I never watch dating shows, hardly any reality shows. When I curiously clicked on “Single’s Inferno” from Netflix’s “Recommended” after a friend’s recommendation, I knew it was the next show I would be watching. It is an entertaining show for anyone looking for a short but sweet binge.
“Single’s Inferno” is a Netflix Korean reality dating show where attractive singles need to find their pair on a deserted island, Inferno. The female contestants are Song Ji-a, Shin Ji-yeon, Kang Seo-yeon, An Yea-won, Kim Su-min, Seong Min-ji. The male contestants are Kim Hyun-joong, Oh Jin-taek, Moon Se-hun, Kim Jun-sik, Choi Si-hun, Cha Hyun-seung. The contestants need to keep their age and profession a secret while they are on the island, so they need to match with others based on personality. Contestants ranged from personal trainers and boxers to Youtubers and K-pop dancers. The show includes games where contestants compete for the advantage of going to Paradise, a high-end hotel where the matched couples go.
The first episode came out on Dec 18, 2021, finale on Jan 8, 2022. It had a one-season and eight-episode run, each episode is about an hour. The contestants consisted of six girls and six guys and not everyone had to leave Inferno with a partner.
One of my favorite parts of the show is the four hosts: Lee Da-hee, Hanhae, Hong Jin-kyung, and Kyuhyun. These four well-known Korean comedians, actors, and former K-pop idols react and analyze the contestants and their interactions. They were also watching the show for the first time and they always said what I was thinking. Their reactions, predictions, and comments during the cutaways were very relatable.
The twists in the show made it much more interesting, especially because the rules made it hard to avoid drama. For example, on the second day on Inferno, contestants were not allowed to choose the same person they chose the previous day. This means that even if someone thinks they found their match, they have to pick someone else to interact with. There were also multiple male contestants going for the same female which caused extra suspense. The drama in the show was very real, however, it did not seem scripted. The show is also very PG, so it is safe to watch with family; it encapsulates the conservative Korean culture.
Even though the show was very entertaining to binge, there were some parts I think could be improved. In the middle of the show, they added three new contestants to bring more variety, but I think that just made things more complicated and it was unnecessary. The new contestants didn’t have enough time to get to know anyone. Most of the original contestants were also already fixed on someone which made it hard for the newcomers to be considered.
The show would be better with more games because those were very entertaining. There was lots of sitting around, but that may have been intentional to give contestants more time to talk. The conversations also seemed slow because of all the closed caption reading (because it was in Korean). The time on the island (seven days) was also too short to establish a romantic relationship for the show.
Overall, it was a great watch and I would recommend “Single’s Inferno” to anyone. It does take more effort for non-Korean speakers, but that goes for any foreign TV. It is a short, light, and entertaining show with enough suspense to keep you clicking “Next Episode”.
