Tv Review: The One That Got Away season 1

The One That Got Away

Creator: Elan Gale

Starring: Betty Who

Runtime: 10 Episodes

Amazon’s latest American reality tv show, ‘The One That Got Away‘ is a dating series which follows six contestants who have a chance to revisit their missed connections and take another shot at love. To do this, the group are put in an isolated house somewhere exotic and people from their past come to join them through a mysterious ‘Portal.’ Hosted by singer-songwriter, Betty Who, the makers of the show have come from alumni from other  dating reality shows such as The Bachelor franchise (Elan Gale), and Ex on the Beach (Caroline Roseman).

I’m something of a sucker for reality tv – it’s my go-to choice for when I just want to switch my brain off for a while and it’s easy entertainment. There are so many of them out there nowadays though it’s hard to find the good ones amongst the ones which just focus on messy drama. The One That Got Away is a weird balancing act between the two. Promos and trailers and occasionally random inserts in the episodes themselves focus on how hot and attractive everyone is – the cast is primarily made up of the typical casts for these shows: pretty influencers who are all in shape and willing to show it off. The cast are a little older than the typical dating show though as they’re all in their late 20s to early 30s and in actual fact the series doesn’t feature as much outrageous behaviour as the trailers might lead you to expect. We see little more than conversations and the occasional kisses between characters and it’s all very PG – not to mention for some of the cast at least, they’re taking this whole dating thing quite seriously, with talk of marriage and their futures on the table. Whilst it’s nice to see this more wholesome side (I like to see this as The Bachelor influence as a more family friendly reality tv show), it unfortunately ends up being… well, a little boring.

Not that the show is without it’s drama – we certainly have it in spades with at least one of the contestants, Allyssa, who loves to stir the pot whenever she can, and is prone to temper tantrums when things don’t go her way. But the pacing just feels pretty off. The whole show hinges on the contestants making these amazing reconnections with their past flames… and then they barely get a chance to spend anytime together. Aside from the occasional group date setting, each episode features a couple of one on one dates but for the most part the contestants barely see the people who travelled through the Portal to see them, who are all segregated away in the notably less fancy Guest House for the duration. They even mention this over and over where you see them getting frustrated by spending all their time with the other Portal members and having to wait ages for their turn to get a chance for that one on one time with the person they came here for. It feels like a mistake by production to have separated the two groups so vastly, perhaps for the sake of drama, but ultimately it ends with many of the couples being unable to commit something more long term when in reality – they’ve had maybe two dates in all. Not to mention that our host, Betty, tends to bombard the contestants with ‘another new arrival at the Portal!’ every half an hour or so, usually when they’re busy just trying to untangle their own feelings. It’s all so rushed with the amount of people they have come and go, that you start to feel sorry for the people involved, barely even getting a chance to just breathe and take part in the process more naturally.

Still, this is reality tv after all, and drama is what makes it popular – the shows more messy moments are likely going to be the most talked ones. Whether it’s Allyssa being messy, contestants self-eliminating or a raccoon crashing someone’s date (probably the most hilarious moment in the whole show!) Despite the pacing struggles and the more cringey aspects (everything about the Portal is like a cheesy 80s romance music video), there are some truly heartfelt moments in the show. Certain scenes such as Jeff struggling to come to terms with his difficult committing truly to relationships really did tug at my heart-strings and serve to remind you that these are real people going through this situation. It’s worth noting in the typically hetero-normative reality shows out there that this cast is somewhat more diverse, both racially and sexuality-wise. This is probably one of the first reality tv shows which has a gay man as one of the leads that isn’t exploited as a gimmick (Season 8 of Are You The One?, say hello). and it’s refreshing to just see him being treated exactly the same as the other contestants. I really wasn’t a fan of Betty Who as the host however – there was just something very lacking about her presence on the show and her main purpose tended to just show up looking fabulous and then proceed to give the contestants bad news.

All in all, this was a mixed bag of a reality tv show and whilst I don’t think it’s going to reach the popular heights of some of the others out there at the moment, I do think it’ll find it’s niche and fans.