Kriti Mehrotra
If there’s one thing absolutely nobody can deny, it’s that every relationship demands a lot of respect owing to the communication, intimacy, and vulnerability involved at every step of the way. However, Netflix’s ‘The Ultimatum: Queer Love’ does twist things a little by having people from couples at a crossroads date one another to help them realize what they really desire in the long run. It thus comes as no surprise this original is a blend of pure chaos and messy drama, driving many to wonder whether any of it is actually real — so we’ve dug deep to get the details for you.
Is The Ultimatum: Queer Love Real or Fake?
From the moment the core concept of ‘The Ultimatum’ was first announced by the streaming giant serving as its home in March 2022, it has decisively been billed as an unscripted reality series. And since the only difference between this initial production with ‘Queer Love’ is that all the participants in the latter are either gay/bi women or simply non-binary individuals, it sticks to its original billing. This actually indicates no circumstance or sentiment was concocted by entertainment industry experts to have the willing cast come across as any different than who they are in real life.
In fact, the authenticity is evident through the social media platforms of all the featured couples, especially as it indicates each pair was genuinely involved prior to filming (in 2021) and had their issues. Let’s take Lexi Goldberg and Raelyn “Rae” Cheung-Sutton for example; the latter debuted the beautiful blonde as her girlfriend on Instagram back in November 2018, plus the former recently indicated she hasn’t emotionally dealt with everything that’d transpired both before and during the shoot. In other words, considering their significant history, each of their assertions, conversations, as well as experiences in the series were most likely entirely unfiltered and true.
However, we can not ignore that the entire narrative of this show is susceptible to modifications through back-end interference in the hopes of making the final result as captivating as possible. After all, since producers invest extensive resources (time, money, energy, skills, etc) to ensure such an original’s long-term, overall success, their priority does often evolve into securing a stable, profitable return more than anything. Though instead of directly constructing some drama from the ground up, these executives reportedly merely nudge cast members to pursue specific, complex topics of conversation at particular points to naturally spark some lasting intrigue.
Then there’s the post-production editing process, which is honestly utterly unavoidable because it is the producers’ sole means to bring practical meaning and flow between different scenes from different days. This element is in the hands of those behind the cameras alone, meaning they can cut, edit, and play with the cast’s personal accounts in any way they deem fit to maintain the audience’s continued attention.
Nevertheless, despite the modified narrative, the editing, and the nudging, it appears as if ‘The Ultimatum: Queer Love’ is as natural, real, unscripted as it can be since nothing is manufactured/faked. Though it’s still imperative to clarify that you should always take every such series with a grain of salt because you never really know the true extent of producer interference in terms of engineering or manipulation.
Read More: Where is Netflix’s The Ultimatum Queer Love Filmed?
