• Network: NBC
  • Series Premiere Date: Jun 29, 2011
  • Season #: 1 , 2
Love in the Wild Image
Metascore

Mixed or average reviews - based on 8 Critics What's this?

User Score

Generally favorable reviews- based on 13 Ratings

  • Summary: Ten women and 10 men compete in a jungle in Costa Rica while looking for love.
  • Genre(s): Reality, Game Show
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 8
  2. Negative: 2 out of 8
  1. Reviewed by: Jessica Shaw
    Jun 24, 2011
    75
    There is absolutely nothing remotely fresh about this dating show, which is essentially the unholy spawn of Bachelor Pad, Temptation Island, Survivor, and The Amazing Race. Does it matter? Hell no! Especially when there are contestants with names like Steele, raft challenges on crocodile-infested Costa Rican waters, and a reward love shack called the Oasis. [1 Jul 2011, p.68]
  2. Reviewed by: David Hinckley
    Jun 29, 2011
    60
    The individual interviews suggest the contestants here evoke about the normal amount of sympathy in find-a-mate shows.
  3. Reviewed by: Verne Gay
    Jun 28, 2011
    58
    Sure, it all looks and sounds achingly familiar and blandly dumb, and maybe some of it is. But check the brain at the door. You could do much worse.
  4. Reviewed by: Brian Lowry
    Jun 29, 2011
    30
    Maybe central casting is wearing thin, but aside from being beautiful (naturally), there's not a personality in the bunch more interesting than the crocodiles, ants or bats on display.

See all 8 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 5 out of 6
  2. Negative: 0 out of 6
  1. One of the best dating shows ive seen. the contestants are a lot of fun to watch as they develop and change. the process is fresh and everything about the show is a 10. Expand
  2. A fun summer reality show. Some nice changes from other dating shows like the Bachelor/Bachelorette, such as: equal number of men and women (better odds for a match), couples have to work together on tasks in a race situation (better bonding experience) and the winning couple gets a trip around the world (instead of a forced engagement). So far the couples seem like fairly normal people (instead of producer picked nuts who wear masks and vampire teeth). The jungle setting also adds interest. Give it a try!!!!! Collapse
  3. Luckily, only the first half of "Love in the Wild" actually involves "the wild". Instead, the attention is focused on the dialog, conflict and bonding between couples, so you get the feeling that the outdoor challenge is just a ploy to create stress and drama, and not too vital to the show. Likewise, the results of the challenge don't dramatically affect the outcome for the contestants (think Big Brother).

    The second half of the show is where it really gets good. First, there's a social event where everyone can socialize with everyone else. To add a little drama, each couple is forced to sleep in the same room together (with a solitary queen bed, young'uns). The following day (and last 10 minutes of the show) is the elimination round. Both individuals of each couple can choose to stay paired, or try someone new. If the new choice refuses them, they have to wait and hope someone else will choose them. The winning couple from the challenge has the benefit of choosing first, followed by the second placed couple, and so forth. The last man and woman standing are the ones no one wants and they're the goners. So awkward; so fun.

    Of course, I've only seen the first episode, but I'm hoping this show makes it, because I'm already hooked!
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  4. Really, can we ditch all the pretense about 'finding love'? It's just stupid to imagine that all these uber-hot 20 somethings with marginal careers would magically find 'the one' in 20 days or less in Costa Rica, with only 10 to choose from. I do know people that have had some fantastic couple-of-hour relationships on vaca, but a mate? Hmmmm.

    And did they not prep the contestants with the basic idea that they'd be doing survivor-esque activities in a jungle so they could either do some outdoor prep (knots, bugs, clothes, shoes, gear)? I'm twice their age, but an Eagle Scout, so am sure I'd have been in the top couple or two with almost no effort.... the losing guy last night was pathetic in basic outdoorsmanship, not to mention attire. Was that shirt silk? And the guy that was afraid if ANTS? Great looking, but most women want a man who's a tad less metrosexual, to say the least. No wonder he had to sleep on the floor.

    Not surprised to see that most of the contestants were from California... lot of silicon and teeth-whitening. (Boys and Girls, do go light on the tooth-whitening in your 20s, it's creepy.)

    Oh, and back to casting. Great job finding women who's race is difficult to gauge. Very 21st century. Why were the men so obviously black or white... not sure there was a Latino or Asian. Is that politically tolerable?

    That said, I've watched worse. It's not nearly as ponderous and snarky as the Big Brother shows, and as there are more couples involved there's more love interest that the painful Bachelor and Bachelorettes. At least we got some reasonably good skin in, and a fore-shadowing of more R rated activities in the future. Next series, lets just drop all pretenses, and go straight for the soft porn. No need for scripts or staged games. Just smoking hot contestants, alcohol, and a hot-tub. Oh, wait, that's the Real World... and Spring Break on MTV...

    Well, imagine that on CBS. K?
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See all 6 User Reviews