Trust: Unsolicited Relationship Advice from a Reality TV Addict.

I watch a lot of reality tv.

Specifically, a lot of really trashy reality dating shows. Love Island, Love is Blind, Are You The One, Dating in the Wild, Dating on the Spectrum, Ultimatum, Farming for Love, The Circle (yes, this is dating), Too Hot to Handle, Naked Attraction (my absolute favourite of them all, by far!)— hell, I even consider Naked and Afraid to be a dating show at its core.

Now, aside from all of these shows' fictitiously arranged scenarios and goofy staged experiments, the unfolding drama that inevitably swallows these contestants up usually boils down to some variation of "miscommunication" (or "this experiment is not real life at all and for entertainment purposes only"). That shouldn't come as a surprise to anybody, since "communication" has generally been the Unsolicited Relationship Advice 101 since the beginning of time. However, it needs to get a step further than simple honesty—communication is not enough. Here is my Ted Talk.