Love Is Blind‘s Nick Lachey and The Bachelor‘s Jesse Palmer are both here for the right reason.
A year after Palmer took over hosting duties on The Bachelor, the season 5 leading man was asked what he thinks about the many dating shows on screens today, including Love Is Blind, Love Island and Too Hot To Handle.
“The Bachelor was first,” Palmer, 44, told E! News. “I think a big part of The Bachelor is about authenticity and really trying to get back to what the core of the show has always been about and what it’s supposed to be about.
Speaking to PEOPLE, Love Is Blind‘s Lachey (who co-hosts the Netflix series with his wife Vanessa) had a simple response: “I don’t think it gets more authentic than Love is Blind.”
Explained the 98 Degrees singer, 49: “The whole premise of the show is authenticity. It’s getting to know someone for their true, real self and then introducing the physical. So, certainly a different angle into finding love, but I would argue that Love Is Blind is probably the most authentic dating show we’ve ever seen that ends at the altar, in my opinion.”
Premiering on Netflix in 2020, Love Is Blind brings singles from the same city together to meet, court and get engaged sight unseen before trying to navigate their relationships — and ultimately get married after just weeks — in the real world.
In its first three seasons, it’s spawned lasting marriages for season 1 couples Lauren Speed-Hamilton and Cameron Hamilton and Amber Pike and Matt Barnett, as well as Colleen Reed and Matt Bolton and Alexa Alfia and Brennon Lemieux from season 3.
Teasing what’s to come in season 4, Lachey says fans won’t be “disappointed.”
“All I can say is, and you’ve seen it already with the first three seasons, every season is different, obviously based in a different city with different kind of a different feel to it, different sensibilities,” he explains. “The singles are always different than previous cities we’ve seen before. And I’ve always found myself saying, ‘Oh, well this next season can’t be better.'” And every time it seems to up the ante.”
Courtesy of Netflix
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In addition to Love Is Blind, the Lacheys co-hosted the first season of The Ultimatum: Marry or Move On. Now he’s gearing up for the arrival of Perfect Match, which he hosted solo and which features singles from several Netflix reality shows mixing and mingling to find the one.
Perfect Match is “such a different feeling show than Love Is Blind or The Ultimatum,” says Lachey.
“There are very, very real stakes in both Love Is Blind or The Ultimatum. I mean, you’re standing at the altar at the end of Love Is Blind with friends and family staring at you, wondering if you’re going to say ‘I do,’ or if the person you’ve been with for the last six weeks is going to say ‘I do,'” he explains. “That’s a very real moment. That’s a real marriage. That’s a real moment. The Ultimatum, you’re coming into a situation with someone who you’ve been in a relationship with for some time and you’re staring at a breakup or another path in the face. I mean, those are real moments and real stakes.”
But Lachey assures there still “are stakes” in Perfect Match.
“People are there definitely trying to find love and trying to find their match,” he adds. “It doesn’t have the same feel as those other two shows. It’s a little more lighthearted, it’s a little more fun.”