Love to See It with Emma and Claire

It’s week two of “Love Is Blind” Boston, and the couples are… mostly floundering. In a real twist, Rob and Michaella are quickly emerging as potentially the only good match of the season. Meanwhile, tension is brewing for the rest of the couples. John is out here drinking unpasteurized milk and doing his own research, Blake can’t stop putting his foot in his mouth, Aneha won’t let Cam’s nonexistent ear piercing go, and Wilnie can’t stop needling Wilson about Malaine. But at least Netflix music supervisors have The Mighty Mighty Bosstones on hand to welcome us to Bo

Episode 6 of “The Traitors” brings us up to speed with a flurry of activity: a murder! A mission! A round table! And many, many ill-fated attempts by Victor to make Fruitgate happen. In this episode, we see what happens when a contestant with all the unearned confidence of a white man tries to bend the castle to his will – and discovers that he has, inexplicably, zero credibility with his fellow castle guests. Victor might be right, and he might be the only person marshaling “real” evidence, but that doesn’t do much if everyone else just wants to vote on vibes. Ca...

In episodes 4 and 5, the love chains have been winnowed down to triangles and couples, before heading off to Mexico. The women are busy trying to convince their male suitors to choose them, while the men are mostly trying to decide between the two types of women: Hot ones or deep ones? Dimes or battle-axes? Balkans or non-Balkans? “That” or “It”? Thank god for Jax and Stew, our unintentional comedy darlings. We thank you both for your service.

The pods have touched down in Boston! And we had so much to say about the first drop of episodes, that we had to split our recap into two parts. In part 1 we get into all of the various love chains that form in the pods and the cast of standout characters that populate them – Morrey, the peacocking toxic masculinity mascot; Stew, the rent-a-Kennedy; Jax, who wears a Moncler puffer in an edgy way; Diana, the old soul who has heard of Frank Sinatra despite being younger than 38; and so many more. (Plus Scott, who seems to have a co...

This week, “The Traitors: New Blood” is back on the air – but we’re down to one new episode. And it’s a relatively uneventful one, with barely a round table or murder to speak of. Instead, most of the episode is spent on the antics of the three Traitors as they try to commit a murder in plain sight. The mechanism: throwing a “cursed” apple to a Faithful on the murder shortlist, and having them successfully catch it. It’s a wildly conspicuous act, especially in a game fueled by paranoia and mob justice, and all three of the Traitors man...

Buckle up, we’re catching up on news & gossip! With Mikayla and TFP out the door, ‘SLOMW’ is down to a skeleton cast. Was there ever any other outcome? And what’s next for the franchise? Then, the breakup between Taylor and Clarke of “Love Island” S7 has gone from amicable to messy, after she claimed on a podcast that Taylor stranded her at a gas station in Oklahoma and he countered with equally troubling, but vague, allegations posted on Instagram. Then, Chris Harrison’s upcoming MAGA-coded dating show on Fox Nation, “The Vow,” dropped a teaser that takes some obvious potsh...

With bodies and banishments piling up, the game is really underway now – and while Joe Vanella is playing his own secret angle, casting doubt on the athletes of the castle, the three Traitors are leaving a breadcrumb trail straight to their teeniest member. The Faithfuls are casting about wildly for clues, and Jay has decided to just cast about wildly in every sense. He drops knowing hints about his secret theories, which will be revealed at the round table – and, once at the round table, he announces that he is a body language expert but unfortunately has been taking a me...

A cast of non-celebrity American players feature on this season of “The Traitors: New Blood” – an unusually “Harry Potter”-inflected season, especially considering how radioactive J.K. Rowling’s brand has become. (Why, exactly, are the Weasley twins here?) The cast is packed with standout personalities – a funeral director, a dog trainer, a mulleted executive, a 23-year-old, a baseball scout, a lawyer posing as a basketball coach – though some of these newly minted reality stars have done more strategic preparation than others. The first two episodes feature some classic “Traitors” blunders, including one that cruelly ended a blossoming showmance. Is “The Traitors” a...

