Behind The Scenes of ABC's Dating in the Dark

Would you go on a blind date...in the dark? How about three?

Welcome to the premise of ABC’s hit show, “Dating in the Dark”, which is, as hottie host Rossi Morreale states in his own words, “a social experiment to see if people can actually find someone they would date by taking looks out of the equation.”

The show concept is simple: over the course of four days, three girls and three guys live in two separate houses and go on dates with each other in a pitch black room. At the beginning of each episode, the six participants meet together in the darkroom to introduce themselves and chat. Next, the men and women retire to their separate quarters to discuss who they want to meet in the darkroom for a date. After two or three dates, each participant must choose the one person he or she wants to see in the light. Once physical appearances are revealed to a couple, each participant decides whether or not to meet the other person on the balcony in order to proceed on a “real” date. For example, the guy waits on the balcony, which has a clear view of the front door, for the girl to either join him or walk out the front door with her luggage.

If you haven’t watched the show, the premise may sound complicated when it’s pretty straightforward: if you like someone in the dark, will you continue to like him or her when the lights come on? You made out with her one minute, and now you’re leaving her on the balcony feeling totally rejected? Is everyone always that shallow? Well, no, not always. Rossi, who is also a relationship expert and Atlanta’s own Jessica Cayne take us behind the scenes of one of the most unique dating reality shows on TV.

“It’s insane,” says Jessica, a petite, blond 24-year-old singer-songwriter. “You literally cannot see your hand in front of your face. Every time you go in [to the darkroom], your senses are heightened; your heart rate is up. I kept thinking, ‘what if he tries to kiss me? How do I say no?’ I wasn’t going to make out with someone I didn’t know.”

Jessica clicked with cute publicist Dave. After a few dark dates, she told him, “I can say without question that I don’t care what you look like; I will definitely go on a date with you.”

See? Everyone isn’t shallow. Contestant, Natasha, connected with Dave as well (DRAMA!) and she chose him for the big reveal, which meant he had to decide between meeting Jessica or Natasha on the balcony. While he alluded to the fact that Natasha was “hotter” after he saw both women in the light, he chose Jessica, whom he clicked with more.

Sound like a fairytale? Well, yes, until Dave revealed he had a girlfriend (but, you didn’t hear that from us). Jessica was relieved, not heartbroken. “He turned out to be a guy I would be friends with and hang out with, but I wasn’t as into him as I thought I would be,” she says. “It’s that heightened sense of reality that makes you think you’re really into someone. It’s a caricature way of living [on a reality show]. Everything is blown out of proportion, everything is magnified; feelings are magnified. You act the way you think you should, not the way you normally would.”

Despite Dave’s and Jessica’s experiences, plenty of love connections have been made on the show, with couples continuing to date after the cameras stop rolling. Some of those couples may have never gotten as far as a date if the two had met in a bar, but they got the chance to connect mentally and emotionally first, without physical appearance in the mix. “[Show participants] can only interact in this dark room,” Rossi says. “It forces them to get down to who that person is; within 15-20 minutes, they’re talking about family, their childhoods, religion—all the stuff you don’t usually talk about right off the bat, but the things that really have a big influence on who you are as an individual. They are connecting on a deeper level because all they have to do is talk and listen. Half the time, they end up making out and they’ve never even seen each other before!”

Another couple, Kym and Storm, clicked (and, yes, they made out) in the first episode. “Kym was cute, not gorgeous, and Storm was this very good-looking trainer,” Rossi says. “But, for Storm, it was the first time a girl respected him for the person he was. Kym tapped into that, while most girls just wanted him for his looks and body.” To most viewers, Storm was the attractive one, but when he chose Kym, she was hesitant to meet him on the balcony (in the end, she did meet him and they rode away lip-locked in a limo).

Joey, the shallowest of the show’s contestants, was so obsessed with weight that he literally felt up Natasha’s entire body in the darkroom on their second date to see if she was indeed overweight, which he claimed after their first date when his hands brushed her mid-section. The worst part: he told her what he was doing and why he was doing it (talk about a charmer). He wanted to see Natasha again after realizing she was by no means overweight, but he had no such luck. Insulted by his actions and his reasoning, Natasha elected not to see him in the light. Confused by his failure to make a love connection (not hard to figure out), Joey left the show alone.

It makes sense to take physical attraction out of the equation to see if a relationship still has legs. To Rossi, it’s simple: “I think the overall idea is to show what will happen if we all walked into bars and got to know each other first before seeing each other. Relationships would be different. Think of how many people stay with the wrong person just because he or she is smoking hot. I’ve done it, we’ve all done it.” After dating plenty of Miss Wrongs, Rossi finally found Miss Right in country singer Kacey Coppola. While their first date wasn’t in the dark, they would definitely still be together if it had been, because it’s her good looks and personality that he’s fallen for.

Another plus for dating in the dark: you don’t have to stress about your date examining your appearance and every move. Who cares if you have food in your teeth? So what if your hair just would not cooperate? No big deal if the cheeseburger you had at lunch pooches out your tummy a bit. Your date can’t see a thing.

We should all consider turning out the lights sometimes.

Catch Dating in the Dark Monday nights on ABC at 10 p.m.

Check out www.jessicacayne.com to see show dates for the up-and-coming country singer.

Photo of Jessica and Dave in the darkroom, courtesy of ABC.