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Since its debut on February 14, Love Is Blind Season 6 has taken viewers across the globe (yes, the globe—my London-based sister is a devoted watchee) on a journey. We’ve gathered for the proposals, the dismissals, the guffaws, and the cringes alike, collectively sitting on the edge of ours eats wondering: will they or won’t they? And, while there are indeed a myriad of hot takes to unpack from the final three episodes of Season 6, I’ve found my brain clouded by another query: why is Love Is Blind is so damn watchable in the first place?

Reality TV is often dismissed by the masses as a collective evil. A vapid, low-brow, mindless behemoth of capitalistic exploitation with little to offer in the way of social and cultural enrichment. A waste of time; a media outlet designed only for the lowest common denominator of viewership. In fact, reality TV opponents are so vocal that naysayers have even lobbied against the industry as a whole, claiming the long term effects of watching this form of unscripted entertainment are very real and, more importantly, very detrimental.

According to a 2023 Rolling Stones article, “Not only have studies proven [reality TV] affects our mental health, research has also shown a correlation between watching certain programs and an increase in aggression, manipulation, and narcissism in viewers.” Yikes.

Admittedly, it was not long ago that I, too, was in the camp of people who steadfastly maintained a pretentious judgment for all things reality. I just appreciate shows with a bit more... substance, I’d pompously assert at dinner parties to anyone trying to convince me otherwise.

When my dad suffered a life-altering stroke in 2018, however, somehow this catastrophic personal event coincided perfectly with the airing of Arie Luyendyk’s season of The Bachelor. Try as I might to look elsewhere, allowing the darkness of my personal life to slip away during these weekly two-hour reality show ventures was the perfectly mindless antidote to all of the stress I was experiencing in my waking hours.

Similarly, that same year, when my husband’s mother was diagnosed with Cancer, my sister-in-law and I began ceremoniously ending each night of caregiving by sitting on the couch with Ramona, LuAnn, Sonja, Dorinda, and Bethenny, soothing ourselves to sleep with the dulcet sounds of The Real Housewives of New York arguing over bottle number eight of Veuve whilst on girls’ weekend in the“Bezerkshires.”

I can say with confidence: I truly do not think I would have made it through my personal year of hell without the vacuous outlet provided to me by all things reality TV. Since then, I’ve been hooked. After all, nothing like the zeal of a convert.

In 2022, BBC Radio 4 released the podcast Unreal: A Critical History of Reality TV. Now, for anyone living under a rock, it’s pertinent to note that the BBC is a British media conglomerate that is generally considered to be highly reputable. Thus, their content is, of course, consistently credible. Throughout Unreal, a 10-part investigative radio series, the BBC critically examines the irreplaceable role reality TV plays in defining, mirroring, and preserving the social and cultural zeitgeist of a given era. The program presents reality television history chronologically, episodically unpacking the most highly-watched reality TV shows across the last, now, fifty-some years, beginning with 1973’s An American Family—the prolific reality vanguard, widely considered to be the bellwether for this era of media consumption.

Besides being a must-listen, Unreal makes the case that reality television should not be written off simply as fluff. On the contrary, journalists (and hosts) Pandora Sykes and Sirin Kales suggest that reality TV provides, arguably, one of the most astute reflections of a society at a given time. I don’t necessarily disagree. Which brings me back to Love Is Blind—and, more acutely, the fact that almost every single person I know (collectively spanning a myriad of genders, sexualities, races, and ages) has dutifully tuned in to each and every episode of Season 6. Surely there is something more prescient to be gleaned from a show with this much cross-cultural buy-in. A show whose viewership spans, quite literally, all identities.

What is it about LIB that has us all hooked? Yes, there are the scandals (Trevor was in love with someone else! JerAmey was engaged! Kwame and Chelsea are... still together?). Or maybe it’s the backdoor legal cover-ups (according to one knowledgeable TikTok user: the vetting process is nonsense, producers are suing contestants for breaching NDAs, and any engaged participant who fails to make it to the altar has to pay the studio an alleged $50K). Or, further still, perhaps it’s simply the fact that, due to social media, we can all now follow the contestants in real time, peering voyeuristically into their lives as they unabashedly, and simultaneously, air their dirty laundry on national television. The only thing I think we can all agree is not the culprit for committed viewership is Nick and Vanessa Lachey’s gormless double act.

Alternative theories aside, perhaps the real reasoning behind our collective addiction is far more simple. The Occam's razor of it all, if you will. Perhaps we are all hooked simply because we are sitting here, in partial disbelief, wondering: what the heck is love anyway? Are these people—or any people, for that matter—actually able to “fall in love” without knowing what someone looks like? Is it genuinely possible to commit to a lifelong partnership after a mere 38 days of knowing someone? And, if we are indeed to allow ourselves, as viewers, to believe in this process (or, more shrewdly, allow ourselves to suspend our disbelief), how does this potential “reality” inform our own view of love? After watching this season—and, with it, exploring these theories on my own—I venture to argue the show itself could be retitled: Love Is...?

