When Rihanna sang “we found love in a hopeless place,” I now choose to believe she was singing about Pop the Balloon decades ahead of the dating show ever airing (because she’s just that powerful). Netflix’s shiny new remake of the YouTube sensation popped onto the zeitgeist with a major bang, and the internet has a lot of questions. The main one being: WTF is going on here???
For first-time viewers, digesting the reality TV series was probs a particularly hard task with all of Netflix’s fancy bells and whistles clouding the original concept. Truthfully, the MO was pretty simple: a line of eligible bachelors or bachelorettes held a balloon. When the OG host, a sweet, soft-spoken personality named Arlette Amuli, brought out the main character of the episode, she walked them through asking the singles questions about what they were looking for in a relationship. At any point in the process, the main character and the singles were allowed to pop their balloon if they realized it wasn’t a match.
The magic Arlette made on YouTube was often superficial, rarely romantic, but always entertaining. The OG version was no stranger to second-hand embarrassment, either, but with every uncontrollable cringe came an undeniable relatability about the state of being single in 2025. So why is Netflix’s new Pop the Balloon remake receiving such bad reviews? I have some thoughts.
What Is The Criticism Of Netflix’s Pop the Balloon?
It’s hard to know where to begin, but The Challenge alum Johnny Bananas hiding behind a plastic plant for the first 60 seconds of the show is a good enough place to start as any. As an eagle-eyed reality expert, I thought I saw Bananas in the opening montage, but assumed I was mistaken. Sadly, I was not, because a surprising new part of the new PTB is the inclusion of established reality stars as contestants, apparently. Episode one also included Netflix reality royalty (using the word loosely), Chase DeMoor, from Too Hot To Handle and Perfect Match.
In addition to sprinkling the cast with D-listers, Netflix’s version employs an energetic new host in Yvonne Orji. With Yvonne’s first big TV foray since Insecure, she’s gone back to her standup comedy roots, which is an ironic 180 from her fame as uptight but always right Molly. According to Yvonne, the nature of her new show being a) a remake and not a reboot and b) live, stopped the producers from “controlling what people say or do,” though their goal is to continually “refine and renew” the show’s tone be about love, joy and kindness, like the original.
Even with the heavy backlash and ruthless Twitter roasts, Yvonne is locked in for the (seemingly impossible) task of wrangling pop culture personalities with their own agenda, improvising jokes for the audience, and inspiring authenticity from the notably diverse cast of singles as they (hopefully) try to make a match.
After taking in episode 1, that last bit (authenticity) appeared to be the show’s biggest miss.
Did We Lose The One Dedicated Space For Black Dating Content?
As a loyal viewer of the YouTube series (and a person with eyes), it was impossible to miss that the OG Pop The Balloon featured a primarily Black crew of contestants. A lot of the “WTF even is this” reactions online come from non-Black viewers who were blissfully unaware of Pop The Balloon because they don’t casually consume non-white content. So, it’s not entirely surprising that Netflix didn’t make Pop The Balloon the first dating show focused on Black love for a mainstream platform.
Even though they make me so uncomfy I can’t breathe when watching, I have to admit, The Bachelor and Bachelorette are historically king when it comes to dating TV. Yet there have only been four Black Bachelorettes out of 21 seasons, and two Bachelors out of 29 seasons, starting with Rachel Lindsay in 2017 (!!!) despite the franchise premiering in 2002.
With stats like that plus Netflix’s major reach in mind, it’s, IDK, a bit disappointing that the remake shifted the narrative away from The Culture, presumably for the sake of pushing for popularity. Aside from being disappointing, the casting makes batch dating in live bursts (AKA no room for nuance) even more complicated. Though it is the year of our lord 2025, dating within the same race is still the societal norm. I’m all for showcasing interracial love, but is 30 minutes of completely live comedic chaos setting singles up for success to step outside of their comfort zone? That is, if Netflix is trying to focus on genuine love, like Yvonne said.
The concept (using balloons instead of words to clock out) is basically one long slapstick comedy bit already. Adding in extras like reality stars, a Disney-ified colorful set complete with a “love lounge,” and constant mini standup bites feels like a hat, on a hat, on another giant bedazzled hat. The OTT nature of it all seemed to encourage the singles to be OTT themselves. They weren’t being ridiculously picky about their dating musts (another hilarious flaw of the OG show), they were showing off their good side for everyone watching at home.
Maybe Pop The Balloon 2.0 is proof that bigger isn’t always better (dating advice that I’m sure we’ll hear Yvonne drop any episode now). Yet I’m still holding out hope that the authentic absurdity that put the show on the map is still in there, somewhere, because when it comes to dating, delusion is key!
