In 2019, bisexuals, pansexuals, and nonbinary people finally got a new form of representation with Are You The One? Season 8. The sexually fluid cast lived in a house together to figure out which person out of 16 people was their "perfect match." Each "perfect match" was determined by producers before filming. If the cast managed to figure it out, they'd take home a massive prize.
The season showed many aspects of bisexual dating and queer self-discovery. Some of those aspects were unique to queerness, like Kai Wes transitioning and asking Jenna Brown to support them as they inject their hormones. Other situations were universal, but we hadn't seen them played out by queer people before. Arewà Basit's unrequited crush on Jonathan Monroe pulled at everyone's heartstrings; it became frustrating when an episode revealed they were a perfect match to the audience, but didn't know it. Arewà later showed Jonathan how to embrace his femininity, through drag, for a party — and it was a Cinderella moment. Of course, there was plenty of messy drama to balance out the sweet moments, notably Nour Fraij's arguments with Jasmine Olson and Paige Cole. There were also numerous messy hookups that involved Remy Duran. And Kari Snow found out her partner, Kylie Smith, was in a fivesome without her.
These situations put the Jersey Shore cast and the "boom boom room" to shame. The New Jersey franchise was revived in 2018 to follow the cast on vacation together, and the spinoff continues to go strong after seven seasons. It's time to do the same for Are You The One? Season 8's cast.
Them released an interview with six of the cast members in December, and most revealed a hook up that wasn't included in the show. Kari revealed she had a connection with Remy and Justinavery "Justin" Palm. Remy revealed he had a threesome on the last night with Amber Martinez and Justin. A potential reunion may be juicier than fans can imagine. What is better reality television than a reunion between people who had an orgy years ago?
The MTV show captured all these young people as they were still coming to terms with coming out. Some of them, like Remy, were working in night life and that showed. Jenna said she applied to the show freshly out of rehab. But bisexual and trans people are more than their partying and transitioning years, and these people learned more about themselves, and some have truly matured. Kari, who got flack for wanting to be on the reality show for fame, has cannily made her fame last by appearing on Sexy Beasts and then Perfect Match. Remy is a father with a girlfriend and, as he told Them, understands this doesn't erase his bisexual identity. In the same interview, Arewà happily talked about becoming an auntie and pursuing acting.
It's a shame we don't see any of these stories on television; the queer people of reality television should have their lives' milestone moments followed and celebrated just as their straight counterparts.
The updates from the cast members also highlighted interesting fractures in the cast. "I would say half the cast I'm still friendly with, and then the other half I just really don't appreciate," Kari told Them. She later claimed some castmates "picked" on her — and it didn't take long to find one person shading her in the interview. Kari was open about applying for the MTV dating show multiple times. Remy claimed he hated the cast as a group because they wanted to be famous, but that Are You the One? doesn't make anyone a star. "Some people came in like, 'Oh, no, I've auditioned four times for this show, and blah, blah, blah,'" he said. "And I'm like, 'Girl, we can tell.'"
The interesting thing about Remy and Kari is that they're both right. Are You The One? has returned only once since the iconic bisexual season, proof that it's not exactly a viewer magnet. But the sexually fluid season made queer TV history, and that cast has — and will always have — a special place in our culture.
The other interesting fracture is between Kai and multiple cast members. Jenna revealed she cut them off after their rollercoaster romance on the series and they haven't spoken since 2020. She claimed to currently be in her first healthy relationship. The show's producers matched Danny Prikazsky and Kai, who seemed to be polar opposites. Danny plainly said in the new interview that he didn't like Kai. "In my time of knowing Kai, they were not a very responsible person," he claimed. "They didn't take responsibility for the way they affected others."
Fortunately, Kai was able to respond to some of the criticisms of their actions. "I think that I was a bit irresponsible, but I also have strong opinions on the word choices used by some of my cast members who were not willing to hold themselves accountable for their own behavior and who were manipulative in their own ways," they said. Their biggest issue was being labeled as "toxic." They also acknowledged that they have "liberal opinions about relationship structures" and don't get jealous. This attitude is valid, but goes against the show's idea of a person having "one perfect match."
Jersey Shore: Family Vacation reunited their cast with feuding members like Angela Pivarnick. Sammi "Sweetheart" In 2024, Giancola reunited for a trip that included ex-boyfriend Ronnie Ortiz-Magro. If it's safe, it would be amazing to see if this group of people could be friends years later — especially without the pressure on them to find a perfect match. There's far more to this cast than we saw, and fans — and the culture — would benefit from a similar reunion.
In an ideal world, the representation of sexually fluid people would've grown more in the past five years, but nothing has truly filled the void from Are You The One? Season 8. If television won't show us new queer faces, we should at the very least bring back the familiar ones.
