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Haley Kershaw, Madeline Gibb, Annika Lewis

ENG 201H

25 April 2023

The Connections Between Romantic Reality TV and Romantic/Sexual Life Satisfaction

Abstract

Romantic reality TV is a prevalent and popular source of media in today’s society.

Secondary research has shown that, over time, romantic reality TV has had an increasingly

substantial impact on viewers’ romantic and sexual relationships in a multitude of ways,

including emotional intimacy, sexual preferences, desire, and general dating behavior. In order to

evaluate the extent to which romantic reality TV impacts these factors and behavior in regard to

their own sexuality and romantic relationships, we conducted a survey through AllCounted.com

with the intent to find connections between the two.

In our survey, we first asked viewers demographic questions to establish factors that may

have influenced their answers. We then asked viewers to rate their satisfaction with their

romantic/sexual lives both before and after watching romantic reality TV as to establish a point

for comparison for analysis. Though we predicted there would be a negative correlation between

watching romantic reality TV and romantic/sexual life satisfaction, our results demonstrated that

there may be neutral/positive connections between the two. This opposition to our hypothesis

may have been caused by various factors both within and outside our control, but all in all, our

primary research is possible proof that some connections exist between romantic/sexual

satisfaction and watching romantic reality TV, but there also may not be a substantial relationship

between the two.

Key Words: Romantic Reality TV, Romance, Sex, Sexual Activity, Satisfaction
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Section 1: Introduction and Purpose

Reality TV is one of the many genres found in today’s media. According to Collins

Dictionary, “Reality TV is a type of television programming that aims to show how ordinary

people behave in everyday life, or in situations, often created by the program makers, which are

intended to represent everyday life” (“Reality”). Within the reality TV world, there is cooking,

building, designing, and even surviving. But, most importantly, there is romance. According to

Amy Daire at Insider, romantic reality TV began in 1965 when the television network, ABC,

aired “The Dating Game” (Daire). The show’s premise was that one woman would be separated

from three potential matches by a wall. The woman would then base her decision on the men’s

voices and their answers to questions. Since “The Dating Game”, romantic reality TV has

spiraled from simple matchmaking to shows filled with sex, drama, and money.

Currently, there are about 72 romantic reality TV shows (“Dating”). IMDb lists the top 3

romantic reality TV shows as “Love Is Blind”, “Love Island”, and “Too Hot To Handle” (“Top”).

Netflix describes “Love Is Blind” as a social experiment “where single men and women look for

love and get engaged, all before meeting in person” (“Love Is”). “Love Island” is about a group

of single people searching for love being placed in a beautiful villa where they must complete

tasks, couple off, and get voted out by the public each week (“Love Island”). And as explained

by IMDb, “Too Hot To Handle” is about singles meeting, mingling, and completing challenges to

win $100,000, but the twist is that they can’t have sex (“Too”). These three top romantic reality

TV shows are just brief examples of the romantic reality TV shows broadcasted around the

world.

Society continues to consume reality TV, romantic or otherwise, knowing it’s not

necessarily real or even believable. Why? As humans, we like to watch television as a way of
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entertainment, escaping our own reality, and living out our wildest fantasies. If people can pick

up culinary skills from cooking shows like “Top Chef” and home decorating tips from “Fixer

Upper”, imagine all the deeper ways romantic reality TV shows are impacting the way we act

and think. So, the purpose of our research is to discover if any connections exist between

romantic reality TV that influence viewer’s behavior or feelings about their own sexuality and

relationships. We aim for our research to reach people who watch romantic reality TV because

the data we collect could shed light on the outside forces that may influence viewer

self-satisfaction. It would be ideal if everyone maintained full control of their confidence in their

romantic/sexual life, but romantic reality TV may be an unforeseen, persuasive force that shapes

the way viewers act and feel.

Section 2: Literature Review

A multitude of factors have been found to influence the ways in which people interact

with one another romantically and sexually:

The first factor found is that romantic reality TV focuses heavily on physicality rather

than emotions, which fosters spontaneous sexual relationships and sexual behavior. Two articles

have demonstrated this point: the first, “Reality Television Shows Focusing on Sexual

Relationships are Associated with College Students Engaging in One-Night Stands,” was written

by Joshua Fogel and Lyudmila Kovalenko. They conducted a study on the sexual permissiveness

of college students after watching reality TV (dating or sexual) and highlighted the fact that

romantic reality TV often portrays adventurous and outgoing sexual relationships as rewarding.

It also found that many shows choose to focus more on physical aspects of sex rather than

emotional intimacy (Fogel and Kovalenko 321).

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Likewise, the second article, “The Content of Reality Dating shows and Viewer

Perceptions of Dating,” by Amber L. Ferris, Sandi W. Smith, Bradley S. Greenberg, and Stacey

L. Smith, displayed the same emphasis on sex and its importance in reality dating shows. Similar

to Fogel and Kovalenko, Ferris and their team conducted a study to see how the content of reality

dating shows related to actual dating attitudes, preferred date characteristics, and dating

behaviors of young adults who watched this genre (Ferris et al. 490). Within the content analysis,

three main dating attitudes were discovered: men are sex-driven, dating is a game, and women

are sexual objects (Ferris et al. 492). Additionally, many reality dating shows focused on

physical appearance and personality being the most important characteristics in choosing a

date/partner (Ferris et al. 492).

