How much heartbreak could be avoided if Bachelor Nation simply embraced non-monogamy? Maybe the producers could draw some inspiration from Peacock’s new polyamorous dating series, appropriately titled Couple to Throuple.
Am I confident this horny beachside competition will bring polyamory to the screen in a responsible way? Not exactly! Am I intrigued? Oh, absolutely.
The newly released trailer opens with a provocative proposition from host Scott Evans: “If you were given the chance at non-monogamy in paradise, what would you do?”
That’s the question that awaits four “curious” couples. The contestants consist of three seemingly straight couples, plus one couple made up of a bisexual guy with a male partner who calls him a “don’t-knock-it-til-you-try-it-sexual.”
Over the course of the series, the lovebirds spend a month mingling with and dating a group of singles — “many of whom are experienced in polyamory,” according to the official logline — at a tropical resort.
It sounds like a recipe for unchecked chaos. But at least they have a professional on hand: Licensed clinical social worker, sexologist, and AASECT-certified sex expert Shamyra Howard. I can only hope that her work will extend beyond the drama-inciting instruction she gives in the trailer, for one half of each couple to watch their partner hook up with a “third.”
Drama certainly ensues in any case, from contestants who grow suspicious that their partner has been intimate with a third without telling them to nascent throuples negotiating group decisions and insecurities surrounding sex.
At the end of the show, the four original couples — assuming they’re still intact — will face one more choice. Will they leave as a monogamous pair, choose to go home as a throuple with their new partner, or each walk away alone?
The spectrum of polyamory is infinite and its ability to provide people in non-monogamous relationships with abundant support, resources, and love is sorely misrepresented in most mainstream media. Hopefully the messy antics of Couple to Throuple can introduce the concept of multiple partners to more people without totally shitting the three-person bed.
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