The inhumanity of the Netflix show “Ultimatum.”
Just last week Netflix suffered a 35% drop in a post-earnings report. I would hate to suggest that this has any relation to the fact that “The Ultimatum: Marry or Move On” remains in their Top 10 list almost three weeks after its initial release date.
That being said, I cannot deny that this morally-bankrupt show has nothing to do with these plummeting ratings.
But what the heck is this show even about? Can it really be that bad? Yes. Actually, probably worse than you think.
The premise is going to make your mind spin. Six couples. One individual in each pairing has issued an ultimatum to the other: marry me or we are done. The catch? The alternative is not to be done, it is to go on a reality television show to decide whether or not we are “meant for each other.”
Hosted by Nick and Vanessa Lachey, who seem to be desperate to remain relevant, the show only begins from this premise. The subsequent ten episodes bring these six couples together, break them up, have them choose new partners to live with and see if after three weeks with a new partner and three weeks back with their ex changes their mind.
You read that correctly. This show actively breaks up couples, allows them to all but cheat on one another, and then after seeing if the “grass is greener on the other side,” they come together to make a decision.
This show is glorified cheating on an exponential level.
Though they started with six couples, after the first episode there are only four, as two of the couples get engaged right on the spot, unable to see their partner dating someone else.
What is crazier than this general premise is how the show is received as great television.
Buzzfeed wrote an article praising the eight things the show got right and wrong. Though it is easy to disagree with a variety of their proposals, the one that is most preposterous is the suggestion that the show is correct for encouraging people to cohabitate before marriage.
The article writes, “You don’t know if you can truly spend your life with someone without having a trial of living together.”
Aside from being desperately not Christian, this is also terrible advice. Numerous studies show that cohabitation actually relates to unhappy marriages, poor communication habits and a less likelihood of marriage.
Putting aside still the emotional manipulation and actual domestic abuse that took place during filming, I just don’t know what added value the show has to add to society. It is meaningless and trashy television that people watch to make themselves feel better.
“The Ultimatum” demonstrates what it is like to be in an unhealthy relationship and still promotes a terrible solution to dealing with that. It takes people in their most vulnerable state and puts them on film for entertainment.
If you are in a relationship and you have given an ultimatum that is so stern you have to go on a television show to force your significant other into an answer, then maybe you already have your answer.
Watching these couples watch each other fall for other people is one of the saddest and most painful television viewing experiences I could imagine. Giving bad relationship advice, actively exploiting people’s flawed relationships and promoting an unhealthy concept of marriage as something to be entered into because of an ultimatum all compile to make this show one of the worst you could spend your time viewing.
My recommendation is to spend your time watching literally anything else. In deciding to marry or move on, Netflix should move on from this show.
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