To illustrate this trend of reality TV portraying physicality as more valuable than an

emotional connection, Fogel and Kovalenko specifically tested for the different behavioral

impacts of viewing purely sexual reality TV versus romantic dating reality TV. They utilized a

theory that the type of media content people watch is motivated based on individual needs and

desires. Fogel and Kovalenko established at the beginning of the article that, in regards to

romantic and sexual shows, “. . . those who watched reality television shows had greater mean

scores on the romance basic need [test] than those who did not watch any reality television

shows.” (Fogel and Kovalenko 322). This demonstrates that people seek out sexual or romantic

reality TV shows to satisfy their own romantic demands. As these needs change and different

people watch romantic reality TV for different reasons, this genre of media adapts to match the

demand.

This leads into the second factor: Though trends of who watches and participates in

romantic reality TV constantly evolves, there is still a lack of diversity in many of the shows.
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Ferris and their co-researchers’ content analysis identified that of the show participants they

analyzed, 343 were female, 280 were male, and the most frequented race was White (81%),

Black being the second (14%) (Ferris et al. 497). Fogel and Kovalenko also noticed that most

contestants on romantic reality TV were white. Likewise, the article, “Choosing Love? Tensions

and Transformation of Modern Marriage in Married at First Sight” by Lara McKenzie and Laura

Dales mentions this disparity as well. McKenzie and Dales explain that most reality dating

shows produced, including “Married at First Sight”, focus only on young, white, middle class,

monogamous, and heterosexual couples (McKenzie and Dales 860).

McKenzie and Dales further confirmed the factor that romantic reality TV has changed

since its beginning by researching the development of romantic reality TV, focusing on the

Australian romantic reality show, “Married at First Sight.” The show follows a transformative

model, not a competitive model like other modern reality dating shows, most notably “The

Bachelor” (Mckenzie and Dales 863). Interestingly, compared to the article referenced before by

Ferris and their coworkers, this strays away from the typical reality dating show theme that

dating is a game. Mckenzie and Dales also note that over time, the purpose of reality dating

shows has changed to regulating a relationship, not to follow and document it as the genre

originally intended to do (McKenzie and Dales 859). They concluded this through their

observation that instead of the goal being marriage, the show starts out with pairing a couple that

has never met to be married, and then follows their journey to build a solid relationship, which is

the opposite of many romantic reality TV shows’ script.

Given these factors mentioned above, viewers of romantic reality TV are affected in a

number of ways. However, before going forward, it’s essential to mention an important

dependent variable: all findings follow the trend that the more an individual views romantic
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reality TV and the more they perceive the shows with high levels of realism, the more likely they

are to endorse potential effects. For example, Fogel and Kovalenko’s study found that, “...those

who watched reality television sexual relationship shows as compared to those who did not had

greater odds to engage in one-night stands,” (Fogel and Kovalenko 321). The students were also

more likely to be sexually permissive and active after viewing said shows, regardless of if there

is little to no commitment between the individuals. However, it was discovered that if the shows

the students watched focused on emotional intimacy rather than just sex, the students were less

likely to increase the amount of one-night stands they engage in (Fogel and Kovalenko 322).

This demonstrates that reality TV shows are more likely to boost sexual permissiveness if the

focus of the show is on sex, rather than dating.

These results coincide with the statement by Ferris and their colleagues:

The more women viewed sexual programming, the more they were likely to believe that

sex should come earlier in a relationship . . . men who were more frequent viewers of

sexually oriented television shows believed that they should have a variety of sexual acts

within a relationship. (Ferris et al. 495)

Additionally, Ferris and their team’s survey results showed that viewers were more likely to

express the three dating attitudes: men are sex-driven, dating is a game, and women are sexual

objects (Ferris et al. 505). Men were also shown to endorse these attitudes more than women

(Ferris et al. 505).

Sexual conversation in these shows affected viewers as well. According to Ferris and

their fellow researchers, “. . . those who viewed sexual talk regarding female sexual activity on

television as being realistic also were more likely to believe that their female peers were sexually

active” (Ferris et al. 495). In regard to dating characteristics and behaviors, Ferris’ study found
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two different results. After the survey, no relationship was discovered between dating

characteristics highlighted in the show and real life dating characteristic preferences as the

results were infrequent (Ferris et al. 506). However, only two dating behaviors were positively

connected to viewing more reality dating shows. These were drinking alcohol and getting into a

hot tub/spa early in the relationship (Ferris et al. 506).

Finally, the lack of diversity that Mackenzie and Dales found influenced viewer

perceptions by indicating to viewers that what is portrayed on screen is the “correct” type of

coupling (McKenzie and Dales 862). As a result, the on-screen monotonous couples could

impact what viewers regard as reality when it comes to the dating world. Viewers may lose

confidence in themselves if they don’t look the “part.” They may also become closed-minded

towards interracial relationships, people of different sexualities, gender identities, etc.

