In the latest season of “Are You the One?” MTV’s dating show on which more than a dozen contestants vie to win $1 million by finding their soul mate, viewers don’t have to wait long for the first hookup — it happens in the second episode. “I just thought you didn’t like me,” Jenna says, sighing as she sits on a bed with Kai, who (if you squint) looks like a distant, androgynous relative of Justin Bieber. He interrupts her: “Shut up. Shut uuuuuuuup.” Then he leans in and asks, “What do you want right this second?” The answer is obvious. The two run giddily into the “boom boom room,” the only semiprivate place in the house where the contestants live for 10 weeks. The rest of the house loses it, cheering and crowding around the door to listen to their muffled moans. You almost expect David Attenborough to start narrating this millennial mating dance.
How Queer People Brought Some Actual Reality to Dating-Reality TV
