Netflix dating shows are going faceless — but conventional beauty remains the norm

Looks aren’t everything, says Netflix’s new blind dating show, Sexy Beasts — but experts say that on television, beauty is still skin deep.

The series, which premiered Wednesday, is the latest in a long line of gimmick-driven dating shows. In this case, the faces of contestants are obscured by ultra-realistic prosthetics so that they look like various animals or fairytale creatures when meeting each other for dates. 

Like previous Netflix hit Love is Blind and the 1965 ABC series The Dating Game, where contestants were divided by a partition, Sexy Beasts tries to convince viewers that looks don’t need to be a factor when falling in love.