Section 3: Research Question and Hypothesis

To sum it up, these pieces of literature support that romantic reality TV can have an

impact on a person’s sexuality and their romantic relationships. Viewing romantic reality TV

increases one-night stands, sexual permissiveness, and pressure on having sex early/more sexual

interactions in a relationship (Fogel and Kovalenko 321). The dating attitudes that men are

sex-driven, women are sexual objects, and that dating is a game, is greatly imitated by viewers

(Ferris et al. 505). Dating behaviors such as drinking alcohol and getting into a hot tub/spa early

in the relationship increase (Ferris et al. 506). And lastly, there is an overall lack of diversity in

many romantic reality TV shows. Altogether, the romantic/sexual life of a person is shown by

these scholarly articles to be affected by watching romantic reality TV.

Based on what we have found in prior research, we wish to focus our research on

answering the question, “What are the connections between romantic reality TV and
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romantic/sexual life satisfaction?” We hypothesize that after watching romantic reality TV,

people could generally feel more dissatisfied with their current romantic/sexual life. We predict

this result because, knowing that the majority of romantic reality TV shows heavily concentrate

on finding love or having sexual relationships, we believe people judge their romantic/sexual

lives if they don’t match the “happy endings” portrayed in the shows. For this same reason, we

also expect that most people could feel that they need to be more sexually active than they

currently are after witnessing the positive reinforcement of outgoing and fast-paced sexual

relationships in romantic reality TV. Additionally, we hypothesize that minorities could feel like

they aren’t fully represented by the characters they see in romantic reality TV, which could in

turn result in a sense of dissatisfaction. We anticipate this finding because most people cast in

these shows have ideal or perfect bodies, are majorly heterosexual and white, are mono-racial

couples, and are typically socially powerful and popular, such as social media influencers.

Section 4: Methods

We crafted our survey with the intent to answer the research question, “What are the

connections between romantic reality TV and romantic/sexual life satisfaction?” The first survey

questions we designed were focused on demographics (see questions 1-4 in Appendix A). We

chose to include ethnicity among the other demographics of age, gender, and sexual orientation

because it could have an influence on whether or not the participants see themselves represented

in romantic Reality TV. For example, we wanted to find out if, after watching romantic reality

TV, a young, bisexual, Hispanic woman would feel different about her romantic/life satisfaction

than an older, asexual, black man would. The next questions we created asked about relationship

status, satisfaction with said status, and sexual activity (see questions 5-7 in Appendix A). We

thought it was important to know what the participants thought about their current
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romantic/sexual lives before the variable of romantic reality TV was added to the equation.

Additionally, we chose to ask about both romance and sex because a person could feel satisfied

with their romantic life but not the sex in their life, and vice versa.

Following this, we added a question asking how much romantic reality TV our

participant’s watch each week, to gather information on how invested they are in these types of

shows (see question 8 in Appendix A). We predicted that the amount of time spent watching

reality TV would have a differing impact on their levels of romantic/sexual life satisfaction. We

then devised a series of questions that would answer our main research question, asking how

satisfied the participants were in three departments after watching romantic reality TV: romantic

life, sexual life, and amount of sexual activity (see questions 9-11 in Appendix A). Finally, the

last two questions we developed rounded out our survey by asking whether or not participants

felt different aspects of themselves were represented in romantic reality TV, and how much of

the content in reality TV they believe to be true (see questions 12-13 in Appendix A). It was

necessary to include a question that would examine how much the participants related to and felt

supported by romantic reality TV, as well as how much they believe in the truth of its reality,

because these factors could influence the extent to which viewer satisfaction is impacted.

Our team created our survey by using the resource, AllCounted.com. This website is a

free, online survey maker with numerous tools to design your own personal survey, campaign it,

share it, and analyze it. To begin, we first created a survey in the program under advanced mode

and filled out the basics, like the title and introduction. In the introduction, we also provided our

contact information and a survey consent form. Then, we entered the questions mentioned above.

To organize these questions, we made three different sections: demographic questions, individual

questions, and “After watching romantic reality TV…” questions. We designed most of the
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questions to have multiple-choice answers, including a couple that could have more than one

answer. Additionally, four of the multiple choice questions had an option to pick “other”, which

would allow the surveyor to write an answer not listed. The other questions were Likert scale

questions, usually with a dissatisfaction/satisfaction or frequency scale. Only one question was a

yes or no question. Once all of the questions were put in, we campaigned the survey. To do this,

we created a campaign name, set when the survey would end, and restricted the participants to

one response per browser. Finally, we double checked the information in our survey and then

published it.

After the survey was published, we distributed it by creating a web link on

AllCounted.com (Kershaw et al.). Using the web link, we spread awareness about the survey

through multiple platforms. First, we posted the survey on our Instagram and Facebook

platforms. On Instagram, we designed a traditional post with a summary of the survey and a link.

We also created an Instagram story about our traditional post and survey. On Facebook, Haley

Kershaw’s mom posted the survey link with a simple explanation of the project. We messaged

the survey link to family, friends, and clubs, like FLOC and Faith in Femininity. We also shared

the survey with our friends in-person as we saw them. Finally, we emailed Zach Evans, the

Honors Program Coordinator, to send out the survey to all honors students through email. Zach

Evans performed our request four days after we published the survey. Eight days after the survey

went live, we reposted the survey link on Instagram to possibly get more surveyors who

might’ve missed it before. We also joined the romantic reality TV show Facebook group, Love is

Blind & Other NETFLIX Reality Shows, and posted the survey to the Facebook group. We

closed the survey ten days after we published it.

