Queer Love is also the first in which there are no men in sight, arguably a welcome change for the genre, whose traditional heterosexual approach to relationships has gone relatively stale. While the first season was hosted by Vanessa and Nick Lachey, this season was helmed by JoAnna Garcia Swisher (Sweet Magnolias, Freaks and Geeks), ensuring no men (other than the participants’ family members) were caught on camera.

The fact that it was released by Netflix also sets it apart from previous queer-inclusive shows, including MTV’s Ex On the Beach or ITV’s Love Island UK which can be watched on free-to-air networks. Queer Love enjoyed the bigger budget and established audience that come with mammoth streaming platforms like Netflix.

The show triggered a whirlwind of commentary on social media – its hashtag on TikTok has 19.6 million views and counting – thanks to the way it depicts the reality of some queer relationships.

For example, one of the couples, Mal and Yoli, speaks of the financial difficulty around having children through IVF. Another, Sam and Aussie, discuss their changing roles within the relationship – one being the breadwinner, the other a homemaker. And Lexi and Rae explore the blurred lines around what constitutes sex in queer relationships.

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This caters to the mess and drama reality fans devour while also allowing queer women and non-binary people to see parts of themselves reflected on-screen and expanding heterosexual viewers’ understanding of queer romance.

The success of a number of dating and marriage reality shows is based on how many couples remain post-production, such as Tim Robards and Anna Heinrich from season 1 of The Bachelor or Lauren Speed and Cameron Hamilton from season 1 of Love Is Blind. But Queer Love doesn’t shy away from an unhappy ending. Following the reunion episode, every couple (bar one) has split up. It technically fails to solidify any relationship, leaving fans unable to live vicariously through the happiness of a couple that beat the odds.

Instead of languishing in this failure, the participants are more concerned with self-discovery than leaving with a ring on their finger. The only lifelong promise they make is to choose themselves first every day, a message that would seem counterintuitive to so many other marriage reality shows, such as Married At First Sight, but which is arguably the healthiest lesson to draw from weeks of tumultuous affairs.

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