Love is Blind: Is it really possible to love in just 10 days?

The premise of Love is blind It’s very simple: 30 single men and women spend 10 days “under the hood” getting to know members of the opposite sex without ever seeing their faces. During these 10 days, some people form such strong bonds that they decide to get engaged without anyone seeing.

Only when a couple is engaged can they meet for the first time – an almost amusing moment for viewers – before they embark on a post-engagement tour with other betrothed couples to get to know each other better.

Then, after living together for a few weeks, each couple must decide if they want to get married – remember they’ve known each other for less than two months.

While we still don’t know what will happen to the season two cohort (our money is only for Shayne and Natalie at this point), the two couples from the original series are still happily married two years later. since the first season aired. So is it really possible to fall in love in just 10 days?

Holly Roberts, a consultant at Relate, says it’s all about connection. “The light you feel when you meet that special someone is hard to define, but you just need to know it’s there,” explains Roberts. “When we feel like someone understands us, hears us and sees us, and accepts us for who we really are, love is likely to bud.”

While Roberts says love can grow from an intense physical attraction, for the contestants of Love is blindit was more likely a deep friendship that developed initially and the fact that they were “thrown at each other under exceptional circumstances”.

“The common factor is a sense of connection,” adds Roberts. “There is no one way to love; it is very different and personal to each of us. ”

While we can scoff at the thought of seeing people “fall in love” in less than two weeks, a YouGov poll from 2017 found that 16% of Britons have told a new romantic partner that they fell in love with them within the first month of dating, and 3% said those three words within the first week of meeting someone new.

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“For some people, this [falling in love in 10 days] Roberts said. “All the stars can align and two lucky people will be in the right place at the right time for this to happen. If we feel able to immediately open up and be vulnerable with another person, and let them reciprocate, then love can blossom quickly. “

However, she adds that for most of us, it takes a while to lower our defenses and let someone look at our inner words,” which makes falling in love happen. Slower.

However, not for lack of wanting to love. A study from 2010 found that men are easier to fall in love with than women, and a separate 2011 study published in Journal of Personality and Social Psychology found that men start thinking about saying “I love you” after an average of 97.3 days – a little over three months – while women think about it after 138.9 days, about four and a half months.

Dr Elena Touroni, consultant psychologist and co-founder of the Chelsea Psychology Clinic says there’s no set time frame for falling in love.

“It is different for each person,” she added. “Some people fall in love very quickly and intensely. Others – perhaps more cautious and avoidant – may not experience the same intense feeling for a longer time. There is no one size fits all when it comes to love. “

She said that we can often associate feeling euphoric with falling in love, which could be what Love is blind feel when they sit in the shell; excited at the prospect of meeting their other half.

But, as we know from the show, falling in love is the easy part. That’s what happens next – arguments, make-up, family gatherings and living together – requires work. Therefore, whether you love each other for 10 days or 10 months, your love in the long run is what matters.