The Look: MTV's Love at First Lie

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB/TK

This weekend, we officially enter the last quarter of this year... it's hard to believe that we are into the last three months, or about 100 days, of 2022. The fall television schedule is now officially underway, which means the assortment of new and returning shows on the broadcast networks are in full swing... same goes in both the cable and streaming worlds, too. And in over a week from now, we'll be kicking off a newest season of MTV's The Challenge, as following the chaos of what took place on the finale of its CBS network debut and the third All-Stars extravaganza that came before that, we flicker anew on the MTV front when Ride or Dies will premiere.

Something that we have always stressed on here is that we are not one that will put our full focus on covering just one show or a single franchise. The beauty of this blogger being a fan of the MTV Reality experience for over two decades (even before launching this DCBLOG site) is that I have always embraced watching a whole slew of shows -- both those that are on the schedule and have aired for years, and those that have had a short shelf life. To this end, just about every MTV show you can think of over the years has been featured in our blog coverage in some way or shape over the past ten years... and outside of The Challenge and Real World one genre seems to stick out the most.

The romantic reality genre has become the hot ticket in the non-scripted sphere over the past few years as a genre that's long been the domain of Bachelor Nation has gotten more diverse to the point that it's on practically every network and streamer nowadays. On this site on the MTV front, we have covered the entire run of its two entries into this modern-day field of shows that match up lovers in the comfort of our couches in both Are You The One? and Ex On The Beach. Those two shows alone have brought us memorable moments and castmates, from the romance of Bad Girl Angela & Challenger Nelson to many trips to the Boom Boom Room... and also introducing us to the musical talent that is Tai Verdes.

Now, there's a new entry into Love, MTV Style... and it's something that, if you live across the pond, then you have seen what it's like to see a different kind of reality dating show that is very much different than seeing getting to see love being made in the Truth Booth or in the Shack of Secrets. This time, there is an element of another MTV hit poured into this new show: it's trying to figure out who are actually those who are in love, and those who are just playing it up for the camera. It's Love at First Lie. 

Ten years ago next month, MTV introduced America to a subject that would soon engulf both the world of the internet and then dominate the off-field build-up to the 2013 Bowl Championship Series national title game. The deceptive presence on social media known as Catfishing came about by the experiences Nev Schulman went through being catfished himself by a 40-year-old housewife posing as a 19-year-old in a 2010 documentary film. It eventually became an MTV series, and it's still going strong with former Miss USA winner Kamie Crawford by his side after many years with film director cohort Max Joseph.

The idea of people getting to create a persona or identity that is totally fictional provides the context to this latest new MTV idea, one that like another show that premiered a few years ago, was hatched up by those overseas. Back in 2018, MTV UK debuted the first of two series of True Love or True Lies, which eventually became Love at First Lie for its upcoming American debut. And for gist of what this show is about, it's a sorta cross between the show that made Nev, Max and Kamie household names with the romantic reality genre and all the drama we are all used to when love is in the air. 

The show's description by production company Lime Pictures reads as follows: "The hugely successful entertainment series follows a group of couples competing to be crowned the 'perfect couple' through a series of relationship tests, with each episode culminating in a pair being voted off the show.  However, not all the couples are real, and the contestants must figure out who the true lovers and liars are among them in order to win a cash prize."

When the first season of True Love or True Lies debuted back in 2018, the show garnered plenty of buzz both in viewership and embracing a cast that was reflective of the diversity of the British population. An MTV international exec would say that the show "challenges perceptions and reflects what modern-day relationships really look like." And just as it was for the most recent season of AYTO and Season 2 onwards of EOTB USA, True Love has been inclusive in casting couples (and those castmates also posing as couples in) LGBTQ+ orientation -- the Season 2 cast included trans-, bisexual and queer pairs.

Now, America will get a look at what this show is all about... and as it was for Catfish and a slew of other new shows that have come around in the past decade, it will be launched out of a veteran MTV hit -- in this case, it's the Ride or Dies Challenge. Love at First Lie is billed as American TV's very first relationship mystery competition series, and where the focus is on giving those in the house the chance to not only find love, but also do even more than that. There, they will try to figure out who among them are in a real relationship and who is just playing it up for the camera. There will be power games that will test the bonds of these couples, which will help them with trying to get some insight into who is being truthful and who is just bluffing.

AYTO has the Matchup Ceremony, while the first generation of EOTB had the Cut elimination... and here on Love at First Lie, it's the Truth Ceremony that will provide the evening's climax. There, the couples must come together to eliminate one of their own from the house... and if they send the marching orders to two of the con artists, $25,000 will be added to the prize purse that goes to the winner of this whole autumn festival of love. And if things go according to plan, the winning couple may potentially have $250,000 underneath their Christmas tree. 

A member of one of the biggest television shows of the 90's, Beverly Hills 90210 alum and a reality TV alumnus herself Tori Spelling, will serve as host of Love at First Lie when it premieres on October 12... and she will preside over the eight couples who will come into the house as those who are, at best, seemingly loved up... and where only a handful of them are actually perfect matches.

  THE COUPLES  

As of press time, there is no biographical information provided by MTV of these couples... all as a ploy to keep us in the dark of whether or not they are truly in love.

❤️ RIANI & CHANTZ  🇺🇸

❤️ MONICA & JOSH  🇺🇸

❤️ JAKE & ALFIE  🇬🇧

❤️ CECE & REASEY  🇺🇸

❤️ ANNABELL & JOE  🇬🇧
❤️ KARLA & BRIAN  🇺🇸

❤️ STEPHANIE & ARABELLA  🇬🇧
❤️ YURIY & ALICIA  🇺🇸/🇬🇧

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