Television seems to suggest, or rather insist, that to be a person of any interest, you have to be in a couple.<\/p>\n
From The Bachelor to Blind Date, the sorry state of singledom is something to be shed immediately, no matter the price of the humiliation \u2013 with people willing to see their hearts smashed in front of the nation at the chance of finding The One.<\/p>\n
But it seems that finally, after about a million variations of the single-meets-single format, we have reached rock bottom. When Meat Loaf sung \u2018I\u2019d Do Anything For Love (But I Won\u2019t Do That)\u2019, it turns out he was singing about Sexy Beasts<\/a>.<\/p>\n Each 20 minute episode of Netflix<\/a>\u2019s latest dating show sees one lead single trussed up like a turkey (quite literally) as they take out three prospective suitors (similarly furred and feathered) before choosing one to continue dating, and revealing \u2018who\u2019s that behind the mask\u2019. It\u2019s like The Masked Singer<\/a>, only significantly less fun.<\/p> Sexy Beasts ascertains that it\u2019s trying to get couples to say \u201cgoodbye to superficial dating\u201d, seeing them dressed up in the most ridiculous costumes that seemingly have no other purpose than to bring brief moments of comedy.\u00a0 The prosthetics \u2013 which the team didn\u2019t bother to extend beyond the contestants\u2019 faces, seeing a dolphin with a pink polo neck go on a date in with a grasshopper in a shirt \u2013 are pretty much designed to go viral on social media. A beaver, looking directly at the camera saying: \u201cAss first, personality second\u201d? An instant meme from the trailer, and probably the only amusing thing to come from this show.<\/p>\n Sexy Beasts is meant to be funny, but that same tired joke is told repeatedly, and then only gets crickets as a response. Each episode timidly explores its themes of dating without physical appearance getting in the way, but fails to really delve into this properly \u2013 nor does it ever really try, only offering sarky commentary from Rob Delaney as a substitute.<\/p>\n Unlike superior shows like Love Island<\/a> or The Bachelor or even Too Hot to Handle<\/a>, there\u2019s not enough run-time or continuity to properly delve into looks and love \u2013 and its so-called \u2018ground-breaking\u2019 take on dating and relationships isn\u2019t even particularly new, SINCE Sexy Beasts itself was rehashed from a not-particularly-memorable BBC Three format from 2014.<\/p>\n Frankly, there are a plethora of shows that explore the idea of aesthetics and dating far better \u2013 Netflix\u2019s smash hit Love Is Blind<\/a> took this notion to the extreme, with contestants isolated in separate rooms and making decisions on whether they should marry someone based on voice and conversation alone \u2013 and the end result was an addictive worldwide smash as we watched the stories of these couples as they take the plunge and tie the knot.<\/p>\n Not only does Sexy Beasts not have the time frame to explore this similar theme properly, it doesn\u2019t have the stakes either \u2013 the suitor who gets chosen by the singleton wins the luxury prize of\u2026 another date, maybe. Who even cares?<\/p>\n And that leads to the other problem in Sexy Beasts. There\u2019s nothing to really win or lose because, for all the show crows about \u2018not being superficial\u2019, all of its contestants are traditionally attractive. There\u2019s no point in dressing up a suitor as a mouse or a mandrill if underneath they all look like they\u2019d easily land #spon posts on Instagram and a Pretty Little Thing deal. Without the prosthetics, any of the contestants could have easily been on any other dating show, which defeats the point Sexy Beasts believed it was trying to prove.<\/p>\n That\u2019s not even mentioning the lack of diversity within those taking part in the programme \u2013 each episode is made up of straight, cis-gendered individuals looking for love when there\u2019s absolutely no reason as to why the Sexy Beast format couldn\u2019t apply to the whole spectrum of sexualities and daters.<\/p>\n With its core themes in tatters, its costumes not really all that funny and its airtime too short for any real discussion to be elicited, anyone looking to make a date with Sexy Beasts should cancel any scheduled plans and literally watch something, anything<\/em>, else. Trust us, Sexy Beasts certainly isn\u2019t The One, and even if you\u2019re considering mildly flirting with it, a one-night stand will leave you dissatisfied and disappointed.<\/p>\n Sexy Beasts is streaming now on Netflix \u2013 visit our Entertainment<\/a> hub for more news and features or find something to watch with our TV Guide<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n This revamp of an old BBC Three dating show tries to be funny and insightful… and fails on both counts. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":0,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"This revamp of an old BBC Three dating show tries to be funny and insightful... and fails on both counts.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/2102"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2102"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2102"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\""Sexy\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2021\/07\/sexy-beasts-netflix-9adc139.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C413"\" "\\"\"sexy-beasts-netflix\"\\"")
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