Section 5: Findings
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Survey questions 1-4 asked the participants about their demographics. The majority of

the participants were young adults: of the 104 total participants, 21.15% were ages 0-18, 67.31%

were 19-29, 2.88% were 30-50, and 8.65% were 50+. In regard to gender, 75.96% of participants

identified as Female, 15.38% of participants identified as Male, 6.73% identified as Non-Binary,

and 0.9% identified as Transgender or Gender-Fluid. When asked about sexual orientation, the

results were fairly evenly split between people who identify as heterosexual and LGBTQ+:

53.85% of participants identified as Straight, 23.08% identified as Bisexual, 7.69% identified as

Gay, 5.77% identified as Queer, 5.77% identified as Pansexual, 0.9% identified as Asexual, and

2.88% identified as Other. The last demographic question asked the participants about ethnicity,

of which 90.38% identified as White/Caucasian, 2.88% identified as Black/African American,

2.88% identified as Hispanic, 0.96% identified as Asian/Pacific Islander, 2.88% identified as

Other, and 0% identified as American Indian/Alaskan.

In the individual questions section of the survey, questions 5-8 were posed. Question 5

asked about the participant’s relationship status and had the option to check all that applied to

them. 6.73% of participants were Married, 1.92% were Widowed, 0.96% were Separated, 5.77%

were Divorced, 30.77% were Monogamous, 0% were in an Open Relationship, 0% were

Polyamorous, 10.58% were Long-Distance, 2.88% were Friends With Benefits, 51.92% were

Single, and 4.81% were Other. Question 6 asked if the participant was sexually active and

54.81% answered Yes, while 45.19% answered No. Question 7 used a Likert scale of

satisfaction, so its data is shown in Table 1 below. Question 8 gathered data about how often

participants watch romantic reality TV per week on average. Of those results, 52.88% said less

than 1 hour, 34.62% said 1-2 hours, 8.65% said 3-4 hours, and 3.85% said 5+ hours.
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Table 1 below displays the answers to questions 7, 9, 10, and 11. Each of these questions

asked the participant to answer using a Likert scale of satisfaction. The questions in Table 1 are

the column headers at the top, while the levels of satisfaction are the row headers along the left.

Each answer is a percentage of the number of people who choose that level of satisfaction for

that question.

Table 1: Satisfaction Likert Scale Answers

Answered: 104,
(% among all responses)

7. How satisfied 9. How satisfied 10. How 11. How satisfied

are you with are you with satisfied are you are you with
your relationship your romantic with your sexual your amount of
status in life (the romance life? sexual activity?
general? in your life)?

Strongly 0% 0% 1.92% 3.85%

Dissatisfied

Dissatisfied 11.54% 15.38% 13.46% 14.42%

Somewhat 13.46% 14.42% 10.58% 11.54%

Dissatisfied

Neutral 14.42% 15.38% 24.04% 16.35%

Somewhat 9.62% 7.69% 4.81% 15.38%

Satisfied

Satisfied 18.27% 19.23% 20.19% 17.31%

Strongly 32.69% 27.88% 25% 21.15%

Satisfied

Question 12 asked the participant what areas they felt like romantic reality TV did not

represent them. The participants could check all areas that applied to them. 37.78% picked Age,

25.56% Gender, 48.89% Sexual Orientation, 20% Race/Ethnicity, and 61.11% picked Body

Type. Question 13 asked participants how often they thought romantic reality TV reflected actual
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reality. Participants could answer question 13 using a frequency Likert scale. 11.54% answered

Never, 57.69% Rarely, 23.08% Sometimes, 5.77% Often, and 1.92% answered Always.

Section 6: Analysis

Overall, our survey ended with several interesting results. Some of these significant

findings include the following. First, the most common participant was between 19-29 years old,

Female, Straight, and White/Caucasian. Following this, they were mostly Single or

Monogamous, were mostly in the Satisfied category in regard to their relationship status in

general, and watched less than an hour of romantic reality TV per week. There was a close tie

between whether or not participants were sexually active, but the majority ended up answering

yes. Participants felt their body type was the least represented in romantic reality TV and that

these shows rarely reflect actual reality. The most surprising and important results were that the

participants’ level of satisfaction with their romantic life, sexual life, and amount of sexual

activity after watching romantic reality TV were ultimately in the levels of satisfied. Given these

unexpected findings, we have further examined and questioned this data, as well as other factors,

below.

As previously mentioned, the most significant survey result—most respondents answered

that they were satisfied with their sexual/romantic lives after watching romantic reality

TV—contradicted our hypothesis. We originally predicted that people may compare their

romantic/sexual lives to the shiny and exciting ones they see on TV and find their own lacking,

but this anticipation was not supported by the data. To explain this unforeseen data, it is

important to compare the participant’s levels of satisfaction after watching romantic reality TV

with their reported levels of satisfaction in their romantic life before we asked them about reality
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TV. Predominantly, if people were satisfied with their romantic lives before watching romantic

reality TV, they generally remained satisfied, and vice versa.