Season 5 of “SLOMW” ends abruptly, after an on-camera revelation that Dakota’s friend has called CPS to report Taylor. But it’s not entirely out of the blue. The last two episodes contain ample signs that Taylor and Dakota’s toxic pattern is escalating dangerously. Meanwhile, Jen is trying to get her “pink back” by becoming a musician and returning to the Mormon fold, Jessi and Jordan throw a housewarming brunch that becomes a de facto divorce brunch, and Mayci and Mikayla have reached their wits’ end with the Taylor-Dakota situation. Annemarie Navar-Gill joins again to finish our discussion of this truncate...

Back in March, when Taylor Frankie Paul’s season of “The Bachelorette” was yanked just days before premiering, cameras were rolling for season five of her original reality show: “Secret Lives of Mormon Wives.” Production was ultimately paused, but season five wasn’t canceled – and all five episodes of the abbreviated season dropped last week. Annemarie Navar-Gill (the cohost of Bachelor in Retrospect) joined for a discussion of episodes 1-3, including a conversation about why this season aired to begin with, whether that was the right decision, and what it means for “The Bachelor” franchise that this season includes so many spoilers –...

By the second half of “Love Is Blind” UK, all is not well! Our crop of six robust couples has begun to dwindle, thanks to motivational speaker Ryan’s energetic hangovers and Jordan’s failure to find the spark. Ciara pushes Ajay’s boundaries just a bit too far, in the midst of her self-admitted quest to find the outer limits of his patience. And Jack pushes the limits of his ability to trek across London in shower sliders. Will any of these couples say “I do”? And, more importantly, what will they have to say about each other by the reunion...

The pods are open, to be fair! Claire and Leigh are finally catching up on “Love Is Blind” UK season 3, and it is a rollicking good time. We have a resident jovial love-bombing lad and a resident soft-life pink-pill girlie, plus an English MAHA type who only eats eggs produced by chickens who listen to “frequency music.” Despite this, and some classic love triangles, it feels like love really is brewing in the pods. In this episode, we talk about great sexpectations, great financial expectations, pot-stirrers, plaid Speedos, jacket potatoes with tuna, and ecstatic dancing.

The “Love Island” USA and “Let’s Marry Harry” reunions finally dropped this week, after we’d finally allowed our brains to move on. The two-hour “Love Island” reunion was shapeless, often boring, and felt as though it would never end. The cast re-litigated endless minor beefs, and rarely introduced new information or found any resolution – though we did finally establish how many times Sol was pied (two, as shown on TV) and how many times Bryce pulled Kayda (one, as shown on TV). Melanie had issues with half the cast, while Sincere just popped up every twenty minutes or so to issue a b...

Season 20 of “Married at First Sight” is safely in the can, and, as we hoped, six of the seven couples are safely separated from each other! In this recap, Claire and Leigh talk about Decision Day, from the reveal of Felipe’s vile off-camera comments to Tori to the oddly timed gifting of a Ninja Creami, before diving into the action-packed reunion. Relationship experts Paul and Dr. Lisa have taken off their therapist hats and donned their tea-spilling host ensembles, and they’re ready to take stock of the emotional wounds inflicted on the show’s cast by their mostly sho...

This batch of “Married at First Sight” episodes leaves us at the brink of decision day – and teasing a scandalous off-camera conversation between Felipe and Tori. But first, the remaining six couples head off on a couples retreat that is more fratty than therapeutic. Felipe leans into his womanizing reputation, and expects Tori to be as tolerant of his foibles as his mother is. Mecca and Caitlin get flirty, and somehow Bellé is the last person anyone is concerned about. Nikki is ruminating on why Shawn told her she was a Seattle 10, but a New York 7. Adam is more focused...

As “Married at First Sight” season 20 draws closer to decision day, the pressure on the seven couples is growing – and one has, blessedly, buckled underneath it. After Nick and Courteney wisely remove themselves from the experiment, we’re left with six couples who, in Adam’s parlance, are trying to just vibe and full send it, but are mostly cooked. Adam has imperceptibly tweaked his intensity level downward, while Marissa looks more dead behind the eyes in every scene. Mecca decides that a group dinner is the perfect time to announce that his first impression of Belléjolie was, “she’s not pre...

