Love Is Blind Is the Latest Twist on Dating Shows — Here's When It Arrives on Netflix

If you're used to the usual variations on dating reality TV shows, Netflix might have an answer for you. Their new series Love Is Blind, created and hosted by Nick and Vanessa Lachey, combines several elements of your typical dating show with a big twist: the contestants don't get to see each other face-to-face until after they've made a decision about their relationship. If the unusual premise has sparked your interest, here's the lowdown on how and when you can tune in.

Netflix is testing out a different kind of release strategy for Love Is Blind. In the past, streaming shows have mostly followed one of two patterns: dropping entire seasons at once (a model which Netflix itself pioneered and has largely favored, with few exceptions), or releasing episodes on a weekly basis to mimic the old-school model of watching TV on "real" networks. For this show, however, the 10 episodes are being split up in three separate, staggered groups, according to People. First, the first five episodes will arrive just before Valentine's Day, on Feb. 13, presumably at midnight PST, like most Netflix shows. Next, four more episodes will be released a week later, on Feb. 20. Finally, the season finale (which is actually a two-hour supersized episode) will arrive on its own on Feb. 20.

The series doesn't just show the potential couples meeting and flirting while unable to see each other — it follows them as they re-enter their real lives and try to make the relationships work, like the after-series Bachelor finales. There's a touch of Married at First Sight in there too: the couples get engaged straight out of their blind "pod" relationships, and their weddings are set for only a few weeks away from their re-entry into the real world. It's all the fast-tracked romance of The Bachelor mixed with the blind-meeting shenanigans of The Circle, and it's sure to make a big impression when the first episodes drop on Feb. 13.