Terry Tsurugi

Seems like I had a different reaction to this show than most did. In contrast to all the complaints I've seen, I loved it. The contestants were the most interesting, sincere, and relatable I've ever seen in a K dating show. I felt that most of them were truly looking for love and not just trying to break into show business or promote themselves as influencers.

Also, the panel was one of the most perceptive and helpful that I've seen. We didn't get too much of them, and what we did get showed a lot of wisdom. I especially appreciated In-guk's contributions, and I never realized he was such an emotionally intelligent person.

The directing and editing and production were also very high quality. This is one way in which I think this beat one of my other favorite K dating shows, Exchange. I preferred the tighter editing to Exchange's looser editing.

And this cast of girls was one of the most likable and interesting I've ever seen. I really wished the best for every one of them (except I never got to know poor Mi-ji). It's amazing to think that such attractive and appealing people have never been in a relationship before. But when you learn about their past traumas and issues, you can understand why, and then you come to care about them more.

Of course, the show isn't without its flaws. The girls really deserved better than this bunch of guys. Unlike with the girls, with the guys, it's obvious why they've had such a hard time with dating despite their good looks. Every one of them has major, deal-breaking flaws in their personalities (except that I never really learned what Seung-chan's flaws or assets were), whether it's being totally self-centered, terrible listeners, terrible conversationalists, neurotic, moody, overly competitive, borderline autistic, indecisive, etc. The guy's flaws made me question their ability to maintain a long-term relationship, whereas I thought all of the girls had promise for overcoming their issues.

And because the show was shorter than other shows like Exchange, I can understand some of the criticism about the editing, especially with the cursory treatment of the 2 gamechangers (they were anything but that). But I still feel they did a good job condensing the hundreds (or thousands) of hours of video into a coherent, fast-paced narrative that never bores. The most frustrating thing about bad editing in a Korean dating show is when they waste their very limited airtime with repetitive or trivial filler scenes that make it obvious that the staff just quickly threw a bunch of cuts together to make their aggressive deadline. I never felt that way about Better Late Than Single, and I appreciate its higher level of production quality.

I really hope that these contestants, who are probably a lot more fragile than most show biz types and influencers, are shielded from all the psycho hate that I see online. Even someone like Jeong-mok, who clumsily hurt the feelings of several girls on the show, doesn't deserve the hate. Come on, the guy was trying his best despite his aggravating problems clearly communicating his decisions and intentions. He just has some personality issues, and he's not some malicious villain like you see on lots of other shows. It was very brave of all of them to come on a show like this and expose themselves to all the crazy mobs out there.