Harry Jowsey has had a long and winding road through the world of reality dating TV, most notably “Too Hot to Handle” and “Perfect Match.” He rode his success from these Netflix hits to a podcast deal with Alex Cooper’s Unwell network – and now, his own reality dating show, “Let’s Marry Harry.” In this bonus, Leigh and Claire discuss a show that promises to marry the inveterate womanizer off for good. From its gimmicky concept (all 20 contestants are immediately given engagement rings and referred to as his “fiancées”) to its ill-fated attempt at a redemption arc for Harry, this show is...

Welcome back to another week of a show we’d like to call “Six Future Divorces And A Marriage,” starring Cam and Michelle as the one couple we would be shocked to see announcing the end of their marriage during the next drop of episodes. Nikki has been continuing to foster her tiny spark with Shawn, while he keeps trying to douse it by suggesting that she should “show up as a wife” by giving him a handy. Marissa has finally realized that she accidentally moved to vacation by marrying Adam, and unless she acts fast, she will be getting dr...

Three weeks into “Married At First Sight,” the couples really start to settle into their marriages. Some of them take the plunge into sexual intimacy, while others are still tinkering with basic communication. Nikki and Shawn practice using “I” statements and relinquishing power. Caitlin finally dims Devin’s light to an acceptable soft glow, while he lovingly compares her to a frozen lake. Courteney’s hatred for Nick deepens by the hours, as is his determination to pretend it’s fine. Marissa has effortlessly melted her life into Adam’s jetskiing, peacocking, thrift-shopping vibe, and they have no plans other than to ju...

The second week of “Married at First Sight” S20 is exposing more profound incompatibilities between these couples. An atheist married to a devout Christian? Two “bright suns” forced to orbit each other? A black cat wife eternally chased by a sad golden retriever husband? It’s enough to make you question why the experts paired these seven couples up to begin with! Episodes 4-6 take these newlyweds through a tumultuous honeymoon trip in Mexico, and drops them back in Seattle to kick off their new lives together. Several of the wives struggle to get comfortable spending every second with their new...

For the first time ever, we’re covering “Married at First Sight”! The franchise’s 20th season, set in Seattle, kicked off last week with three episodes. The first batch of episodes introduced us to seven couples – including one semi-professional reality star (hey there, Nick from “The Circle”), a man who only travels via jet ski, and a woman who claims not to remember January 6th – as well as a handful of problematic dads. It’s an overabundance of couples, and most of them seem doomed from jump. Leigh and Claire discuss the threads of conservatism in this cast, how many of the me...

After an epic season of “Love Island,” we have a lot of catching up to do! This episode, we get into some Bachelor Nation news, as well as the post-villa drama and gossip that has already begun to percolate from our new “Love Island” alums. Then, it’s time for book club! We read the new memoir from former “Bachelor” producer Julie LaPlaca, “The Love Producer” – and took in some of the discourse about it. So we dig into her revelations about the inappropriate relationship she claims to have developed with Peter Weber while producing his season, her romanticization of the entanglement...

It’s “Love Island” graduation week! Emma pops back in from maternity leave this episode to offer her hot takes on this final batch of episodes. The families come through to offer their blessings or curses on the couples (for Melanie and Sincere, it’s a quadruple hex that still isn’t strong enough to destroy their connection). The couples partake in one final grotesque challenge, romantically transferring mushroom soup and mayonnaise from mouth to mouth and then making out on a slip’n’slide. They are sent on EPIC final dates to remember, like making pizza together on a floating bun...

There’s a lot of dopey financial advice out there. Jill Schlesinger is here to call it out, answer your questions, break down the financial news that actually matters, and help you manage your money without losing your mind. No jargon. No judgment. Just clear, actionable financial guidance about saving, investing, buying a home, managing your career, and deciding how to spend your hard-earned dollars.  When it’s time to panic, Jill will tell you. When everyone else is panicking and you shouldn’t be, Jill will tell you that too. Your money. Your move. Let’s go.

