Television

It’s hard to win over fans on a romantic reality show. But Lauren Speed and Cameron Hamilton did.Ms. Speed, 34, a content creator, and Mr. Hamilton, 29, an A.I. consultant, met on “Love is Blind.” The premise of the Netflix show is to allow singles to, well, mingle while they sit in pods, talking through walls. The idea is to put up some barriers in an effort to break down the barriers we all face in dating, the foremost being appearances.It doesn’t sound like something that should work. It did. Two couples got married, including Ms. Speed and Mr. Hamilton, who tied the knot in November 2018.But even if love is blind, a reality show is pretty opaque. I called up the couple to hear more about their experience.What were you doing before the show?Lauren: I was pretty much throwing myself into my business. I have a media business — do production work, videography, as well as photography, I’m a content creator. My dating life was pretty sucky if we’re being honest. I was almost ready to give up on being in a relationship or married. I’m in my 30s, my business was going well. But when the opportunity came along for the show, I was intrigued. The concept was so different because it wasn’t based purely on aesthetics. Lo and behold, I lucked out.Did either of you try dating apps? How did you end up on the show?Lauren: I tried the dating app thing one or two times and it freaked me out. I was afraid to find someone and meet up with them and them be a serial killer or something.Cameron: I didn’t have any fear of serial killers. I was going out on a lot of dates but I was cutting them off after the first or second date because I wasn’t finding people who were a good match for me. I was liking the pictures but then I was basically ignoring everything else and so I was basically being shallow in how I was conducting my dating life and was feeling quite lonely as a consequence of that. I was reached out to by a casting agent. I didn’t apply.Lauren: A casting agent slid into my DMs. It’s kind of crazy because I don’t know how she found me on Instagram. I don’t know, I must’ve hashtagged #lonelydating or something. I went through the whole application process, had to do Skype interviews, multiple Skype interviews. Also, they had to do a psych evaluation.That kind of made me feel a little bit more ease about the situation, like at least they’re testing people.What was it like when you first got there?Lauren: It was pretty much like a group mingling, with the women on one side of the wall and the men on the other. We got to know each other, talked about the things that we were looking for. When it was time to go on our dates in the pods, each date was probably about seven minutes long.Cameron: As time went on, the dates got progressively longer. We went on progressively fewer dates overall because you were just kind of focusing in on who you were most interested in. Really from the start, we were dating probably 16 hours a day, multiple dates a day.Did either of you have feelings for other people?Lauren: We did make connections with other people, however it was more from a friendship vibe. Up until close to the end, I went on dates continuously with Mark, Damian, and Carlton but after a certain point, after you connect with someone like Cameron and I connected kind of early on, you just kind of talk about the friendships with these people. Cameron: Up until the end, I was going on dates with Diamond, I think Jess, and Kelly and Giannina. But like Lauren said, it was all very platonic. We would talk about the other person who they were interested in and I talked a lot about Lauren with Jess. She would talk about Barnett and Mark with me. That was just kind of how the dates went. It was all platonic basically but we formed good friendships, so it’s not a waste of time.So let’s get to the point where you said “I love you.” Wasn’t that the first episode?Lauren: I wanted to share that with him. Really, I wanted to see how he would react. You can tell when I said it, I was like, “Ooh, what is he going to say?”But I just threw it out there just to see what would happen and he reciprocated it and I pretty much melted after that. I mean, it was over. It was over.[Sign up for Love Letter and always get the latest in Modern Love, weddings, and relationships in the news by email.]A lot of times, the conversations that we see on reality shows are about the relationship and not really about the specifics of who the people are. What did you guys talk about in the pods?Lauren: We really bonded certainly on our love for our family. We’re both super family-oriented, very close with our parents, with siblings as well as just basically we’re really into the arts, very career focused and goal oriented. We’re both entrepreneurs. We both want to have children in the future.Cameron: Both kind of extroverted introverts. Also, we kind of balance each other out where Lauren’s very upbeat and has this really contagious charisma, I’m more calm, cool, collected type. We balance each other out in that respect and kind of boost each other respectively.Did you know what you would say when you got to the altar and were you able to communicate that with each other beforehand? Or was that a part