It doesn’t help that Americans are facing an unprecedented era of isolation and solitude. Commonly referred to as the Loneliness Epidemic, studies over the last two years have shown that Americans—of all ages, races, genders, sexualities, and so on—are far more likely to experience feelings of solitude than ever before. Bearing this disturbing reality in mind, it’s hard to look at a show like Love Is Blind without a more critical eye attuned to unearthing what itch this program is scratching for so many viewers in search of love themselves. Is meeting someone blind the answer to our collective cries of loneliness? Hard to say, yes—but, also foolish to disregard completely at this point.

I do not know exactly why we all keep watching LIB, season in and season out. But, if Unreal’s assertion is to be believed, then one must accept that something about this show is indeed capturing the current cultural milieu. Maybe we all are, in fact, watching in search of a mindless outlet to serve as the salve for adulthood’s ever-increasing stressors. Or perhaps we keep tuning in to further inform our own subjective views of love, partnership, and marriage. Whatever the case, the [not so] cult following is real and, I would go so far as to say, deserved.

Lawsuits, scandals, and in-joke Tweets notwithstanding, you bet we will all be tuning for Season 7 when the time comes. But, in the meantime, onto Love Is Blind Sweden. Though the subtitles are a bit of a beast at first, once you get past that minor literary challenge, you’ll be hooked in no time.

Ready to take your creativity to the next level? Here are tips for building a dreamy creative life!

Schedule creative time. If you have a 9 to 5, schedule time in the morning, after work or on weekends to explore your craft or run your business. Marking your calendar and making time to be creative will help you make sure you don’t let the chance slip by – the more you do, the more you discover your talents and build your expertise.

Don’t try to do it all. “When you're running your own business, you're essentially forced to wear all the hats,” says Dani. Being a small business owner can look like a one-woman show. Don’t try to do it all yourself. Instead, focus on what you love and let experts do the rest. Whether TurboTax experts prepare your tax return or you do it yourself, they guarantee their calculations are always 100% accurate, or they’ll pay any penalties.

Collaborate with others. Host a regular creative hang with friends, tap into a local creative community, find people online who you relate to who might want to collaborate on a project or promotion. This is a great way to get the word out about your unique offerings. Dani has turned her fashion business into an interior design and print business, collaborating with brands on wallpaper, shoe design, and more.

Don’t let failure stop you. Mistakes often lead to breakthroughs. Experiment with new ideas and techniques, and view setbacks as opportunities to learn and grow. You’ve got this! Don’t feel like you have to reach perfection before making the next move. Small business life is a journey of doing and learning. “I learned not to limit myself in what I think I can and can't do,” says Dani. “I always wanted to pursue interiors and I thought when I was younger that I had to pick a lane. But all these years later and letting go of those self-limiting thoughts, I ended up doing interiors and that took on a whole life of its own.”

Diversify your revenue streams. “A big part of being an entrepreneur is getting used to the ups and downs of running a small business, and the slow times,” says Dani. She soon learned to diversify streams of income and pursue other creative ventures, such as licensing her designs and renting out her spaces for photo shoots. “I would say really think about how you can capitalize on all the different things you're doing and get creative with that,” she adds.

Travel and explore. Have you ever traveled and not felt inspired? Not possible! See new perspectives and get out of your comfort zone and you’re sure to feel creative and inspired in the process. Travel means learning new things about yourself and what you want out of life. Tight on budget? Visit a new place in your area, have coffee with someone in your field, do something out of the norm to gain inspiration and try something new.

When you’re ready, make that big move. Dani spent six years doing apparel graphics for a corporation, until she gathered the courage to start her own clothing line. “That was probably my first really big move and I built that up on social media,” she says. She used social media to get the word out. “I used a lot of my spaces for photo shoots for my brand, so I would design really cool funky spaces and then people started to ask me if I did interiors,” she recalls.

Share your story. That brings us to having the confidence to share your work and your process. “When Instagram stories came out, I started to share my behind the scenes process,” says Dani. “And that was when people actually started to really connect with the brand. I realized that my superpower wasn't to make a fancy-looking brand and seem like it was already established. It was to embrace that I was this solopreneur at the time.”

Photos: Courtesy of Dani Dazey.

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Which couple will season 3 of Bridgerton be about?

Bridgerton season 3 will focus on Colin Bridgerton and Penelope Featherington. This is the first time fans will get to see a couple they've been rooting for since the beginning, and I can't wait!

During the junket for her new series Big Mood, actress Nicola Coughlan (who plays season 3 leading lady Penelope Featherington) expressed how excited she is for Penelope to shine. "It felt really different this time, I think just because she's finally a grown up and I love coming back to a show and playing a character again, and finding the new sides to them," Nicola says. "She's becoming a woman and finding her self-worth — that side of her I really loved getting to play. It was great."

