Netflix’s newest dating show “The Ultimatum: Queer Love” aired its finale this week, marking a significant moment in romantic reality TV: the first marriage contest within the genre’s queer community. The show follows a similar format to last year’s “The Ultimatum: Marry or Move On” and both editions show couples who don’t agree about their future together agreeing to split up and live with new partners for a few weeks on camera, before coming back together. In “Queer Love” all couples focus only on same-sex relationships, the first of its kind.
Despite the show’s universal themes of relationship struggles and commitment, “Queer Love” continues to capture the specific ways queer women and nonbinary people relate to each other. As L.G.B.T.Q. people only got their own dating show focused on love and commitment now, the series shows queer viewers a more relatable way of seeing the messy behavior often seen in heterosexual dating shows like “The Bachelor” or “Love Is Blind.” With audiences embracing the show, its popularity has made headlines with people giving praise to Netflix for giving queer women and nonbinary people a chance to see their own relationships reflected on an enormous platform.