For example, of the 60.58% of total participants who answered “somewhat” to “strongly

satisfied” with their romantic life before watching romantic reality TV, 82.54% remained

satisfied after watching romantic reality TV. The remaining 17.46% mainly answered within the

“neutral” range, but the few outliers who reported dissatisfaction suggest that a small population

might actually experience substantial negative change in their levels of satisfaction from

watching romantic reality TV like we hypothesized. This could be because the relationships they

see on TV spark jealousy, insecurity, or a number of other negative feelings attached to their

romantic/sexual lives.

Yet, the fact that this group of people makes up such a small percentage of participants

suggests romantic reality TV does not have this relationship with most people. Similar to this

observation, of the 25% of total participants who answered they were “somewhat” to “strongly

dissatisfied” with their romantic life before watching romantic reality TV, 76.92% remained

dissatisfied after watching romantic reality TV. Again, the remaining 23.07% reported

predominantly “neutral satisfaction” and the outliers who answered in the “satisfied” range

demonstrate that while some people may feel a change in satisfaction from watching romantic

reality TV, it does not appear to be likely for most.

These are important observations because they suggest that, overall, romantic reality TV

might not have a big influence on people’s romantic/sexual satisfaction; most people may simply

view reality TV as a lighthearted form of entertainment that doesn’t alter their satisfaction by

pointing out what they are confident or insecure about. Another possibility could be that people

may view the same romantic reality TV shows in a completely different light, depending on if
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they were satisfied or dissatisfied with their romantic lives before viewing the show. A person

who is happy with the romance in their life may see their happiness reflected in reality TV, while

a person who is unhappy with the romance in their life may see their unhappiness reflected in the

show. Either way, both explanations potentially indicate that romantic/sexual life satisfaction is

less impacted by romantic reality TV and more by the preconceived levels of fulfillment people

feel in their romantic and sex lives.

Figure 1 above compares the satisfaction participants felt in their romantic lives with the

satisfaction they felt in their sexual lives after watching romantic reality TV. The data in the

display was curated from the percentages of the respondent’s reported levels of satisfaction in
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three categories: romantic life, sexual life, and amount of sexual activity. Although examining a

single portion of the figure by itself could cause one category to appear to be rated higher in

satisfaction than another, the data actually remains fairly consistent across each category of

satisfaction. This can be clearly observed when the percentages of those who reported “neutral”

to “strong satisfaction” are combined in all three categories (In Romantic Satisfaction, a

combined total of 70.18% reported levels of “neutral” to “strong satisfaction”; In Sexual

Satisfaction, this number was 74.04%, and in Satisfaction with Amount of Sexual Activity it was

70.19%). This implies that neither the romantic nor sexual aspects of reality TV have more or

less influence over a person’s satisfaction.

Yet there is one trend in the data that conflicts with this inference. Although most

respondents in Figure 1 answered that they were in the “neutral” to “satisfied” range with their

romantic/sexual lives, the categories of Sexual Satisfaction and Satisfaction with Amount of

Sexual Activity received responses for “strongly dissatisfied,” while Romantic Satisfaction did

not (1.92% in the Sexual Satisfaction category and 3.85% in the Satisfaction with Amount of

Sexual Activity category). This could mean that some people feel the strongest sense of

dissatisfaction in their sexual lives—especially their amount of sexual activity—rather than in

their romantic lives when they compare them to the sex they see on reality TV.

If true, this interpretation could match our hypothesis that people may feel the need to be

more sexually active after witnessing rewarding and fast-paced sexual relationships in romantic

reality TV. Yet, the “strongly dissatisfied” answers might also mean that some people wish they

were having less sex, or just that their sex lives were more rewarding in general (whether or not

it relates to the type or amount of sex they are having). The fact is that there is not enough

information about which sexual variables motivated those who chose “strongly dissatisfied” to
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answer as they did. Regardless, to point out the small percentage of participants who were

“strongly dissatisfied” may lead to inaccurate analysis of the data, especially given that the

percentages of the respondents who answered “somewhat dissatisfied” and “dissatisfied” were

relatively even across the three categories. If accurate, this could disprove the notion that there is

a tendency for people to feel the most dissatisfaction in their sexual lives.

This line of reasoning is supported by the article, “Temptation Island, The Bachelor, Joe

Millionaire: A Prospective Cohort Study on the Role of Romantically Themed Reality Television

in Adolescents' Sexual Development” by professors Laura Vandenbosch and Steven Eggermont

from the University of Leuven. While the authors expected to find that the sexual attitudes of

adolescents would be impacted by watching romantic reality TV, it was instead found that

watching these shows had little to no effect on these attitudes one year later (Vandenbosch and

Eggermont 577). These results closely relate to the data we collected in our survey. The authors

explained that this result could have been because “...exposure to one sexually oriented genre is

not sufficient to produce a notable influence on adolescents’ attitudes.” (Vandenbosch and

Eggermont 577). Similarly, this lack of influence could be an explanation for why our study did

not discover a significant difference in the satisfaction levels between romance, sexual activity,

and amount of sex after watching romantic reality TV.

