From Couple to Throuple ⭐

"If you were given the chance at non-monogamy in paradise, what would you say?"

I received many, many DMs and emails asking me to write about From Couple to Throuple, a new, somewhat-queer dating show, the first three episodes of which are currently streaming on Peacock. I’m bummed to report that this show is simply not very fun. Unlike the season of MTV’s Are You the One? where everyone was bisexual, there are no big, chaotic personalities on Couple to Throuple. In three long episodes, no one says anything funny or screenshot-worthy. And even though each of the couples express that dating a third person might destroy their relationship, the stakes feel strangely non-existent.

from left to right: Dylan and Lauren, Brittne and Sean, Rehman and Ashmal, and Wilder and Corey.

The couples are: Dylan and Lauren, Brittne and Sean, Rehman and Ashmal, and Wilder and Corey. They all look like they could be siblings, except Brittne and Sean. All have some experience with group sex and dating outside their relationship, with the exception again being Brittne and Sean, who are here because they always get propositioned for threesomes and are intrigued enough to maybe give it a whirl, but it has to be a woman and she has to wear cool clothes. I found myself cheering for Wilder and Corey, but mostly feeling super protective of Corey—Wilder has a history of violating her boundaries around other women and she cries too much for someone who’s having a good time. Of all the couples, Dylan and Lauren are perhaps the most experienced with non-monogamy, but they’re trying so hard to be fun and sexy that their interactions with the singles often feel forced. Rehman and Ashmal are corporate gays from Chicago— thus far, a lot of their story arc is Rehman learning how to talk about his feelings instead of storming away and pouting when Ashmal is tongued and licked by Jonathan, their hunky date.

The couples are gathered in a tropical villa, where they mix and mingle with 13 single, seasoned non-monogamists, including Peach, whose personal definition of bisexuality includes having a boyfriend and a girlfriend at the same time. There’s also Darrien from San Diego and Mia, who has Mother God energy. Sanu has been poly for “half a decade,“ which is an extremely 24-year-old way of saying five years. Her parents are also poly, but sadly they’re not on the show. Chris has a prodigious bulge that the camera will not stop zooming in on. Jonathan is a high-grade cutie and too good for this mortal fray. Becca and her lips give it a spin with Dylan and Lauren, but get the cold shoulder when Dylan becomes jealous of her connection with his wife.

the sheer amount of Fashion Nova on this show will burn your eyes

It’s glaring that the singles who are visibly queer and/or gender non-conforming are ignored, both by the couples and the camera. There’s an unspoken assumption that female sexuality is loose and fungible, while male sexuality is stable and fixed. Brittne is visibly uncomfortable when a date asks if she identifies as bisexual or queer (neither, she’s straight) and it’s genuinely painful to watch her try to date another woman, even for just a few days. It’s simply off the table that any of these couples would date a dude—except Rehman and Ashmal, who are already two dudes dating. Not to keep dredging up bisexual Are You the One?, but I couldn’t help but feel that this show would be so much more fun if everyone was queer. The moments when Wilder, Dylan, and Sean assert their heterosexuality feel exhausting—like, grow up and stop expecting your partner to bang another girl when you won’t even consider the possibility of banging another dude.

The only person consistently having fun here is the host, Scott Evans. This man was born to helm a non-monogamous dating show. He frequently divulges to the cast members that he, too, has had “open lifestyle experiences.” There’s also a relationship expert and sexologist named Shamyra Howard who, in classic dating show “therapist“ fashion, pops in to facilitate dubious group counseling sessions on the beach. But whereas bisexual Are You the One? pushed the concept of therapy to absurdity with obstacle courses and blindfolded trust falls, Shamyra’s sessions are too sincere and vague to be interesting. I never felt like I learned anything new about the couples, let alone their motivations for dating outside the relationship.

From Couple to Throuple is not trying to do Good Representation™ as it concerns “open lifestyle experiences” and offers a pretty bleak vision of polyamory, ethical non-monogamy, open relationships, etc. Disposability is the name of the game here, and the singles are judged by how well they fit into the existing couple (in other words, they don’t try to have difficult conversations or otherwise threaten the relationship). For all of Shamyra’s counseling around jealousy, it’s a reality dating show and thus designed to inculcate bad vibes and hurt feelings. After a few days of dating and various levels of physical intimacy in a conspicuously large bed, all the couples and singles gather for the Swap or Stay Ceremony. The couples decide to keep dating their single or move on to someone new, and while the singles also get a say in who they want to date, the couples are very much calling the shots. In other words, these sluts are not ethical.

Will I watch the next three episodes? Probably, yes.