First Impressions – The Romantic – 더 로맨틱

MAKING A LURRVE CONNECTION

Just in time for Valentine’s Day, a new reality show premiered last Saturday and I got curious after I saw that the MBC labor strikes were still going on forcing the network to rerun old episodes or “specials” (basically re-edited old episodes) of Infinity Challenge and We Got Married.  The show is targeted to those in their 20s and 30s  and brought to us by Lee Myung Han, the producer behind 1 Night 2 Days and Quality of Men, and narrated by Lee Seung Gi.

The reality show is a bit similar to Match as a group of men and women are set up with each other.  10 adults who are looking for love are selected and are flown to Croatia for a 1o-day vacation and matchmaking opportunity.  However, they will be selecting their date partners through a “Preference Shuffle” that match the couples based on their tastes.

During the first “Preference Shuffle”, the women were asked to pick their ideal first meeting from a selection of movie choices.  The men had previously made their selection and now it’s the women’s turn.

The choices were: the scene at the train station from the Japanese movie, Between Calmness and Passion;

the park bench scene from the K-Drama, Bad Guy;

the cable car scene from the K-Drama, My Name is Kim Sam Soon;

the taxi scene from the American movie, New York, I Love You;

the airplane scene from the American movie, Love Affair.

After the women make their selections, they will meet the men like a first chance encounter from that movie and have some one on one time together in order to get to know each other.

During their date, they may be given a small mission like initiating skinship by holding hands.  (Although I don’t know what the consequences are if you don’t succeed.  There doesn’t appear to be a penalty for failing to do a mission except you aren’t able to get closer to knowing your date but I think the penalty should be that you aren’t allowed to ask a question during “Midnight”.)

The contestants are not allowed to talk about their age or their occupation until “Midnight” in which the entire group gathers and are given an opportunity to ask a single question to only one person.

The reality series has a 6 episode run and we’ll see if 9 nights, 10 days was enough time to make a love connection.  The city of Zagreb is beautiful as it features an Eastern European charm but the group will also head to Split where the beautiful beaches align the Adriatic Sea.  The show will also feature a new soundtrack of songs made for the series.  The first of which is a song by Superstar K3 finalists, Two Months, called “The Romantic”.  Also Jung Yeop lends his voice to sing the 2^nd song which is called “I Want to Kiss You”.

Two Months – The Romantic

투개월 – The Romantic

So far, the show has a very romantic feel to it and I did like the first episode more than Match.  When I started watching Match, it was in the middle of the season and there was a catty, possessive thing going on between 2 of the female contestants over one of the men.  Of course, this show could head in the same direction but I really liked how you were selecting your dates by your tastes and not based on the person’s appearance.  All of the men and women are relatively good-looking but I get that the producers wanted you to rethink about what you think is attractive based on what you choose.  It’s an interesting sociological experiment and the fact that Lee Seung Gi narrates the show in this nature program-esque tone makes it even more amusing.  I always questioned whether romance could really blossom when you’re on a reality show like this.  Could you be yourself when you are aware that the camera is watching you, judging you?  Plus, 10 days is not a very long time.

However, these people are thrown into a foreign country where they aren’t familiar with the language and they are all going through a similar experience.  It’s like bootcamp or MT.  Plus with all the men and women bunking together in one hostel room, we get to see some camaraderie there.  I love that guys will be guys and girls will be girls.  The guy that picked the airplane scene got to be the first one to meet the girls.  He spent the plane ride over getting to know the girl who picked the airplane scene.  Most of the other guys arrived earlier so when he arrives at the hostel they ask him if the girls are pretty.  Meanwhile, the girls who are still waiting for their first meeting decide on which outfits to wear.  Lol.

As for the Zagreb, the first stop in the country, it is gorgeous!  Filmed during the Christmas season, the city is lit up with decorations and lights and the Holiday Fair in the town’s center.

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