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Figure 2 above compares the romantic life satisfaction levels of those that watch less than

one hour of romantic reality TV weekly to that of the participants that watch more than one hour

per week. According to the data, those who watch more than one hour a week were overall more

satisfied than those who watch less than 1 hour a week. For instance, of those who answered

“strongly satisfied”, 32.65% were participants who watched more than 1 hour, while only

23.64% were participants who watched less than 1 hour. For those who answered “dissatisfied”,

only 12.24% were participants who watched more than 1 hour, while 18.18% were participants

who watched less than 1 hour. This suggests that watching romantic reality TV in a higher

quantity may increase a person’s romantic life satisfaction.

These results are interesting because our prediction, as well as many other studies,

suspected that the more time a person spends watching romantic reality TV, the greater the
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negative influence will be. For example, in a study conducted by Paulina Swiatkowski at the

University of Arizona, regarding the relationship between the amount of reality TV watched and

relational quality, Swiatkowski concludes that the more negative behavior within a relationship

over time, the lower the relational quality (Swiatkowski 67). Swiatkowski's analysis further

explains that:

…a person may adapt his or her expectations and beliefs for how relationships should

develop over time [based on reality TV] and, as those beliefs fail to manifest in actual,

real world interactions, the person’s reports of relationship satisfaction and commitment

would be lower (Swiatkowski 69).

Thus, the study indicated that the more negative behavior witnessed on TV, the more of a

negative influence it has over viewers. However, as seen in Figure 2, our study shows that

romantic satisfaction may actually increase when watching romantic reality TV.

Various factors could be responsible for our results. It is possible that viewers who watch

romantic reality TV, especially in great amounts, see the toxic relationships illustrated in the

shows and as Swiatkowski suggests, realize they are actually happy with their quality of romance

in life after comparing it to any toxicity that appears in romantic reality TV.

Overall, Figure 2 suggests that there is a positive connection between watching more

romantic reality TV weekly and higher romantic life satisfaction. Nevertheless, there are multiple

different variables that could have influenced our data differently than other studies, meaning

that in order to have a more complete answer, further testing would need to be done.
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Figure 3 above compares the level of sexual life satisfaction between participants who

watch less than 1 hour of romantic reality TV per week and those who watch more than 1 hour

per week. The data illustrated in this display was created by filtering to the weekly average

watch time of less than 1 hour, and then the combination of 1-2 hours, 3-4 hours, and 5+ hours.

A significant observation of this data is that those who watched more than 1 hour of romantic

reality TV per week were more “strongly satisfied” (34.69%) than those who watched less than 1

hour of romantic reality TV (16.36%). On the other hand, those who watch more than 1 hour of

romantic reality TV per week were less “dissatisfied” (8.16%) than those who watch less than 1

hour of romantic reality TV (18.18%). Given this data, supposedly the more time a person

spends watching romantic reality TV, the more satisfied they will be with their sexual life.

However, this is opposite to what we predicted. We believed the more a person watches romantic

reality TV, the more dissatisfied they would be with their sexual life.
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Furthermore, what could be the reason for these contrary results? The scholarly article,

“Reality Television Shows Focusing on Sexual Relationships are Associated with College

Students Engaging in One-Night Stands,” by Joshua Fogel and Lyudmila Kovalenko, showed

that the more viewers watched reality TV sexual relationship shows, the more likely they were to

be sexually permissive and active after watching the show (Fogel and Kovalenko 321). Given

this study, it can be suggested that the increase in sexual permissiveness and activity could

positively correlate to the sexual life satisfaction of the viewer. Additionally, the article, “Experts

Explain Why We Love Reality Dating Shows, Even Though We Know They’re Fake”, by Dina

Cheney, reveals the three unique parts of the brain system that may be activated by romantic

reality TV. Cheney explains that while watching these shows, surges of dopamine (the

neurotransmitter linked to romantic love and elation), testosterone (the hormone connected with

sex drive), and oxytocin (the neurotransmitter associated with attachment) are released (Cheney).

Supposedly, the activation of these feelings causes the viewer of romantic reality TV to feel more

satisfied about their own sexual life.

All in all, based on preliminary research and the data seen in Figure 3, perhaps there is a

positive connection between watching romantic reality TV and sexual life satisfaction. This is

important because it may help indicate that viewing romantic reality TV isn’t as negative as we

think it is and may actually have some positive effects.

Section 7: Conclusion

Our answer to the research question, “What are the connections between romantic reality

TV and romantic/sexual life satisfaction?” is that romantic reality TV may have a few

connections to, but not a substantial impact on, romantic/sexual life satisfaction. We came to this

conclusion through our analysis of the data, which may indicate that the participants’
 22

romantic/sexual satisfaction levels primarily remained the same before and after watching

romantic reality TV. This suggests that romantic reality TV only amplifies a person’s prior

satisfaction with their romantic/sexual lives instead of making them more or less satisfied.

Furthermore, the results did not show a profound difference in romantic or sexual satisfaction

levels after watching romantic reality TV, which implies that neither romance nor sex may have

weighed more on participants’ minds when rating their satisfaction.

