Why New Netflix Dating Show 'Sexy Beasts' Is Creepy... And Shallow
'Sexy Beasts' premieres July 21 on Netflix.
Netflix UK & Ireland / YouTube Dating shows like "The Bachelor" and "The Bachelorette" are all the rage right now.
Collectively, the series has around 40 seasons spanning throughout the years and both have gained worldwide popularity. But old school blind dating shows like "The Dating Game" or "Blind Date" seem to have gone out of style.
A year ago, Netflix released a 10-episode season of a show titled "Love is Blind" that was fairly successful, leading to relationships formed on-screen.
And now, Netflix has released a trailer for yet another blind dating show called "Sexy Beasts" — but it has a bit of a twist.
The “blind” dating show covers up men and women in prosthetics and makeup that turn them into, well... beasts. The show, which premieres on July 21, has already been approved for two seasons and will be narrated by comedian Rob Delaney.
It's actually an international version that first aired in Britain in 2014, with the same show title. It was adapted and broadcast in Germany, Korea, and on the U.S.'s A&E channel.
Now, on paper, without looking at the trailer, it doesn’t sound like a bad idea. The real problem arises when you actually do watch the trailer.
The promo opens with a woman disguised as a panda, talking to a man who looks like a bull. “I wanna get married, I wanna have babies before I’m like, 26. Do you have health insurance?” she asks him. The two contenstants then admit that this is the “strangest blind date ever.”
Said to be a hybrid of "The Masked Singer" and "Love Is Blind," commenters on Twitter, YouTube and Reddit immediately spun into a meme-fueled outrage, even summoning the furry community to comment, since people continue to reference them in this mess.
Filmed during COVID-19 in 2020, the idea behind the show is to “put true blind date chemistry to the test” by covering all of the contestants in prosthetics and turning them into animals, beasts or creatures.
And while the 48 unique costume and makeup designs look incredible, people are comparing their look to furries and the fursuits they wear, saying this show is part of the "furry agenda."
However, furries consider the concept completely insulting.
Furries and "normies" have banded together in a meme-filled war against the show.
With thousands of retweets and comments, the consensus is that this show is just... really weird. I mean, just look at the Twitter thread of both memes and hilarious responses.
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It’s hard not to make fun of "Sexy Beasts" when they have given us all the ammunition needed, front-and-center — and that’s their goal.
This is exactly what Netflix wanted. Whoever is the head of marketing may just be a twisted genius, and most people will probably watch the show just to see how bad it is.
Despite the laughs and memes, "Sexy Beasts" is running into more serious backlash.
The whole purpose of a blind date is that you have no idea what this person looks like, so you don’t know what to expect and try to hit it off.
The problem with "Sexy Beasts" is right in the title — every contestant is attractive.
In the trailer, some of the contestants' real faces are shown and they are gorgeous. Not to mention they are all skinny and exactly what society deems to be "attractive." In addition, there seems to only be straight heterosexual couples.
Netflix gets a thumbs up for having an iota of diversity, but is it really a blind date if the “bachelor” or “bachelorette” knows they’re going to be matched with someone attractive anyway?
"Love is Blind" had a success rate of 25 percent, but will "Sexy Beasts" see the same success?
It seems like there are a lot of chances for success on the show, more so than "Love Is Blind." Though, the concept as a whole is odd.
There are six episodes per season, so if my math is correct, with 48 unique costume designs and two seasons' worth of episodes, that means will see eight unique contestants per episode.
Honestly, it looks like a lot of fun, regardless of how successful it could be and how much criticism it's receiving already.
The trailer was light-hearted and the contestants seemed to be having a good time with each other, even tying in the prosthetics with some of their jokes and flirting.
Not only that, but the memes that are sure to come from the actual episodes themselves are guaranteed to be smash hits.
Isaac Serna-Diez is a writer who focuses on entertainment and news, social justice and relationships.