Top 10 Weirdest Dating Shows
Dating is hard enough but these dating shows really turn up the volume in “weirdness”. Shows like Fool Around With… Conveyer belt of Love, Room Raiders, Momma's Boys, Dating in the Dark, Chains of Love, Date My Mom, Farmer Wants a Wife and Dating Naked have made it on the list!
#10: "Fool Around With…" (2004-05)
This British show was less about love and more about money, infidelity and deception. No wonder it didn’t last long! Each episode revolved around a different single man, woman or celebrity, whose name would finish the title of the show for that week. This singleton was put into a house with a three people who were in relationships and one who was really single. £10,000 was up for grabs if the titular player correctly identified the other single person, or if a coupled up player tricked them into thinking they were single - using any means necessary. Naturally this often made for some very uncomfortable viewing and some shocking episode endings.
#9: "Conveyor Belt of Love" (2010)
This ABC series was essentially the “YO! Sushi” of dating shows. “Conveyor Belt of Love” put 30 bachelors on a literal conveyor belt, moving them in front of a panel of five women looking for love. If selected, a bachelor would then have to sit on the sidelines and potentially be swapped out if someone better came along. But, if more than one woman was persuaded by the same bachelor, then it would be his choice and the women would be put on the belt. Each man had just one minute to try and convince at least one of the single ladies to pick him before the belt took him away...
#8: “Room Raiders” (2004-06)
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The premise of Room Raiders was simple. One single guy or girl (or sometimes, celebrity) poked around three other people’s bedrooms and chooses one of them to go on a date with based solely on what they find. That seems like a sound matchmaking method...right? If that wasn’t enough, the show also made its silly gimmick weirdly terrifying. At the start of the game, men would break into the candidate’s homes and throw them into a white van while heavy metal soundtracked their screams of shock. They were then forced to watch a stranger delve into their underwear drawers, read their diaries and then possibly reject them for no good reason.
#7: "Momma’s Boys" (2008-09)
Would you let your mother pick the person you were going to date? Well, that’s exactly what these “momma’s boys” did. The series was inspired by the question, “who is the most important woman in a man’s life?” No less than 32 women competed to win the affections of college student JoJo, firefighter Michael and real estate broker Robert in the one and only season of the series. But, they also had to win over the men’s mothers, who they had to share a house with, while the men lived next door. Though the bachelors had the final say, their mothers would try their hardest to sway them. And disobedience was taken very seriously by some.
#6: “Dating In The Dark” (2009-10)
“Dating in the Dark” took the idea of going on a blind date to new (and crazy) heights. Three single men and women entered a luxurious house and went on a series of dates together, starting with a big group meet to get to know each other first. The catch was that all of these dates took place in total darkness. This meant viewers were treated to a lot footage of contestants tripping over furniture, falling flat on their faces and of course some inappropriate groping. In fact, most of the show’s appeal was based more on spying on people getting it on through a night cam lens than hoping they’d actually find love.
#5: "Chains of Love" (2001)
In “Chains of Love”, one person looking for love was literally chained to four other people of the opposite sex for 24 hours a day. Over four days and nights the fivesome got to know each other quickly and intimately. They’d have to do everything from shopping, dining and even sleeping together. Intermittently, the “Picker” could choose someone to be unchained and decide how much of the $10,000 prize they deserved to take home with them. If the premise wasn’t already strange enough, the “Ritual” chaining ceremony and mysterious, black clad “Locksmith” made it feel somewhat cult-like. It’s no wonder NBC abandoned it so fast.
#4: "Date My Mom" (2004-06)
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If there’s one way to guarantee your dating show is going to be weird, it’s by throwing a parent into the mix. “Date My Mom” was an MTV show that delivered exactly what you’d expect from the name. One singleton seeking romance would go on three dates to find one potential partner. But, they wouldn’t date the suitors themselves. Instead, they’d have to make their decision based on the suitor’s mother. The mom would have to do her best to sell her son or daughter without using any visual aids. At the show’s climax, the chooser would be shown what they could have had instead, and sometimes, their obvious regret was cruelly played up by the editors.
#3: "Farmer Wants a Wife" (2008)
Take a few hot, single farmers and some hot, single women from the city and you get “Farmer Wants A Wife”. The show clearly wanted to draw upon the whole “lovers from different worlds” romance cliche. Most of the challenges for the inexperienced, city-dwelling ladies revolved around mucky farm work, from shovelling manure to milking animals. This meant that not only was one rural bachelor bagging himself a wife; he was also getting a few weeks of free labor. Not that all of the bachelorettes seemed to be aware of this going into the show. Despite the bizarre concept, the show was very popular - especially in Australia where it lasted an impressive nine seasons.
#2: "Dating Naked" (2014-16)
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This VH1 series was a normal dating show in every way but one. A group of good looking single people were dropped into a tropical paradise where they competed in survival challenges and swapped partners until they found the right match for them. The twist? They had to do it all naked. The show had a similar full frontal gimmick to British series, “Naked Attraction”, except that in “Dating Naked” contestants bare all upon their first meeting and get to know each other in the buff over a longer period of time. Though the producers preferred to call it a “bold social experiment” we’re sure viewers were really only interested in the blurry, jiggly bits.
Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions.
"A Double Shot at Love" (2008)
"Married By America" (2003)
"Love At First Kiss" (2016-)
#1: "Sexy Beasts" (2014)
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Putting personality over looks has been a long-running theme in wacky dating shows. But, “Sexy Beasts” took this concept to a whole new level. Imagine if you not only had no idea what your date really looked like, but that they also resembled characters from World of Warcraft. One single person and three possible matches were made to undergo hours of professional prosthetics and makeup treatments to transform them from man to beast before their date. This literal freak show lasted for one season in the UK, first airing on Valentine’s Day in 2014. While some people are into mixing role playing and love, for most, the show was a wild step too far.