However, though these sets of data may indicate romantic reality TV might have little

impact on romantic/sexual life satisfaction, we did discover that participants who watched more

than an hour of romantic reality TV a week tended to rate their romantic and sexual life

satisfaction levels higher than those who watched the shows less than an hour a week. This could

mean that watching romantic reality TV more often may lead to positive satisfaction levels. This

observation was the one noteworthy connection we discovered between romantic reality TV and

romantic/sexual life satisfaction, but the overall data suggests that there might not be a

remarkable relationship between the two.

During the process of our study, we still encountered obstacles and flaws. To begin, our

survey should have had “lesbian” as an answer to the question: “What is your sexual

orientation?” (See Appendix A). This fix is relevant as two participants had written “lesbian” as

their “other” answer. In the question about relationship status, we should have provided the

answer, “in a relationship,” instead of just “monogamous” as participants may define

monogamous as married. In the “After watching romantic reality TV…” section, we could have

made it clearer that the answers should be based on after watching the shows. Some participants

might have not noticed the section’s title and proceeded to answer differently than they would

have.
 23

Our primary research also had several limitations that made it less than optimal. Keeping

the questions to a minimum of 13 prevented us from getting more abstract data. While

participants prefer to take smaller surveys, if we were able to make it larger, there are two

particular questions we would add. Firstly, we would have asked why participants chose a certain

level of satisfaction. Then we could have possibly seen if there were any certain factors of

romantic reality TV that influenced viewers. Next, we would have asked participants what

romantic reality TV shows they watched. This question could have helped us figure out what

kinds of romantic reality TV cause satisfaction or dissatisfaction, especially since some shows

are focused more on either romance or sex.

Other limitations we encountered include the short time frame we had to keep our survey

live. Our survey stayed open for a total of 11 days, and if we had more time, we could’ve gotten

more data. Following that, we had a limited number of ways to share our survey. This caused our

survey to not get a reliable answer about the representation of race/ethnicity in romantic reality

TV. First, the majority of participants were white/caucasian. Secondly, most of the participants

who answered that they did not feel their race/ethnicity was represented in these shows were

actually white/caucasian. We could have possibly avoided this weird flaw by sending the survey

out to more communities with larger diversity. Lastly, we had to rely on people’s ability to

accurately judge their level of satisfaction before and after watching romantic reality TV.

Moving forward, this topic must expand its research to truly determine its meaning. As

mentioned above, data should be found about why exactly a participant is more or less satisfied

(or even unimpacted) after watching romantic reality TV. Likewise, we should research what

specific romantic reality TV shows cause satisfaction or dissatisfaction. Most importantly,

another study must be executed that tracks participants who have never watched romantic reality
 24

TV and asks them about their romantic/sexual life satisfaction. Then, those participants should

be shown romantic reality TV for a period of time. After viewing the shows, the participants

should be asked the same questions as before to see if their answers change, as well as why they

answered as they did. This study would provide a better understanding of exactly what effect (if

any) romantic reality TV has on romantic/sexual life satisfaction because it would create a

controlled environment. Romantic reality TV would be singled out as the variable being tested

and rule out any factors or misunderstandings of the questions that may have been present when

our participants answered our study.

Romantic reality TV and its connections to romantic/sexual life satisfaction may not

seem like a topic that is vital to research or that would be beneficial to society to understand.

With endless relevant issues in the world that deserve to be explored and explained, it is easy to

overlook subjects such as ours and dismiss them as too niche or even irrelevant. After all, not

everyone watches romantic reality TV, and as our results imply, it may not have significant

connections to romantic or sexual satisfaction like we predicted. But, all research questions

deserve investigation, for issues that appear smaller are often rooted within the larger system of

society’s concerns. Romantic reality TV is one branch of the mass media content that makes its

home in every phone, tablet, and computer we own and rules the social world we live in. Since

mass media is widely suspected to have changed the way humans think about and interact with

one another, we developed the curiosity to acknowledge the romantic/sexual side of this issue

and were led to research romantic reality TV.

Our study, which could appear insignificant if looked at solely by itself, points out several

socially significant things when viewed in the context of widespread forms of entertainment:

romantic reality TV and similar genres of media might be completely safe for viewers to
 25

consume, and may even inspire high levels of satisfaction in their romantic/sexual lives if

watched regularly. The survey we conducted was one more step on the greater path toward

understanding the link between humans and the online media that unavoidably surrounds us.

Hopefully, it will inspire future research to explore not only romantic reality TV, but every

channel, broadcast, and app with the goal of eventual and complete enlightenment of how our

personal lives function as we coexist with the virtual world.

 26

Works Cited

Cheney, Dina. “Experts Explain Why We Love Reality Dating Shows, Even Though We Know

They’re Fake.” Hearst Magazine Media, Good Housekeeping, 22 Apr. 2020,

www.goodhousekeeping.com/life/relationships/a32208136/why-we-love-reality-dating-s

hows/.

Daire, Amy. “The Wacky 52-Year-Long Evolution of Dating Shows on TV.” Insider, Insider Inc,

6 Apr. 2017, www.insider.com/history-of-reality-dating-shows-2017-3. Accessed 14 Feb.

2023.

“Dating Game Show.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 1 Feb. 2023,

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dating_game_show. Accessed 14 Feb. 2023.

