Singled Out, Elimidate, and NEXT!
How Early 2000s Dating Shows Trained Us for the Chaos of Online Dating
Before there were Hinge voice prompts, strategic soft launches, and the art of pretending to be “chill,” we had Singled Out, NEXT, and Elimidate—a chaotic trinity of rejection, red flags, and reality TV gold. Wait, wasn’t there also that show Date My Mom? WTF were we watching? These weren’t just shows; they were a masterclass in modern dating long before we realized we needed one.
As a millennial, I spent way too many afternoons watching these dating spectacles, not realizing they were subtly preparing me for the emotionally unavailable men of my future. Let’s break down how these shows laid the groundwork for the absolute mess that is today’s dating scene.
1. NEXT! (aka the Original Dating App Swipe)
Long before Tinder let us reject people with a lazy thumb flick, NEXT gave contestants the power to dismiss someone within literal seconds of seeing them. A hopeful bachelor or bachelorette would step off the bus, and if the vibes were off? “NEXT!” No conversation, no explanation, just a brutal march back onto the bus in front of the whole cast. I can’t lie; I cringed every time. There’s something about someone getting the boot immediately that gave me second-hand embarrassment lol
This show was our first introduction to the reality of snap judgments in dating. The walk of shame back onto the bus was basically the IRL version of getting unmatched mid-conversation, except your rejection on a dating app usually happens in the privacy of your own phone. And just like modern dating, it was all vibes, no second chances.
2. Singled Out: Where the Algorithm First Played Us
Apps promise to use science to find you love. On the other hand, Singled Out had contestants eliminating potential matches based on arbitrary criteria like “guys who wear sandals” or “girls who don’t like pizza.” One by one, hopeful singles were cut from the lineup for often ridiculous reasons but eerily similar to how we swipe left today.
Singled Out was unhinged, but honestly, so is modern dating. If you’ve ever nixed someone because they had “Dog Dad” in their bio or said their favorite movie was Fight Club, congratulations, MTV prepared you for this.
3. Elimidate: The Birth of the Situationship
If Elimidate taught us anything, it’s that one person dating multiple people simultaneously while making them fight for attention wasn’t just a Bachelor thing; it was real life. Four contestants would go on a date with one person, slowly getting eliminated until only one remained. It was messy. It was dramatic. It was prime after-school watch. It was basically a foreshadowing of every single Raya love triangle that’s ever existed,
The worst part? Half the time, the person who “won” the date would get ghosted before the episode even aired. Tell me this isn’t just an overproduced version of texting someone for weeks only for them to disappear suddenly.
Final Thoughts: What Did We Learn?
If these dating shows taught us anything, it’s that:
Rejection is often brutal and immediate.
The algorithm will always play you.
“Winning” doesn’t mean a relationship will actually happen.
The only real difference between the dating shows we grew up with and today’s online dating culture is that rejection now happens quietly over text instead of on national television.
But let’s be honest—if NEXT were still on the air today, we’d all be watching. And some of us would be participating. Maybe I should start a petition to bring it back?!
LYLAS, Marche