Creating an Authentic Gay Reality Dating Show

Challenge

Providing a deep understanding of how to authentically represent and honor dating and relationships among gay men to help revamp a reality dating show.

Our client came to us hoping to get a sense of what dating actually looks like in the gay community in order to ensure a new show appropriately reflected their experience — and didn’t just replay harmful and worn out stereotypes. They also wanted to explore reactions to the previous version of the show, to understand what went right, what went wrong, and what the show could ideally look like.

Approach

We spoke with 3 distinct audiences (gay men, cis straight women, and LBT individuals) to ensure we not only understood dating in the gay community, but also how to create a reality dating show that would engage people outside the community as well. Everyone was pre-tasked with watching 1 episode of the previous show, before diving into conversations around the show… and what they’ll really want to see on TV. And let’s be real, nothing brings a group of participants together like talking about the drama on reality TV!

Impact

We created 5 Principles for Success when it comes to creating a gay reality dating show. Within those, we highlighted “non-negotiable actions” (aka the things they need to change regardless of what direction the show goes in) and “ideal actions” to show even greater care and attention towards showcasing an authentic but engaging gay dating experience on TV.