Movie Night, the cataclysmic climax of “Love Island,” has come to an end, and the islanders have spent the week sweeping up and sorting through the emotional wreckage. Apologies are made and accepted, old grievances aired out. Dylan finally lets go of his resentment that Kenzie didn’t commit to the boys she met before him, and Melanie, under pressure from her castmates, lets go of her no-kisses-for-Sincere boundary. The couples find out how America ranks them – which leaves Zach and Kayda unmoored, but KC and Titi bolstered. There’s a flurry of commitment conversations, and even a remarkably poorly exe...

Grab your popcorn, our favorite film is on: “Love Island” production exposing the manipulations of red-pilled creeps! Our temporary co-host Leigh Blickley joins for her first episode of Emma’s maternity leave, and we look back on the entire bleak week of male misbehavior, callousness, and gaslighting. We consider the lack of true boy-girl friendships this season, the boys-will-be-boys mindsets of the islanders, Zach and Sincere’s manipulative mind games and KC’s pivot to manosphere rhetoric and macho swagger. At least we have Brinity and Carniya – and, even better, the new villa sisterhood.

It’s time for Casa Amor, babyyyyy!! Claire is joined by Lizzy and Chad, cohosts of Game of Roses, for some deep analysis of this week’s episodes. The first half of the season has dragged a bit – stagnant, uninspiring couples; underwhelming bombshell arrivals; no dates to speak of – and just as the energy was about to fully dissipate, the boys get the fateful text to head to Casa Amor. This time, there are a few big twists to up the emotional ante… and get the girls to stop weeping about their couples and explore. The minute KC enters Casa, he t...

This week on “Love Island,” the love triangles started percolating – and those who aren’t in love triangles clearly got a firm nudge to start making some more villa geometry happen. Bryce randomly decided to pull his best friend’s girl, which gave everyone a hearty laugh. Zach keeps feebly insisting that he wants to stay open for a hypothetical bombshell he likes better than Kayda, while Kayda is ready to fluid bond. Aniya and KC enter a death spiral of miscommunication. Melanie actually does everything everyone has asked her to do – give Sincere space, explore other connections honestly and respectf...

Three farmers, six women, and one enormous tractor: In the last two episodes of “Farmer Wants a Wife,” it’s time to find out who is destined for a future together. We get into the final two episodes of season 4, where our three farmers meet their final two contenders’ families and/or besties, and then ask one of them to… continue figuring out if they maybe want to move across the country and join the farm life. We also reveal which of these couples are still together and how the relationships seem to be faring after seven months of secrecy!

We’re officially into week 2 of “Love Island USA,” which means that we have six full episodes to discuss! We get to know six bombshells, learn about the nuances of Gen Z “loverboy” culture, define “attributes,” and explore one of the greatest romance tropes of all time: Only One Bed. In this week’s recap we get into everything from the toxic dynamic that has bubbled up between Sincere and Melanie, to why Zach says he’s closed off and then immediately backtracks, to the slow burn appeal of Trinity and Bryce. And we close with America’s first opportunity to vote...

Season 8 of “Love Island USA” is here at last. And as Ariana Madix put it: “We’re so back.” She’s right. Summer is back, we’re back, and the beauty of watching sex idiots find love in a villa in Fiji is also back. Life is good. We’re watching hotties in bikinis swap spit, explain astrology (badly), and cut up apples (even more badly). And before episode 1 has even ended… the bombshells have entered the villa.

Before we dive headfirst into the new season of Love Island USA, we knew we needed to catch up on some reality news and gossip. First, we go through all of the updates on the “Perfect Match” season 4 couples, and consider who might be doing couple-baiting purely for PR purposes. Then we get into some “Love Island USA” casting news – including one Islander who has already been kicked out of the villa – and dive into some updates about West and Amanda from “Summer House” and Yvonne Najor from “In The City.”

