If you watch “The Bachelor,” in some small part, to soak in the befuddling spectacle of 24-year-old women weeping because they’re not engaged yet and will never be chosen… boy, has Netflix got a series tailor-made for you!
“The Ultimatum” is the streaming platform’s latest romance reality show, and, more specifically, it’s part of the Lachey cinematic universe. Like “Love Is Blind,” the show is hosted by the notoriously happily married B-list couple, Nick and Vanessa; also, like “Love Is Blind,” it forces its participants to drink out of matching metallic wine glasses, and it bills itself as an “experiment.”
The hypothesis: Taking time apart and seeing other people can help established couples decide if they’re ready to get married.
The experimental design: Six couples, in which one partner wants to get engaged and the other doesn’t, exchange partners for a three-week “trial marriage,” followed by a three-week “trial marriage” with their original partner.
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