Life

This Show Blows The Lid Off Three-way Dating

It's been a minute since the reality dating show format of yore — which included such classics as Singled Out, Elimidate, and The Fifth Wheel — had '90s kids furiously masturbating under the covers with oversexed singles engaged in extended, casual hot tub foreplay. Now we have classy alternatives like The Bachelor! But one U.K. TV series aims to bring back the one-off format of reality dating shows with a three-way twist. The Threesome will feature a mixture of couples and singles set up on a date to discuss potentially having a threesome.

The cameras won't document the actual sex, and sex isn't even really the goal of the show, according to spokespeople at Channel 4, the network planning the series as a web exclusive. Rather, it's simply meant to document what the courting process is like when the participants are searching, and trying to determine compatibility for a threesome. Since each installment will feature a new group of three going on a date, the series will be produced as a documentary short, with each webisode lasting only a few minutes.

The application for participants bills the series as a "sexy, sophisticated insight into the world of threeway dating," and assures them that the cameras will simply capture footage of them going on a first date together, the same way any other dating show would.

A Channel 4 spokesperson told Metro that the show "will focus solely on the dating process and the conversations involved," as a means to open up discussion and awareness around threesome dating as a type of courtship that requires all the same chemistry and communication of two-way dating. Ultimately, it serves to underscore that three-way dating is not some shady, secretive embarrassment that only gets planned via Craigslist ads.

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