Genre: Reality show
The SA spin-off of the global social experiment reality dating show, The Ultimatum: Marry or Move On, is breathe of fresh air in the reality TV drama genre, as it brings to the stage all the things that make a reality show exciting to watch — drama, scandal and a roller coaster of emotions for the cast and audience.
The show involves six couples, who are undecided about whether to marry.
The duration of the relationships ranges from more than seven years to just over six months.
Each pair includes one person who is ready for marriage and one who isn’t.
As a foretaste of marriage, the couples are separated and paired up with one of their co-stars to spend three weeks in a trial marriage.
Thereafter, they return to their original partners and after another three-week period, they must make their final decision regarding marriage.
The show is jam-packed with drama, scandal, fights, reconciliations and heartbreak.
Hosts Salamina and Tshepo ‘Howza’ Mosese have been married for 15 years and are the perfect choices to provide advice and seem to keep the cast members grounded.
One of the couples leaves the show early after one of them finds himself in a compromising situation with a co-star.
Each couple deals with intense relationship issues that go deeper than just the hesitation to get married, such as one couple where the man is reluctant to introduce the woman to his family.
Viewers will also love and hate the many different personalities, including a controversial character who becomes the show’s villain.
The ethics behind reality TV are always muddled and this show is no exception as showrunners overlook blatant physical abuse involving one of the couples, which could be seen as a possible endorsement of abuse by Netflix SA.
After nine episodes the show ended with some happy endings, and some dramatic breakups and the reunion episode is scheduled for release on Friday May 24.
All episodes of The Ultimatum SA are available for streaming on Netflix.