Ferris, Amber L., et al. “The Content of Reality Dating Shows and Viewer Perceptions of

Dating.” Journal of Communication, vol. 57, no. 3, Sept. 2007, pp. 490–510.

EBSCOhost, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2466.2007.00354.x.

Fogel, Joshua, Lyudmila Kovalenko. “Reality Television Shows Focusing on Sexual

Relationships are Associated in College Students Engaging in One-Night Stands.”

Journal of Cognitive and Behavioral Psychotherapies vol.13, no. 2, Sep. 2013, pp.

321-31. EBSCOhost,

search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=e5h&AN=90644382&site=ehost-live.

Kershaw, Haley, Madeline Gibb, Annika Lewis. “Romantic Reality TV and Romantic/Sexual

Life Satisfaction Research.” AllCounted.com, Allcounted.com, 4 April 2023,

https://www.allcounted.com/s?did=wpv5dx4af5auv&lang=en_US.

“Love Is Blind.” Netflix, 2020-2023, www.netflix.com/title/80996601. Accessed 14 Feb. 2023.

 27

“Love Island (2015 TV Series).” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 22 Feb. 2023,

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love_Island_(2015_TV_series). Accessed 23 Feb. 2023.

McKenzie, Lara, Laura Dales. “Choosing Love? Tensions and Transformations of Modern

Marriage in Married at First Sight.” Continuum: Journal of Media & Cultural Studies,

vol. 31, no. 6, Dec. 2017, pp. 857–67. EBSCOhost,

https://doi.org/10.1080/10304312.2017.1334873.

“Reality TV.” Collins Dictionary, HarperCollins Publishers,

www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/reality-tv. Accessed 14 Feb. 2023.

Swiatkowski, Paulina. “Reality TV, Relational Aggression, and Romance: The Effects of

Quality ...” UA Campus Repository, The University of Arizona, 2018,

https://repository.arizona.edu/bitstream/handle/10150/626679/azu_etd_16093_sip1_m.pd

f?sequence=1.

“Too Hot to Handle.” IMDb, www.imdb.com/title/tt12004280/?ref_=adv_li_tt. Accessed 14

Feb. 2023.

“Top 50 Romance, Reality-TV Movies and TV Shows.” IMDb,

www.imdb.com/search/title/?genres=romance,reality-tv&explore=title_type,genres.

Accessed 14 Feb. 2023.

Vandenbosch, Laura, Steven Eggermont. “Temptation Island, The Bachelor, Joe Millionaire: A

Prospective Cohort Study on the Role of Romantically Themed Reality Television in

Adolescents' Sexual Development.” Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, vol.

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https://doi.org/10.1080/08838151.2011.620663
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Appendix A

Demographic Questions:

1. What is your age? (Multiple choice)

○ 0-18

○ 19-29

○ 30-50

○ 50+

2. What is your gender? (Multiple choice)

○ Male

○ Female

○ Non-binary

○ Transgender

○ Gender-fluid

○ Other (Written Answer Allowed)

3. What is your sexual orientation? (Multiple choice)

○ Straight

○ Bisexual

○ Gay

○ Queer

○ Asexual

○ Pansexual

○ Other (Written Answer Allowed)

4. What is your ethnicity? (Multiple choice)

 29

○ American Indian or Alaskan Native.

○ Asian / Pacific Islander.

○ Black or African American.

○ Hispanic.

○ White / Caucasian.

○ Other (Written Answer Allowed)

Individual Questions

5. What is your relationship status? (Check all that apply)

○ Married

○ Widowed

○ Separated

○ Divorced

○ Monogamous

○ Open Relationship

○ Polyamorous

○ Long-Distance

○ Friends With Benefits

○ Single

○ Other (Written Answer Allowed)

6. Are you sexually active? (Yes/No)

○ (Yes or no)

7. How satisfied are you with your relationship status in general? (Likert Scale)
 30

○ (Strongly dissatisfied - dissatisfied - somewhat dissatisfied - neutral - somewhat

satisfied - satisfied - strongly satisfied)

8. How often on average do you watch romantic reality TV per week? (Multiple choice)

○ Less than 1 hour

○ 1-2 hours

○ 3-4 hours

○ 5+ hours

After watching romantic reality TV . . .

9. How satisfied are you with your romantic life (the romance in your life)? (Likert Scale)

○ (Strongly dissatisfied - dissatisfied - somewhat dissatisfied - neutral - somewhat

satisfied - satisfied - strongly satisfied)

10. How satisfied are you with your sexual life? (Likert Scale)

○ (Strongly dissatisfied - dissatisfied - somewhat dissatisfied - neutral - somewhat

satisfied - satisfied - strongly satisfied)

11. How satisfied are you with your amount of sexual activity? (Likert Scale)

○ (Strongly dissatisfied - dissatisfied - somewhat dissatisfied - neutral - somewhat

satisfied - satisfied - strongly satisfied)

12. Do you feel represented in romantic reality TV? Check all those areas where you DO

NOT feel represented. (Multiple choice)

○ Age

○ Gender

○ Sexual Orientation

○ Race/ethnicity
 31

○ Body Type

13. How often do you think romantic reality TV reflects actual reality? (Likert Scale)

○ (Never - Rarely - Sometimes - Often - Always)