"And the glow!" Nicola's Big Mood co-star Lydia West adds. "You look so stunning. [I love] the different wigs."

"When the wig comes off, it's so sad because you just like under a wig, you just look like a little wet rat and it's all your hair is just all slicked back," Nicola jokes.

When is Bridgerton season 3 is coming out?

Netflix announced on December 12 that season 3 of Bridgerton will release in two parts in 2024: Part I on May 16 and Part II on June 13th. Until then, catch up on the first two seasons, as well as the prequel series Queen Charlotte, on Netflix!

Why is Penelope wearing more blues and greens than her staple yellows?

It's clear throughout the first season that each family has their own color representing the journey ahead of them — the beloved Bridgertons wear sophisticated blues and lavenders while the Featheringtons wear loud yellows as they try to climb the social ladder.

This is very intentional, and throughout season 3 we'll see Penelope transition from her staple yellow dresses into more greens and blues, a symbol of her union with Colin Bridgerton. Costume designer Sophie Canale confirmed this color theory to People, sharing that the green dress Penelope wears in episode four was a nod to her future relationship with Colin. After all, green *is* a mix of yellow and blue.

In the beginning of the season, Penelope and her mother are both wearing green instead of their usual lemon yellow. But instead of a pastel green like her previous dress, this one is very vibrant and tinged with a lot of warm tones. Even if Penelope is growing, the ties to her family are still strong.

Considering season two ended with Penelope getting into a fight with Eloise — and overhearing Colin say he would never court her — it makes sense that Penelope would turn more into her family than ever before.However, in an on-set interview with This Morning, Coughlan wore a dress that appears to be a muted seafoam, meaning it features more blue than yellow.

If Penelope wears lime at the beginning of the season and seafoam at the end, it's a perfect representation of her emotional arc. She moves from feeling overshadowed by her family to being embraced by Colin (hopefully sooner rather than later!!), and it creates a whole new color just for her.

Penelope is, and always will be, a mix of both Featherington and her love for Colin. Good thing for us, Canale takes us on that journey with her.

What are the season 3 Bridgerton episodes?

We finally got the official episode list for Bridgerton season 3, and it could hold huge meaning for Colin and Penelope. Just like Pen's wardrobe reflects her emotional arc, the episode titles have us expecting a major transformation. Starting the season with "Out of the Shadows" and ending with "Into the Light" could be a ~reflection~ of Penelope moving from wallflower to main character. It could also mean we'll see her embrace those beautiful, sunny (read: yellow) parts of herself she's wanted to hide in the past. Here are the episodes for Bridgerton season 3:

1. "Out of the Shadows"
2. "How Bright the Moon"
3. "Forces of Nature"
4. "Old Friends"
5. "Tick Tock"
6. "Romancing Mister Bridgerton"
7. "Joining of Hands"
8. "Into the Light"

What is the new season of Bridgerton about?

After giving up on whether Colin could ever return her feelings, Penelope decides to find a husband who will give her the independence she needs as Lady Whistledown. But when Colin offers to help her along the way, and his help begins to pay off, he realizes that his feelings for her might be more than platonic.

Who's in the season 3 Bridgerton cast?

Season 3 of Bridgerton will be led by Nicola Coughlan and Luke Newton, and we'll see lots of our favorites return, like Jonathan Bailey, Simone Ashley, Luke Thompson, Claudia Jessie, Hannah Dodd, Will Tilston, Florence Hunt, Ruth Gemmell.

Will Penelope and Eloise happily reunite in season 3 of Bridgerton?

It seems like former best friends Penelope and Eloise are having a conversation. Judging from the expression on Penelope's face and Eloise's folded arms, it appears that things are still tense between them. Jess Brownwell, Bridgerton's show runner told the outlet, "I'm rooting for them," while admitting their friendship breakup is, "...a chance for the two of them to grow and learn about themselves..."

It's interesting to see if Eloise will remain icy towards Penelope after the abrupt end of their friendship in Season 2.

Why is Lady Danbury so important in Bridgerton?

We loved getting to know more about Lady Danbury in Queen Charlotte, and turns out, we weren't the only ones! At a Bridgerton x International Delight event in NYC, we talked to Lady Danbury herself, Adjoa Andoh! "In seasons one and two, I had a pretty strong sense of who Lady Danbury was," Andoh says in our exclusive interview. "Doing Queen Charlotte filled in a lot of the early life for me in concert with Shonda [Rhimes'] enormous storytelling brain. And so I could take all of that into season three."

Andoh also says that since the Bridgerton's grandfather was the love of Lady Danbury's life, it explains why she cares so much about their family: "You understand the investment she has in the Bridgerton family more because they are his grandchildren, and so I am invested in them because I loved him."