of the show?Lauren: I was pretty much kind of nervous all the way up until I got to the altar. In the back of my mind, I know that I really wanted to marry Cameron but I was scared. It’s a big deal. Of course I knew that I wanted to continue this relationship with this man. I don’t know if I told him that or not.Cameron: I mean it was hard because I was ready to go and I think she thought maybe it would’ve been nice to have a bit more time. Thankfully, we’ve been married for a year and a half now.Lauren: Yeah, I took the leap just because I didn’t want to stop my own happiness. I would’ve never probably have forgiven myself and thank God that I didn’t.It seemed like some of the other cast members were blindsided. Were you directed to not reveal what your decision was?Lauren: We had the power to do whatever we wanted to. We were free to talk to each other up until the wedding because we had a little break in between the bachelor and bachelorette parties and the wedding.Cameron: Yeah, absolutely no one was forced to do anything at all. We all knew what we signed up for, people could walk away if they wanted to. We could tell each other, “Hey, I’m going to say yes tomorrow,” if we wanted to. There was no restrictions like that or producer involvement.Lauren: The couples could’ve definitely talked to each other and shared what they wanted to do.Cameron: I think a lot of people felt conflicted up until they got up there.Were you surprised that some of the other couples waited until the wedding day to tell their partner that they weren’t going through with it?Lauren: Throughout the process, I kind of had an inkling of who was doing well and who was having serious struggles.You would think that the couples would communicate their plans to each other, that you wouldn’t kind of surprise your partner with that.Race was discussed quite a bit in the show about your journey. What kinds of issues have come up, if any, since you got together?Lauren: If anything, it’s just been a learning curve for the both of us. I was teaching Cameron about our hair and twist outs and braids and all that stuff. But he’s dated black women before so he’s kind of been there. Me, on the other hand, things are kind of more new for me than for him.We haven’t really experienced anything strange in public besides a few stank looks here and there. We live in the South, so a lot of old ideals still resonate with some of the people down there, especially the older people.Lauren, you spoke about things that are specific about black culture. Has anything surprised you about living with a white person?Lauren: Actually, girl, I went to Maine and it was one of the most Caucasian places I’ve ever visited. I don’t know if this is a Caucasian thing or a Maine thing but, what’s it called, babe? Mincemeat pies. OK, Cameron says it’s a Maine thing but I’d never heard of it.I guess it’s like a fruity pie, I don’t know. But as for white culture, not really anything shocking but, I wasn’t shocked by anything because I’ve been around white people, you know?Lauren, has Cameron ever used your toothbrush?Lauren: Not that I know of, girl, but I’m thinking about setting up cameras in the bathroom. After a couple of these press interviews, I’m kind of questioning if he’s sneaking in there or not.Cameron: Only in an emergency.Lauren: Oh god babe, no.I saw that you guys just started your YouTube channel together. Are you trying to monetize this?Lauren: Shoot, I mean, we’ve got a dog to feed.Cameron: Right. Sparks needs food.Continue following our fashion and lifestyle coverage on Facebook (Styles and Modern Love), Twitter (Styles, Fashion and Weddings) and Instagram. More

“Now, your press day is doing a lie-detector test, followed by trying out a new skill, followed by eating insane chicken wings,” said Chris Schonberger, the creator of the talk show “Hot Ones.”Sean Evans, the host of the show, added, “Followed by building an Ikea desk.”On “Hot Ones,” A-list celebrities eat increasingly spicy chicken wings. It is one of the most popular of a crop of new talk shows that have shaken up the celebrity industrial complex.The passive celebrity interview is over. Now celebrities must work for their press — or, at worst, they have to be interviewed by another celebrity. That’s the case with “Red Table Talk,” a show hosted by Jada Pinkett Smith; her daughter, Willow; and her mother, Adrienne Banfield-Norris, known on the show as Gammy.These practices makes sense in the social media era. Instagram, Twitter and other platforms are designed to let fans feel closer to celebrities than ever before, and have allowed those celebrities a control over their personas that they did not used to have. So, the new shows do what they can to soothe — or rattle — celebrities into a state resembling authenticity.“It does feel like a natural place that we had to get to in the age of social media,” Mr. Schonberger said.