Publications
Partners
The youngsters are doing love and break-ups differently these days – they are taking it to the small screen for all to see. Rhodé Marshall looks at the latest reality television mess, One Night with My Ex – an unfortunate addition to Friday night television.
One Night with My Ex
1Magic (DStv channel 103)
Friday, 7pm
2/5
Back with the Ex, Ex on The Beach, The X Effect, Eating with My Ex… You name it, and it’s on your small screen in all its disturbing glory.
On a Friday night, when you’re trying to unwind from a hectic week, you can tune into the first season of One Night with My Ex, a local show that looks at couples seeking answers to their unanswered questions from failed relationships. But I can’t promise that you will feel relaxed after watching this poor attempt at the latest reality TV craze.
Tortured by how the relationship ended – whether it be because of infidelity, deceit, jealousy or an absolute lack of ambition – scorned and heartbroken lovers are tired of spending their nights and days thinking about the one who got away. So, they do what any “sane” young lover does: they bring it to TV.
On One Night with My Ex, the former couples take a step back for some reflection in hopes of growth, desperately seeking some romantic closure.
This reality show gives people the space to dissect what went wrong in their past relationships, handing them a final opportunity for closure, forgiveness and possible vindication.
This all plays out when long-lost exes are given the choice to spend one night together in an apartment, in the hopes of leaving the experience feeling better about their breakup, or possibly reunited.
While some opt to leave the apartment, frequently partners are nagged or manipulated into spending the night at the apartment with their ex, where they can either share a bed or elect to sleep on the couch.
These moments are especially awkward and raise uncomfortable questions about consent in these relationships.
And I have to say, I really hope that all of the show’s participants want to be television stars and agreed to being on One Night with My Ex via a casting process. This destructive way of publicly dealing with heartache is more in service of the channel and producers of the show – in this case Rapid Blue – than of those “looking for healing”.
One Night with My Ex – whether the stories are real or not – could be riveting but completely misses the mark, and makes for an unhealthy portrayal of love, respect, friendship and consent.
The show shouldn’t see a second season and, judging by the lack of public excitement for it, I doubt it will.