Netflix has “Perfect Match” on a shorter and shorter leash, from 12 episodes in season 1 all the way down to just 8 this season – and boy, can you tell. In this rushed finale, we squeeze in one last challenge and boardroom, the shakiest couples patch it back up enough to limp to the final vote, and some mild tea about sneaky Spotify chats is spilled. The wildest part of the season doesn’t even happen until filming has already wrapped – and you know Nice Guy™ Chris and his Santa’s workshop of designer handbags has something to do with it.

Episodes 6 and 7 of “Perfect Match” dropped this week, leaving us with just the finale for next week – just as the show is finally starting to pick up steam. Putting the abysmal pacing aside, the drama is heating up as Demari and Marissa’s diametrically opposed communication styles threaten to tear apart their increasingly miserable relationship, one Jimmy does a better job locking it down than the other, and the singles make increasingly audacious plays for a spot in the house. A bait-and-switch kissing challenge brings it all together.

This week, we dive into the utterly depressing drama that has unfolded publicly between Mikayla Matthews, Taylor Frankie Paul, Jessi Draper and Mayci Neeley. We also get into some other news and gossip, including some rumors about “The Bachelor,” a “Love Is Blind” breakup, a “Summer House” pregnancy, and the absolutely wild description of Jenn Tran and Kaitlyn Bristowe’s new crossover reality show. Afterwards, we check in on our favorite soothing little treat: “Farmer Wants A Wife.” Spoiler alert: The ladies are droppin’ like flies.

Family Lore is a weekly narrative podcast that celebrates and investigates ancestral mystique. Each episode begins with a guest sharing a fascinating family legend, followed by a historical deep-dive to uncover the truth and meaning behind the tale. Available now: link.pscrb.fm/f0281/FLFD

Netflix’s reality dating super-show is back for a fourth season, after a near-perfect third season featuring AD and Ollie’s transatlantic LIB love story. The concept, for those who aren’t familiar: sexy singles, mostly from Netflix reality shows, but also from “MAFS Australia,” “Vanderpump Rules,” and just… social media influencing, converge on a luxurious villa. This season features some reality dating icons – Marissa and Jimmy from “Love Is Blind,” Yamen and Natalie from “Temptation Island” – but is it hitting like previous “Perfect Match” season? That’s up for debate.

In this bonus episode, we go deep with Ilana Masad and Stevie K. Seibert Desjarlais on their new anthology: “Here For All The Reasons: Why We Watch The Bachelor.” It’s a book of essays about our first – and truest – love, “The Bachelor” franchise, and (surprise!) we even wrote an essay in it. We had such a fun time chatting with Ilana and Stevie about how this book came to be, where their relationship with the franchise began, why we continue to stick with “The Bachelor” when there are a million reasons we shouldn’t, and what they want to see from the futu...

Taylor Frankie Paul and Dakota Mortensen received mutual 3-year protective orders, and some interesting comments from the judge, in court last week. We discuss the updates in the ongoing legal battle, including an old voice memo from Jessi Draper being leaked to TMZ and some recent comments from execs behind “The Bachelorette” and “SLOMW” about the futures of the franchises. Whitney Leavitt is leaving “SLOMW,” and while she may be ready, we’re not! More “Summer House” reunion leaks dropped last week, and Amanda continues to come off as combative and willfully obtuse. Lauren Luyendyk took sides in the Alex Cooper/Alix E...

Three makes a trend, and suddenly there are not just three, but FOUR former “Bachelor” USA franchise cast members appearing on Bravo casts. With Jasmine Goode on “The Valley,” Salley Carson on “Southern Charm,” Ashley Iaconetti on “Real Housewive of Rhode Island,” and Whitney Fransway on “In the City,” the great Bachelor x Bravo convergence is undeniably happening. Guest Gibson Johns (host of “Gabbing with Gib”) joins us to talk about this once-unimaginable overlap between the two massive reality powerhouses, what the Bravo path has to offer reality stars, what a “Bachelor” star has to offer a Bravo show, and what this is means for t