I asked Netflix’s Reality TV boss why so many men on dating shows are terrible

When Brandon Riegg he joined Netflix a decade ago to head up its reality TV shows, he had one main competitor in mind: ABC’s The Bachelor.

But Riegg felt that performance—which is currently spot on cancel his latest season due to a domestic violence incident involving would-be bachelor Taylor Frankie Paul – was “contrived” with his “tug of war” over group dates and trips to Italian castles. He wanted to create something that felt more “authentic” to modern dating, he says.

It worked. The streamer debuted his blind-date-turned-fiancé show, Love is blind in 2020, and it has since been watched 215 million times and expanded to nine markets around the world, making it the cornerstone of Netflix’s growing lineup of reality shows. The network’s other popular offerings include Love on the Spectrumwhich follows daters with autism, and the newly launched and already renewed Age of attractionwhere contestants delay revealing their ages until they commit to each other. (One pairing included a 60-year-old man and 27-year-old woman.)

Yet these successes have come with their share of criticism, including from me.

As I have previously writtenwhile Love is blind was refreshing when it broke on the scene, the men have felt more and more plucked from the conservative manosphere in the last few seasons. The most recent Ohio season featured Chris Fusco, who compared himself to influential and suspected trafficker Andrew Tate, boasted that he was “dominant” and broke up with fiancée Jessica Barrett because he didn’t exercise enough. Another contestant, Alex Henderson, was a crypto bro who professed his love for President Donald Trump.

Combined with the constant talk (pressure?) around having babies and countering racial dynamics—several contestants seem to have struggled when their partner was revealed as a person of color—it made me wonder if Netflix is ​​leaning toward people with conservative ideals to appeal to the political right.

Riegg, who is Netflix’s vice president of nonfiction series and sports, tells me that’s not the case.

“Half the country voted for Trump, right?” he says. “Depending on where you go, you’re just going to have luck with the draw in terms of whether it’s more left-leaning or more right-leaning. And I think we’re neutral on that.” (In addition to Ohio, the last few seasons have taken place in Denver, Minnesota, Washington DC and Charlotte, North Carolina.)

Barrett, a liberal doctor, said in interviews that she screened all the men Love is blindand asking if they voted for Trump—but none of that was shown on screen.

Riegg says Barrett’s audition questions probably weren’t included because producers prioritized “story,” but that he saw the same anxiety when trying to create a female friend.

“She’s like, ‘Just make sure he’s not MAGA.’ For her it was top of mind. And I was like, ‘Oh, I don’t know what he is.’ “I didn’t even think about it.”

According to 2025 recording From DatingAdvice.com in partnership with the Kinsey Institute, celibacy is on the rise among young people. And among Gen Z women who self-identify as voluntarily celibate, 64 percent identified politics as the reason.

More broadly, Riegg admits that it is difficult to find “quality men”—and not just for television purposes.

“You know how many great female friends I have? And I don’t have nearly enough good guy friends to settle down with,” he says. “So I think it’s probably a broader issue.”

Prior to working at Netflix, Riegg worked in reality television at both NBC and ABC, overseeing wildly popular shows such as The Voice, America’s Got Talentand The biggest loser. The latter, along with America’s Next Top Modelwas the subject of a Netflix documentary that exposes behind-the-scenes controversies and cases of psychological stress among the participants.

Riegg says he’s not worried about a tell-all ear Love is blind appears in 10 years because Netflix holds itself to a high “duty of care” standard, including providing cast members with access to therapy.

Asked if reality TV is inherently exploitative, he says: “You’re not forcing anyone to do anything.” And a quarter of a century after that Survivor‘s debut solidified the high-stakes template for modern reality television, he adds, “I don’t think anyone is unaware of the pros and cons of doing that stuff.”