Tinder Swoops in to Save this Beloved Queer Dating Show… But There’s a Catch

After the BBC announced that they would not be renewing the Danii Minogue-hosted queer dating franchise I Kissed a Girl/Boy due to funding challenges, they may have a savior in dating app Tinder.

via: Queerty

Earlier this month, the BBC axed not one but two beloved queer dating shows, leaving fans feeling confused, betrayed, and worried about what this means for other, riskier LGBTQ+ shows.

Despite I Kissed a Girl‘s dedicated fan base—and despite the fact that the second season didn’t even have time to drop before the cancellation—the BBC pulled the plug on the Dannii Minogue-hosted sapphic dating show and its gay counterpart I Kissed a Boy.

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The network cited “funding challenges,” but it wasn’t hard to read between the lines. In a moment when mainstream homophobia is making a comeback, the loss of the show felt like a political decision rather than a monetary one. Especially when you consider that the sensationally popular Love Island also won’t be adding same-sex couples to the mix anytime soon due to “logistical difficulties.” Sure Jan!

But lo! There may still be hope for I Kissed a Girl. Last week, the (primarily straight, but open to anyone) dating app Tinder announced that they were in talks with the show’s creators about a potential spin-off for both shows. The catch? It won’t feature regular people. Instead, we’ll have to watch yet another show about celebrities getting it on.

“I know loads of you were gutted by the news that I Kissed a Girl and I Kissed a Boy had been axed,” explains a writer for the Sun in an IG reel. “The franchise has been offered a bit of a lifeline, courtesy of Tinder.”

Apparently the new series by the same creators would be made exclusively for Tinder, and would potentially be called It Started With a Kiss. But instead of gathering a bunch of lesbians in an Italian villa with Dannii Minogue guiding them toward eternal gay bliss, it would feature out-gay celebrities dishing about their love lives.

Sooooo basically not the same show at all. As you can imagine, commenters have mixed feelings about the revamp.

“This is promising,” wrote one commenter on a post announcing the switch, “but part of the charm was that participants were relatable/not celebrities.”

“Nobody wants to see celebrities doing this bruh,” wrote someone else, while one poster simply said: “please keep using normal people.”

The potential salvation of I Kissed a Girl in the new format is a double-edged sword for audiences hungry for LGBTQ+ reality content, but not satisfied with the same old celebrity-driven format. As the UK’s first-ever LGBTQ+ reality show, I Kissed a Girl instantly made waves while the similarly-messy (and very sapphic) The Ultimatum: Queer Love provided American viewers with drama for days.

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But as commenters are rightly highlighting, part of the excitement of these shows is the chance to see real queer people engaging in relatable, recognizable dating dynamics. We already can see gay celebs on TV in scripted formats. So why is it becoming increasingly hard to see normal LGBTQ+ people going on dates, breaking each others’ hearts, and getting the full Bachelorette treatment onsceen?

While it’s promising to see show creators find nontraditional avenues for getting their projects made, it’s still a grim sign that queer people need to align with big money brands just to get their ideas off the ground. And if it means being beholden to a celebrity-driven reality show model that takes away the charm of the original, it’s something of a pyrrhic victory—even if it does give us a new show to obsess over.