The Big Picture
- Ready to Love offers a fresh perspective on love, focusing on singles in their 30s, 40s, and 50s who have experienced life's challenges.
- The show introduces curveballs to make the series more authentic, including intimate games to foster connections.
- In the premiere episode, a bachelor was sent home due to not being a suitable match, highlighting the challenges of finding love on the show.
The OWN Network has doubled back with another season of Ready To Love to kick off 2024. This season, host Tommy Miles is in Ft Worth, Texas with another group of ten single women and ten single men looking to find their forever person, on reality television. In a recent interview with Rolling Out, Tommy hinted that he was throwing curveballs this season to make the series more authentic with viewers and the singles in competition for love.
Despite few connections and more drama between the same-sex relationships in the cast than romantic hook-ups, Will Packer Productions remains convinced that there is magic in offering singles that have a bit of skin in the game of life an opportunity for a chance at love. "It's never too late to make love a priority," Miles shares during his conversation with Rolling Out to promote the ninth season of the show. Tommy says the success of the show is primarily based upon the audience that enjoys seeing singles that reflect on their own situations having an opportunity to find love or at least to once again make love a priority. While most reality dating series focus on candidates in their early 20's who haven't been burnt by the disappointment of divorce, financial loss, or simply the everyday turmoil that comes with time, Ready To Love offers singles in their 30s, 40s, and 50s a fresh perspective that accompanies trying their hand at love for the second, third, or even fourth time.
One of Tommy's curveballs was introducing the singles in groups of 10 - five men and five women - for the introductory mixer instead of unleashing the entire twenty singles on one another to fend for themselves. In the smaller groups, Tommy took the intimacy up a notch by introducing games to familiarize the men and women with more than just each other's physical attributes.
This Season of 'Ready To Love' Challenges Singles to Dissect True Love
In the premiere episode on Friday, January 12th, 10 singles met up at a private location and began the tedious process of getting to know one another in front of a group of strangers with cameras in tow. Before they could even get to the joint mixer, bachelor DaMonte, a 43-year-old fashion stylist, was sent home because the ladies didn't find him a suitable match. On Friday, January 19th, the second group of singles will congregate with one unlucky lady being sent home at the end of the night.
RelatedMartell Holt's Domestic Violence Arrest Isn't Surprising to 'Love & Marriage: Huntsville' Viewers
Martel Holt's arrest on third-degree domestic violence charges isn't a surprise for 'LAMH' fans who watched the 1st part of the reunion.
In an exclusive clip, Tommy leads the singles in a game of 'what looks good on paper'. In a culture that prioritizes relationships that provide social elevation in addition to a love match, Tommy challenges his candidates to look beyond the single that presents the best opportunity to be a power couple and instead focus on what would be an ideal partner for them in their everyday lives. Watch the clip above.
Ready to Love airs every Friday at 8 PM EST on the OWN Network. Episodes can be streamed online or MAX.
ncG1vNJzZmibn6G5qrDEq2Wcp51kv6atw7Jkraddoby3sYyer5ykpai2t7GO