If you’re eagerly awaiting the next episode of The Boyfriend – Japan’s first-ever same sex dating show – you’re definitely not alone
The wholesome new Netflix series follows nine men who spend one month in a luxury beach house in the hopes of finding love, or even just friendship.
Six episodes into the 10-part series, critics are already hailing it for being a “groundbreaking” new reality show.
But if those weeks in between episodes are proving too long to wait, here are six other LGBTQ+ dating shows you can binge in between…
The Bi Life premiered in 2018 and follows a group of British bisexual, pansexual and questioning singles, who jet off to Barcelona to find love, all the while trading dating advice with their fellow hopefuls and getting a little help from host Courtney Act.
While the standard Love Island format doesn’t traditionally allow same-sex couples (with the show’s producers having infamous citied “logistical difficulties” in response to past criticism), The Bi Life opened up new possibilities for its contestants. However, there’s no prize fund to be won – only love!
The Bi Life is available to watch on Hayu.
It’s pretty unbelievable to think that it took until 2023 for us to have dating shows featuring exclusively lesbian, gay and bisexual singles in the UK.
Dannii Minogue plays Cupid in both formats of the show – one with only gay men, and the other featuring lesbian and bisexual women.
The concept sees couples meet for the first time and greet one another with a kiss, after which they’re encouraged to explore their connections with their matches, and other singletons within the masseria.
I Kissed A Boy and I Kissed A Girl are available to watch on BBC iPlayer.
You might remember back in 2022, the creators behind Love Is Blind announced their new show The Ultimatum: Marry Or Move On, hosted by married couple Nick and Vanessa Lachey.
In 2023, Netflix then announced an LGBTQ+ format – with exclusively women and non-binary people – called Queer Love, which tests if couples still wanted to get married after being presented with ultimatums. There’s also a second season on the way.
The Ultimatum: Queer Love is available to watch on Netflix.
This queer dating show poses a very important question: can a “daddy” and “himbo” fall in love?
That’s the premise behind the show, hosted by Stormy Daniels (!!!), which brings together two groups of gay men at very different phases in their life to see if they can find love. So far, there have been two seasons.
For the Love of DILFs is available to watch on Apple TV.
This American reality dating show premiered back in 2018 and was hosted by actor and *NSYNC singer Lance Bass.
Modelled after The Bachelor, a cast of 13 gay suitors live in a house together with one “Prince Charming” looking for love.
At the end of episodes, a ceremony is hosted where Prince Charming gives black ties to the men he wants to get to know more, while the rest are eliminated.
Finding Prince Charming is available to watch on Apple TV.
Coming Out For Love premiered in 2023 and, came from the mind of queer filmmaker and writer Nicole Conn.
It features 16 women living together and participating in “emotional and physical challenges” to compete for the heart of the “keymaster”, influencer and activist Amber Whittington.
Coming Out For Love is available to watch on YouTube.
Two new episodes of The Boyfriend will premiere on both 23 July and 30 July on Netflix.
