Hit dating show Perfect Match brings together very attractive singles from previous Netflix reality TV shows to a luxurious Panamanian resort. Their supposed end game? They’re supposedly trying to find the the one. Through a series of compatibility challenges and boardroom shenanigans causing a rotating cast of singles coming in and out of the house, the show’s stated intention is to help reality TV stars find their “perfect match”. However, skeptical fans are wondering: Is Perfect Match scripted, staged and fake?
The premise of throwing a bunch of clout-chasing reality TV stars into a house and expecting real, loving relationships to form was already farfetched. But the amount of drama Perfect Match’s first eight episodes gave viewers further suggests a lot of the storylines are manufactured. For fans who don’t want their bubble of Perfect Match believability bursted, turn back now.
Is Perfect Match Scripted? Proof Show Is Staged & Fake
Perfect Match stage managers listed in the show’s credits (Netflix).
First off, Netflix viewers need look no further than Perfect Match‘s credits to realize the show isn’t nearly as close to as genuinely real as a documentary. Not only does Perfect Match have several show producers and a director, but the show also has a lead stage manager, four stage managers, two line producers, a long list of supervising, segment, field, host and associate producers, production managers, editors, and many story (our emphasis added) producers. The show’s huge production team doesn’t just plan out the details of cast and outfits (except fashionista Ines Tazi picking her own clothing), but also plotlines of who matches with who, conflicts and more.
Perfect Match‘s reality TV story producers listed in show’s credits (Netflix).
The canned lines about everyone wanting to find their perfect match and that they need to stay on the show in order to do so also feels contrived. Also, why do some of the contestants feel a need to backstab and push people out if they already have a match? Nick Lachey didn’t offer and prize for the winning couple, so there’s no motivation that makes sense other than show producers wanting the drama.
Did Too Hot To Handle season 2 stars Chloe Veitch and Mitchell Eason actually want to date again? Or was that planned by casting and story producers? Mitchell led her on only to make it clear he didn’t want a serious relationship moments later. It all feels forced. Love Is Blind season 1’s Damian Powers ongoing “just friends” saga with THTH season 1’s Francesca Farago also feels like a very forced publicity relationship. Finally, show production bringing in Sexy Beasts star Kariselle Snow and The Circle season 1 champ Joey Sasso, an ex couple looking to date again, made it all the more suspicious. Perhaps the show production rigged the Perfect Match winners so the show could at least have one functional, long-lasting couple in the bunch.
Also, similar to the golden cups on Love Is Blind (also scripted and fake), plastic opaque glasses were used on Perfect Match. They’re used on set so that when editors mess with the continuity timeline of conversations, viewers won’t notice the changes in liquid amounts in cups. That didn’t stop some fans noticing an editing error during a compatibility challenge involving Francesca’s headband.
Perfect Match Cast Complain About Bad Edits & Accuse Others Of Being In Relationships While On Show
Chase and Kariselle on a date with the opaque plastic glasses used to hide continuity gaps due to show edits on a Perfect Match (Netflix).
The Circle season 2 star Savannah Palacio and Francesca both accused each other of being in relationships while on Perfect Match. And viewers already discovered casting picked Chase DeMoor to be on the show despite Francesca claiming he had a girlfriend at the time. Perfect Match seems more concerned with perfectly promoting Netflix’s other reality TV content more than actually trying to find people sincerely trying find their soulmate.
Francesca also claims the show’s producers and editors made her look bad and perhaps prodded her to say mean-girl things.
“I didn’t have any regrets after filming, but after hearing about the episodes, I had some regrets. The power of editing is real. I let a lot of external factors influence a lot of my decisions and my attitude. If I were to go back, I wouldn’t let that happen, and I would be my real self,” Francesca said to Harpers Bazaar Arabia.
Selling Tampa star Anne-Sophie Petit-Frere also claims she was made to look gullible in picking to match with Chase on the show.
I don’t compromise my authenticity for any reality show. What you see on #PerfectMatch is me making decisions based on many factors that did not make the edit ?
— Tampa Realtor: Anne-Sophie (@AnneSophiePF) February 15, 2023
Meanwhile, Savannah claims producers stirred the pot and edited the show, but otherwise it was real. She did complain on her TikTok that a lot of things from a date were cut out.
Bartise Claims Pefect Match Casting Told Him It Would Be A Spring Break Kind of Dating Show
Bartise Bowden (Love Is Blind season 3) recently dished on the behind the scenes setup of Perfect Match while on Zachary Reality’s podcast. He disclosed that cast members were flown to Panama and put in hotel rooms in essentially solitary confinement. He said casting told him it would be a fun “Spring Break” party kind of show, but when he got there it turned out to be about finding your perfect match. So some contestants signed up for a show thinking they were going on a party show, but instead they they were supposed to take finding their life-long partner seriously.
This factoid helps explain why none of the Perfect Match couples stayed together. Bartise said contestants had to take a bunch of surveys and questionnaires about their dating lives before going to the villa and that contestants waiting to join the cast in the villa had to wait in a hotel by themselves and only got 30 minutes of supervised phone time.
The Circle France‘s Ines in the show claims she wants to meet Love Is Blind season 2’s Shayne Jansen appears to be evidence of the show’s scripted dialogue. Filming for Perfect Match started at around the time Love Is Blind season 2 was released on Netflix in Feb. 2022. Unless Ines had early access or watched the season while on the show, it looks like producers had Ines say she wanted to meet Shayne to foreshadow them dating on the show.
So don’t let the word “reality” in reality TV fool you. The show’s production is more often than not manufactured from start to finish. Perfect Match is as fake as its Too Hot To Handle star Francesca Farago. Now, that doesn’t mean that some of the relationships and feelings aren’t to some extent real. But a lot of it is staged and scripted to weave an engaging enough narrative to entertain us.
What, did you think the average reality TV star is interesting enough to attract a large audience all on their own?