But for Bridgerton season 3, we'll also see a stronger connection between Lady Danbury and Penelope Featherington. "I think Lady Danbury sees a lot of her young self in Penelope," she continues. "I think she's sort of an overlooked item who is shoved in one direction just as Penelope is an overlooked item who no one thinks is ever gonna get married. So both of these women in their young lives have had to understand that if they are gonna survive, they have to live on their own natural brilliance, strategy, intelligence, and gifts."

"[Season 3 of Bridgerton] made me sad and it made me happy and all those things in between because it just reminded me of being the wallflower teenager that I was," Andoh says. "I think there's heaps of us out there, not just women, I think there's heaps of us out there who have felt that we are regarded as less than by our peers. And so, this is the season for us."

Andoh's advice for the wallflowers out there? "I have a friend who says, 'What's for you won't pass you by,'" she says. "Don't wait and pine, hang out with your friends have a fabulous life. The world is amazing and interesting and just dive into your curiosity. Think about what's fabulous about you and lean hard in on that and don't wait for someone else to give you the confirmation that you are as fabulous as you should know you are."

Will Benedict still play a role in season 3 of Bridgerton?

The third book in the Bridgerton series, An Offer From A Gentleman, focuses on Benedict Bridgerton and Sophie Beckett. Even though the third season of the show will revolve around Colin and Penelope, fans are anticipating an important plot point could still happen this year.

"I'm reading Benedict's book, and between the ball the Bridgertons threw where he met Sophie and when they meet again there's a gap of two years, enough for the unfolding of Penelope and Colin's [arc]," lovin_da_dix says on Reddit. "My theory is that the Bridgertons will throw the ball this season, we would briefly see Sophie and the writers would carry the storyline through season 4."

Not only would a ball give us an excuse to see Colin and Penelope dance again, but it would also set up the next season of the show! That is some serious script planning. But considering the characters in Bridgerton love throwing a party, and a ball would fit right in with the book's timeline, this is one theory we could totally see coming true.

What is the mirror scene in Bridgerton season 3?

In a new sneak peek from season 3 of Bridgerton, we see Penelope and Colin standing in front of a mirror (looking longingly at each other, of course). "A look such as this from Mister Colin Bridgerton would surely make even the most perennial of wallflowers swoon, would it not?" the official Bridgerton X account asks.

While Colin and Penelope don't share words in the clip, their hands do brush, which is something period drama fans always go crazy over. Plus, the sneak peek as a whole totally references the upcoming "mirror scene" (where Colin wants to have sex in front of a mirror so Penelope can see how beautiful she is) Bridgerton fans have been waiting for.

Watch This Official Clip From Bridgerton Season 3

After Colin told literally everyone at the Featherington ball that he would "never" court Penelope (I'm still fuming, TBH), he finally realizes something is wrong in their friendship. When he says he misses her, soft-spoken and sweet Penelope finally confronts him about the hurtful things he said at the party, which is exactly what he needs to hear if you ask me. If this man doesn't beg for her forgiveness I don't want it!! Watch the clip here.

Simone Ashley and Jonathan Bailey gave us the dance scene to rival all dance scenes during Bridgerton season 2 (the tension! The yearning! The eyebrows!). But as a married couple in season 3 of Bridgerton, they're all smiles! TBH, I would also be all smiles if I was married to either one of these people.

The First Season 3 Bridgerton Sneak Peek

There are two things I love aboutthis new season 3 Bridgerton clip: first, the tension and chemistry between Nicola Coughlan's Penelope and Luke Newton's Colin is SO REAL and I am HERE FOR IT. The second is how awkward this interaction is because when you realize you're falling in love with your best friend, it really is awkward sometimes. I cannot get enough of this duo and I can't wait to see them finally admit their feelings for each other (hopefully after some more will-they-won't-they pining) later this spring. Watch the sneak peek here.

Here's Your First Look At Season 3 Of Bridgerton

Penelope (Nicola Coughlan) — who moonlights as town gossip Lady Whistledown — touted pale blue dresses that complemented her red hair, styled in soft waves.

"Do contain your excitement," the show tweeted, adding on Instagram, "The author is about to become the main character."

And according to Nicola, fans are in for a wild ride. The actress described her season as "magical," "romantic" and "quite scandalous" while speaking at Tudum's Brazil event, per Shondaland.

Colin doesn't look too shabby either.

(Hopefully) a happy couple in the works!

...Or not as happy as we thought.

It looks like the loving couple are still enjoying marital bliss in season 3 of Bridgerton.

Colin's expression makes us want to ask him, "Why so serious?"

Colin may be showing Penelope potential suitors she can engage with.

Something is really concerning Lady Violet, but Francesca (played by Hannah Dodd who replaces Ruby Stokes) and Hyacinth seem to be taking it in stride.