Netflix has built its own reality universe and Perfect Match is the ultimate proof

Netflix has done it again: after surprise hits like Love Makes You Blind and controversial single formats like Dated and Related, it’s up and running since February 14, 2023 a new dating show at the streaming giant: Perfect Match. Here, too, young, attractive people have to face the challenge of finding love under unusual circumstances and in front of the cameras.

The show may at first glance seem like just another dating format to kill some time on hungover weekends. In fact, Perfect Match is the most blatant reference to one so far Master plan that the platform seems to have been working on for years: build your own trash universe. The models for this are obviously similar programs from RTL and the Marvel film and series universe.

The biggest Netflix reality formats of recent years come together in Perfect Match

In order to find what they consider to be the perfect partner, they live 22 candidates together in a luxury villa with a lot of alcohol and have to face several challenges. If not only the basic premise looks familiar to you in Perfect Match Episode 1, but also some of the faces, that’s no coincidence. The cast is made up entirely of people the known through other dating shows on Netflix. You want proof?

These are the Perfect Match candidates:

*this is the same Chloé and Francesca

The show’s host is also well known to fans of Netflix reality productions: Nick Lachey. He has co-hosted Love Makes Blind and The Ultimatum with his wife Vanessa Lachey.

With the “marvelization” of love makes you blind, too hot to handle and Co. Netflix is ​​now also dangerous for RTL

Cameos, guest appearances, continuation of already established storylines and exciting, because first-time meetings of well-known fan favorites – we know everything from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Except that instead of alien menaces and superpowered individuals, the Netflix world is made up of pool parties, tiny bikinis, and heavily muscled torsos.

But even in the field of reality TV, it is nothing new to bring together faces for a show that have previously been seen in similar formats. Nobody does this better than the German broadcaster RTL, which developed a reliable Trash Star machine years ago.

First you turn fresh faces into celebrities or at least solid social media influencers with a low-threshold show like Love Island or Temptation Island. If they are subsequently (still or again) single, they can attend Ex on the Beach or Are You The One VIP. For couples there is the CoupleChallenge, Temptation Island VIP or, if the following is large enough, The Summer House of the Stars. The Olympus of reality star existence Stay I’m a Celebrity – Get Me Out of Here!.

The practical thing: the flood of people willing to trash never stops. As a result, the German broadcaster never lacks staff for sometimes more, sometimes less original show formats.

Very here the trailer for the Netflix reality hit love is blind:

Something similar can now be observed on Netflix. The reality show universe of the streaming provider is – apart from isolated regional offshoots like Liebe macht blind: Brazil – mainly English-speaking. RTL is the market leader in Germany when it comes to dating formats. However, that could change in the long term. Because Netflix is ​​launching Too Hot To Handle Germany on February 28, 2023, the German version of an internationally successful format and is thus in direct competition with the Z-Promi-Factory.

Why Netflix is ​​making one of the smartest decisions in its dating universe in a long time

This decision may be met with incomprehension by everyone who originally subscribed to Netflix because of prestige series and unusual film projects. But it makes perfect sense. In times of media overload many cling to something they already know. Consuming stories within a cohesive universe helps. We know what to expect. We look forward to new things from characters that we have already taken to our hearts.

That’s why Marvel fans are freaking out, when an end-credits scene heralds the next surprise in the MCU, or when Matt Murdock suddenly appears in Spider-Man: No Way Home after years of waiting. And that’s why people watch a dating show that features the person they’ve passionately loved or hated in another format.

Is there Participants that The Circle darling Joey has NOT slept with? Was Francesca and Damon’s relationship teased in Love Makes Blind: After the Altar Season 1 really purely friendly? If you want to find out, you have to watch Perfect Match. And keep his Netflix subscription despite the frustration of series cancellations and account restrictions. Then the streaming giant acts like RTL: The homegrown Z-Celebrities in Action are only available on their own platform.

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10 years ago, Netflix released its first original, House of Cards. Since then, the world of series has changed dramatically. Suddenly, the terms streaming and binge were hot new topics in Hollywood – and among the public. But what has happened since then? In this episode of the Moviepilot podcast, we delve into 10 years of Netflix history.

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