously about eternal singles getting their first chance at love, and the Noona show is about older women and younger men trying to match, and I’m not sure either show will produce a single actual couple. Although, apparently it’s been revealed there is a couple still dating after the Noona show finished, we just don’t know who it is yet.

It’s got me wondering, how do you guys feel about watching dating shows that don’t lead to any actual couples? This show is obviously not going to produce any real couples, and the Noona show seems to only have 1 couple that I can imagine genuinely dating, but they have a 12 year age gap and I just don’t know how long that will last. Ultimately I know these shows are just entertainment, and I shouldn’t care that much about what happens afterwards, but watching a dating show that doesn’t lead to any real couples makes it feel a little pointless. Singles Inferno is easily the most popular Korean dating show, but across 5 seasons I think it’s only had 3 real couples come out of it, 2 from the latest season. One of Singles Inferno’s biggest criticisms that I’ve seen online is that it’s a dating show that doesn’t have any real lasting couples, and that most people go on there for attention.

My favourite dating show of all time, Nineteen To Twenty, is about teenagers transitioning into adulthood, and there’s a couple that’s still together today after like 4 years. It just made it more interesting to watch that show knowing that there was a genuine couple that made it out.

I’ve been getting into more Korean media over the past year or so, watching Kdramas and being more interested in Kpop, and I’ve noticed that so many of their celebrities get involved in scandals or controversies. There are some that I’ve found out about that are upsetting because they’re false, but seemingly derail careers.

Seo Soo-jin from I-dle, she was in the group for a few years, but got hit with bullying accusations that led to her leaving the group. I-dle would then come back with their biggest hits ever in Tomboy and Queencard, whilst Soo-Jin’s accusations were proven false. She came back as a soloist, but under a company that seems to have either no idea, or no interest in actually promoting her. She had her once promising career halted by fake accusations.

Ahn Jae-hyun is an actor that had a highly publicised divorce, in said divorce his wife slandered his name and bled him dry of all his money, even leaving him in debt. Eventually he was proven to be innocent from all the wild stuff his ex wife accused him of, but his career has been pretty much over, at least acting wise. He’s only been in one project since 2019, and at this point instead of continuing his once promising acting career, he’s just trying to make sure he has enough money for when he retires.

Seo Ye-ji is another actress that suffered from bullying accusations along with stuff to do with her abusing her ex boyfriend. The bullying stuff has mostly been proven false, and whilst her relationship with her ex was toxic, it was toxic from both sides, she wasn’t solely in the wrong. The last 5 years of her career have been halted because of nothing serious, and she’s only recently signed with a new company that can hopefully jump start her career again.

After watching the latest 2 episodes, I find myself rooting for Hyun-seo and Jung-yun so much, not as a couple but just in general. I hope this show can lead to more opportunities for them to find love outside if they don’t end up with anyone from the show. I’m sure there are Koreans watching the show finding themselves interested in certain cast members. For example, I think Jung-yun needs a woman who takes the lead, at least in the beginning, I’m sure there’s got to be at least one woman watching the show that could see herself being a good match with him. Same goes for Hyun-seo, there’s got to be at least one man watching the show that would match her level of interest and style of hobbies. For eternal singles, just initiating conversations with people in the context of getting a date or partner can be so daunting, so I hope their appearances on the show makes life for them easier going forward in that regard.

When it comes to the women, they do have some common issues like fear of rejection and difficulty in sharing feelings which has led to them being single, but I feel like it’s a lot deeper with some of the men.

Jin-woo talking about his upbringing of always being second best to his golden child brother, and never feeling good enough for his parents has seemingly bled it’s way into his attempt at relationships. Jung-yun talking about how every time he’s opened up to a girl and approached them he’s been rejected, even being strung along by a girl who was interested in someone else but never told him. It’s like this show is bringing out the traumas some of these men have (not all of them) and is making them seem a lot less sociable than they really are. I’m sure they’re all fine talking to people in a day to day basis, but the concept of them being on this reality dating show, with all these women around as potential love interests, is making them fall back into themselves a bit, so they’re awkward to open up and initiate for fear of confirming all their past traumas are just always going to happen. Not to mention Jae-seo having a full on identity crisis.

Again, not all the guys are like this, but I just noticed it in episodes 7 and 8, that some of the guys have genuinely deep rooted issues when it comes to forming romantic relationships.

Obviously whilst the show was filming, all the girls that were interested in Hyuk-jun didn’t know all of what was going on in his mind, and I feel like if they’re watching the show as it airs, they’re going to be confused as to why they liked him so much in the first place. He does so many things that would be off putting to people that were interested in him, like being upset that Hyun-seo isn’t acting more jealous, being upset that Han-ju didn’t give him the gift, and being upset that Jeong-eun gave two people gifts at the same time. He got very big headed very fast, acting like he owes the girls his time because they’re so interested in him, when he really just wants to do the rounds as he says, whilst expecting Hyun-seo to wait for him. Love bombing Hyun-seo by talking about fate, then changing his interests if another girl gives him the slightest inclination that they’re curious about him, it’s all just quite off putting to watch.

I’m a big MMA fan, with the UFC obviously being the biggest promotion in the world, but MMA mostly got its start in Japan during the 80’s, and then popularised during the late 90’s to mid 2000’s with Pride FC. How popular is MMA in Japan nowadays? I personally love watching Japanese promotions like Pancrase, Shooto, DEEP, and the biggest RIZIN. I’ve noticed that there are Japanese superstars in the sport that get a lot more support than even some UFC champions, there are fighters with YouTube channels that have millions of subscribers and get loads of views each video.