“Hot Ones” lives mostly on YouTube. “Red Table Talk” airs on Facebook. It has hosted top-tier guests including Gabrielle Union, Alicia Keys, T.I. and Will Smith, who is also Ms. Pinkett Smith’s husband. In lieu of a hook like having to eat outlandishly spicy food, its creators are constantly in search of ways to connect authentically with audiences.This is a second generation of these new talk shows. Their predecessors included “Billy on the Street” (started in 2011), “Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee” (2012) and one of the earliest and most influential of the major online talk shows, “Between Two Ferns” (2008).That show was hosted by the actor and comedian Zach Galifianakis playing an ignorant, patronizing and unexpectedly aggressive version of himself. It laid the groundwork for the off-the-wall interview shows airing now, which all tend to elevate the host as a central element and have a willingness to grant celebrities an escape from rote questioning. (This differentiates them from the heyday of David Letterman, the host who was known for leaning into the banality of the talk-show format.)The so-called active celebrity interview also happens on the real TV, and much of its DNA evolved there. James Corden, the host of “The Late Late Show,” has found successful formats with his “Carpool Karaoke” and “Spill Your Guts” series.Jimmy Fallon has played games with his celebrity guests from the beginning of his run on “The Tonight Show,” in 2014, translating some games played with guests from “Late Night With Jimmy Fallon.”Gavin Purcell, the showrunner of “The Tonight Show,” who also worked with Mr. Fallon on “Late Night” and pioneered these formats there, said that he had found that many celebrities enjoyed playing games like charades and catchphrase more than they did sitting passively for an interview.“The vast majority of people who come to our show want to do these things,” Mr. Purcell said. For BTS, he said, referring to the superstar K-pop group, “and for a lot of people, the game part is the easier part. It’s them getting to be a version of themselves where they get to relax.”Mr. Purcell marveled at the way that the various formats of shows like his had been disaggregated on the internet, released in components that made more sense online. “It’s been broken down into all these different formats now,” he said.Mina Lefevre, the head of development and programming at Facebook, echoed that point, saying she sometimes refers to “Red Table Talk” as a “deconstructed talk show.”“We have the ability and the flexibility to have a topic and conversations continue throughout the week,” she said. “We might be able to give you a piece Monday and another piece Wednesday.”The work of comedians like Mr. Galifianakis resonates for emerging comics. “‘Between Two Ferns’ is brilliant,” said Amelia Dimoldenberg, the host of the British talk show “Chicken Shop Date.” “His character, that is what makes it. That’s what I learned from that show. I knew it was up to my character to be the main point of difference from a regular chat show.”Ms. Dimoldenberg’s show consists of its host flirting cluelessly (and in character) with British celebrities, most often musicians working in the electronic-hip-hop hybrid known as grime. Though the show is not as popular as its U.S. competitors, it’s notable for the way in which it has grown through tapping into a specific subculture.Capturing an audience of music enthusiasts has given the show credibility, and has allowed Ms. Dimoldenberg to book better-known guests, including Daniel Kaluuya, the British star of “Get Out” and “Queen and Slim.”Many of the web shows have relied on black celebrities, especially early in their runs. “Hot Ones” which is part of First We Feast, a food publication owned by Complex Media, has made use of Complex’s ability to book talent, particularly rappers.Mr. Schonberger said that he and Mr. Evans had wanted to book hip-hop stars because of their own love for the genre, but that the show had also been helped by being a part of Complex, which has covered hip-hop extensively.Recently, during an episode in which the hosts answered viewer mail, Mr. Evans was asked to stop hosting “pseudo-famous rappers who will only be relevant for a few months.” That prompted him to rattle off some of the biggest names that had been booked.Asked whether the show was in the process of turning away from the black celebrities it used to book more frequently, he said: “We don’t really want to be the ‘Late Night’ of the internet. We want to have one foot in the mainstream, one foot in the underground.”Shows that do not yet have the cachet (or the audience) of “Hot Ones” or “Red Table Talk” are still able to book talent because there are so many more celebrities than before.“Suck It Up,” a show hosted on the Hearst website Delish, owes a heavy debt to the First We Feast show: Guests, who have included the YouTuber David Dobrik and two of the cheerleaders from the Netflix docuseries “Cheer,” play a version of “Never Have I Ever” while eating increasingly sour candies. (“Hot Ones” makes its own hot sauces and sells them; “Suck It Up” is in talks to sell its own candies.)“We’re at a point where there’s so many people who are doing so many things,” said Joanna Saltz, the editorial director of Delish.She compared the current environment with her early days in magazines, where “you sort of had a smaller pot to pull from. Now it’s like YouTube stars, TV shows on all of the different platforms. There’s just so many more people coming through.” More