Just How Serious Is The Baby-Making Premise Of Wild New Reality Show Labor of Love?

ICYMI, there's a wild new dating show in town. Labor of Love - airing in the US now, is a Bachelor-style show in which a woman chooses from selection of different men to... have a baby with. However, it's not quite as wild or sexist as it seems.

Everyone on the show has waited later in life to have children, and so lead Kristy Katzmann, 41, and her 'suitors' (it's a Bachelorette-style show) all share their concerns about their “biological clock” and wanting to quickly start a family. The show highlights that there isn’t one way to become a parent. Kristy says “If I don’t meet the right person, I am prepared to become a mom on my own” early on.

Despite the interesting choice to have promos show the men hooked up to a machine that simulates childbirth, Labor of Love is actually just a normal dating show that just so happens to have an older lead. Since Kristy has already been through the dating scene, she doesn’t make excuses for any of the men. She knows what she wants and if she sees a red flag then she directly addresses it with a guy and likely sends him home. Also, to be clear, Kristy isn’t actually having a baby with any of the contestants on the show. Not yet, anyway.

Honestly, Labor of Love, hosted by Sex and the City’s Kristin Davis, is pretty similar to US-fave The Bachelorette with some elements of other 2000s and 2010 reality shows dispersed throughout. (There are also random, comedic interviews from Kristy’s parents and each of the contestants’ family members.) The rules are pretty simple. There are drills, a shared living situation, dates, and eliminations. Each element of the show focuses on the idea of truly being ready to get married and start a family because at the end Kristy will “choose one man to become the father of her child.” Here’s a quick rundown of what to expect each episode. 

Each episode, the men participate in “drills” that test how prepared they are to start a family. They also help Kristy learn what type of family the men plan to raise and if her expectations match their hopes for the future. The drill in the series premiere is by far the most cringeworthy but it was likely thrown in to get people hooked on the show. It involves all the men boarding a mobile collection centre to make sure they are fertile. 

When she is first introduced, Kristy shares that she has frozen her eggs and she is shown talking to her fertility doctor, Dr. Kaplan, about her biological clock. Her doctor later returns for the first drill to explain to the guys that men have biological clocks, too. Each of the men learn how many “active swimmers” they have before a winner is announced. (The drills are similar to the competitive group dates on The Bachelorette.) 

The winners don’t technically receive anything but how well each man performs in the drill gives Kristy some more insight about their potential as a husband and father. For some of the drills, a certain set of rules might be explained to the men ( the producers are shown giving instructions) while Kristy shares the real intent of the challenge with the audience. In the first few episodes, the drills involve a hilarious encounter with a bear and IQ tests. 

Labor of Love was filmed in Atlanta, Georgia and mostly takes place on a large property with two homes, one for Kristy and another for the men just a few feet away. The men sleep in twin, bunk beds and are shown goofing off and arguing with each other. Kristy joins the men at their house to invite them on dates or to hold group activities. 

Since they are literally just a driveway from each other, some men take advantage of the opportunity to visit Kristy by cooking her meals or just dropping by to spend extra time with her.

The dates don’t arrive until the second episode because the premiere is spent introducing the audience to Kristy and her 15 potential husbands. In episode 2, the men receive a message on a television screen (similar to Tyra Mail on America’s Next Top Model) from Kristy that asks the men on a date. This is also how she communicates with them when they need to get ready for a drill.  

Kirsty asks two men on a date per episode. The dates can range from public dates at basketball games, to overnight dates, or cooking dates at Kristy’s house. There aren’t any guarantees that a man who was asked on the date is safe for the week. He can still be eliminated at the end of the episode if the date wasn’t what Kristy expected. Also, it is funny to watch the men snoop out the window whenever Kristy returns from a date. 

During the eliminations, all the guys sit around their TV while host Davis and Kristy go over her suitors on an iPad-like device and make selections. If Kristy drags a man’s profile picture to the “let’s keep dating” section of the screen, then he will stay another week. If he is left in the “we need to talk” box, then she will let him know if he impressed her that week or if she is sending him home. When she selects each man, his profile page pops up on the screen, similar to The Circle. The men see her actions in real time as she moves their pictures across the screen. Kristy then locks her decision which the men also get to watch. 

Kristy either chooses to eliminate people saying “I don’t see us starting a family together,” or she compliments them and tells them she would like to keep dating. The eliminated men grab their suitcases, leave immediately, and their profile drops to the “denied dads” section on the screen.

So, to sum things up, Labor of Love doesn’t involve any type of pregnancy. It’s just a classic dating show with a bunch of 30-and-40-year-olds who participate in wacky drills, go on romantic dates, and then possibly go home.

Kristy and (most of) the contestants are solely focused on finding a lifelong partner, but there is plenty of drama thrown in the mix. If you’re a fan of reality TV, you will definitely enjoy this show — the "labour" premise is mostly about intentions, not the actual content. Thank god.