In an entertainment landscape where a new reality show that sounds ripped straight from 30 Rock premieres every month—MILF Manor, Labor of Love, and Dated and Related, to name a few—it’s shocking when one of those series actually sticks the landing. There’s the initial surprise of, “How in the world did this get made?” followed by astonishment, “How in the world did this get made so well?” Twin Love, a show about identical twins looking for love together, falls into the rare subsection of bonkers reality series that, against all odds, are also fun to watch.
Hosted by identical twin pro wrestlers Nikki and Brie Bella, this new Prime Video series invites a handful of single siblings to try to find love together. But there’s a catch: Each set of twins will be split up and placed into a separate house, where they’ll have to play the game away from their sibling alongside a bunch of similarly isolated twins. This pushes a lot of the contestants over the edge—for most of these twentysomethings, this is the first time they’ll be away from their twin, with no ability to contact them. Some can’t handle it and leave the show. Others, though, thrive under the newfound freedom.
This is the first facet to the “experiment” conducted by Twin Love. Twins, the Bella sisters assert, are known to have trouble dating because they’re already in something like a committed relationship with their sibling. They lose their virginities later in life. (Evidence, if you want to call it that: There is a virgin on this show.) They struggle to put effort into dating because all of the time they’d spend with a partner is usually spent with their sibling. So, Twin Love asks after making all these baseless claims, will these siblings have an easier chance at love if they’re forced apart?
OK, the facts are all a bit hazy here: There’s no actual scientific proof that this is how twins go about life. I’m also not a twin, so I can’t verify anything, but to vaguely classify all twins as homebodies with no game is a bit absurd. Yet if you stick with Twin Love, you’ll discover there may be some proof in the pudding—at least with these specific duos. The twins either make a clear decision about who they want to be with, or they simply follow their twin’s decisions. (Both houses watch a rundown of what’s going on at the other villa every week, so they can see what twinnie is up to.) As they’ll be dating other twins, they can bond over that unique experience.
Herein lies the other “experiment” Twin Love claims to be overseeing. Do twins have the same taste in partners? The answer to that, per Twin Love’s findings in heterosexual identical twins, is a resounding yes. More than half of the couples end up doubled up, with both twins ending up with the same sibling duo. Whether this is a coincidence, evidence that twins have similar types, or pure strategy is left for the viewer to decide.
Morgaine Smith and Rhiannon Smith.
Amazon StudiosStrategy is the most fascinating part of Twin Love. The game is like musical chairs: Each week, a new set of twins enters each house; then, the contestants in one of the houses have to pair up among the other members of their household. There’s always an odd man or woman out, and that person goes home—along with their twin in the other house, no matter if their twin is paired-up or not. When you go home, your twin also has to go home. In match-up ceremonies, contestants consider: If they send that guy home, his brother—the love of their sibling’s life—will also be sent home. And if they do that, over at the other house, there’s a good chance their sibling will be left matchless and be sent home too. But is each sibling in it for themselves, or for their twin too? (The prize for whoever sticks around the longest is left unclear in the first handful of episodes—that’s not as important as the social experiment aspect.)
Eventually, most of the lasting couples find it beneficial to stay with whomever their twin has picked—this way, they’ll most likely be safe every week. Albeit a good idea, this makes Twin Love a little bland, seeing as over half of the couples are already set in stone by the midpoint of the season. There are only so many folks left in the dating pool, and when newbies enter, there’s little chance for them to survive in a household full of taken folks.
The other gripe to be had with Twin Love: It can be quite confusing to understand which house is which and which twin is in which house. The twins are identical, after all, and only a few of them have identifiable features like different hairstyles. Frankly, I still don’t know who was in which house after watching the season. An easy way around this, should Twin Love continue for another season, would be to assign different color palettes for each house to wear, like Survivor. The Garden House could all wear blues and greens and purples, while the Vista House wears reds and yellows and oranges.
Overall, yes, Twin Love has a bonkers premise. Yes, the hilarity is there. In one minigame to earn a reward, for example, the couples must rub objects over each other’s partners (ice cubes, wet noodles, feathers) while their twin stands on the other side of a wall and identifies the item based just on their sibling’s yelps. Still, by separating the siblings instead of forcing them to seduce alongside each other, Twin Love eliminates the awkward factor of siblings trying to seduce mates together. Kooky, harmless, and fun, Twin Love has what it takes to be the next reality show on your watchlist.
