Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Twin Love’ on Prime Video, An Addictive and Fun Dating Experiment That Splits Codependent Twins Up So They Can Find Love

Twins are often each other’s best friends, but sometimes the tight bond twins share can become an obstacle when it comes time to look for love. On Prime Video‘s new dating series Twin Love, you’ll often hear some of the contestants say, “If you’re dating me, you’re dating my twin,” and while, sure the Spice Girls also felt similarly (if you wannabe my lover, you gotta get with my friends, a-zig-a-zig-ahhh), that can be hard on a potential partner and it can set up unrealistic expectations. Twin Love, hosted by WWE’s Bella Twins, is a dating show that forces ten sets of twins to live apart from one another to find a mate. While the goal is for these twins to find love, they also have to learn to exist without their sibling, which proves impossible for some of them.

TWIN LOVE: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: Footage of the ten Twin Love contestants shows the pairs all speaking and behaving similarly. A voiceover explains, “Identical twins look, sound, and even dance the same. But will they love the same?”

The Gist: Twin Love claims to be a “social dating experiment” that examines the ways that twins find partners. We’re told that identical twins are often late bloomers, dating, losing their virginity, and getting married later than everyone else, often due to the fact that many twins prioritize their sibling relationship over all others. Here, ten sets of twins, most of whom have never really spent time apart, are separated from one another to see if being on their own helps them find love more easily.

The show is hosted by professional wrestling duo Brie and Nikki Garcia (known professionally as Brie and Nikki Bella, or the Bella Twins), who both admit that their devotion to one another started to become a problem when it came to external relationships. “We finally figured out that our marriages and families have to come before our twin,” one of them says. (It’s not that I can’t tell them apart, this quote was delivered via voiceover so I just have no idea who said it.) With ten twins living in a house called the Garden House and their siblings living in a mansion called the Villa House, it does seem like an interesting study to determine whether the behave in the same way and even gravitate toward the same sets of twins as partners. When the contestants learn they’ll be separated for the duration of the show, they are all surprised that they won’t be communicating regularly with their twin. (For some this is no problem, but for a couple of the contestants, this is their first time ever without their sibling and it proves to be too much to handle, emotionally.)

While everyone on this show has that classic dating show vibe (ready to party, good looking, smokin’ bod), there are two things about these contestants that stand out. One is that their average age skews a few years older than your typical dating show contestant (unless we’re talking Golden Bachelor, which we are not): while a few are 22 years old, the majority are all in their late 20s or early 30s. The second thing is that many of these people have not had previous long-term relationships or even casual relationships, despite their classic “hottie” status. And this is all due to the fact that they all prioritize their twin relationship over having partners.

This being an extremely heteronormative show, the women in each house are asked to pick which guy they’re attracted to in a “blind crush” test, and the guys are asked to reciprocate and pick a woman. While it’s interesting to see if anyone basically swipes right on each other, what makes the show intriguing is whether the twins who are living in different houses make the same choices (or are able to predict which partner their twin will choose). Of course, none of what we see is truly based on science or probability as far as the twins matching with other pairs of twins as much as it’s just pure attraction, but there’s a real element of fun and surprise seeing whether the sibling interconnectedness extends to love matches in completely different house.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? VH1’s reality game show Twinning, which aired back in 2015, featured a premise that tested the “twintuition” of several pairs of twins. (I admittedly watched the whole show.) While it wasn’t a dating show, it was a pretty interesting look at the psychic connection between twins.

Our Take: A lot of dating shows claim to be social experiments, whether they force contestants to abstain from sex, don’t allow people to see their potential mates in the flesh, or add elements of temptation into existing relationships. But Twin Love never feels like it’s trying to pull bad behavior from its contestants: here, the biggest shock comes when the twins learn they’ll have to separate from one another. As a result, it’s fascinating to see which twins thrive when they’re isolated, and which ones seem codependent to the point that they can’t function without their sibling.

Unlike some dating shows, no one participating on the show feels like a horny sex monster. Instead, this feels like a genuine attempt at understanding twin psychology and attraction. It manages to be a completely entertaining dating show full of interesting personalities, but there’s a fun element thrown in when the twins become privy to who their siblings choose to pair off with, and how it compares to what’s happening in their own house and who they match with.

Sex and Skin: Many of the contestants dress in slinky, skin-baring clothes, but so far that’s it.

Parting Shot: Nikki and Brie inform the contestants that they’re in for a surprise. We see a pair of legs walking into one of the houses, but since the shot is only from the waist down, it’s not clear who is about to enter or what it could mean. As the episode ends, we hear one of the male contestants mutter, “Oh, shit.”

Performance Worth Watching: Without knowing what the vibe of the show would be (and without following the careers of the Bella twins), I wasn’t sure what kind of tone to expect from Nikki and Brie, but they exude a warmth and kindness toward the contestants that feels almost maternal. They host the show from a place of experience, which makes the contestants trust them, and while they’re happy to rib on one another, they understand the psychic connection that can make twin life so rewarding, but also can hinder one’s own individuality.

Memorable Dialogue: “It’s gonna be double the sexy, double the drama, and double the mayhem.”

Our Call: STREAM IT. Even though Twin Love is primarily a dating show, it’s also a fascinating look at co-dependence, family bonds, and knowing oneself. Every single contestant on this show already has a true soul mate in their twin, and what’s most thrilling as a viewer is seeing how that unique bond (one that most of us don’t understand) has affected the social and romantic lives for these twins.

Liz Kocan is a pop culture writer living in Massachusetts. Her biggest claim to fame is the time she won on the game show Chain Reaction.