Peacock is looking to shake up the reality dating space with its new series Couple to Throuple. Premiering Thursday, February 8, Couple to Throuple follows four curious couples through the world of polyamory as they experiment with bringing a third partner into their relationship.
Set at a remote tropical resort, the couples will meet, mingle, and date a group of singles, most of whom are experienced in polyamory. With three times the fun, the feelings, and drama, these relationships are put through the ultimate test to see if they are the perfect match. At the end of their time in paradise, the couples will decide if their hearts have room for more than just “the one” and commit as a throuple, go home as they arrived, or leave separately.
The series features straight and queer couples, which is a rarity for this genre that’s filled to the brim with cisgender, straight pairs. The new format also features something the genre has desperately needed: a dating expert to help guide the contestants through their evolving relationships. This much-needed aid is sexologist/relationship expert Dr. Shamyra Howard. Howard joins host Scott Evans for what’s sure to be a fascinating television event.
No matter the fan response, this is going to be a novel new series. But Evans and Howard are convinced it will appeal to the masses because polyamory is more popular in America than one might expect.
“For people who have experienced non-monogamy, for people who have experienced polyamorous relationships, it was the show that you couldn’t point to,” Evans says of what inspired the show. “It was like, why not now and why not us? Also as you’re seeing more and more couples, more and more people being open and honest about their curiosity, about their experiences in non-monogamy, you realize that this is not a totally foreign concept to many of us.”
“Non-monogamy is becoming more popular, and while people might know a bit about non-monogamy, they don’t really know the depths of it,” says Dr. Shaymra (as she’s known on social media). She was hesitant to join at first, fearing that the supposed novelty of polyamory was being taken advantage of for shock value. Non-monogamy is an umbrella term for people who don’t follow the monogamous dating style. Underneath that umbrella is polyamory, which has subsets of its own. When Dr. Shaymra learned that the series was knowledgable about this difference and specifically focusing on the polyamory subset of throuples (aka triads), she was all in.
“Because I work with polyamorous communities and because polyamory, non-monogamy, and especially throuples are on the rise here in the U.S., I thought that I needed to do this to show people the other side of it,” she explains. “Yeah, there’s the salacious side. There is all other types of sides.”
“Non-monogamy is a legitimate relationship structure. Polyamory is a legitimate relationship style. Over 4 percent, 16 million Americans are practicing some form of non-monogamy, so it is about time to see it represented publicly in a very tasteful, fun way,” she adds.
Evans explains why this series is “inherently queer” and why that was “one of the big draws” for him and Dr. Shamyra: “At least one person in the couple dynamic would have to be open to or was experiencing some level of openness to the same sex. You just don’t really see that on TV, let alone on dating shows. Most are centered around a heteronormative experience or a blip or two of something outside of that. To have this show that at its core was going to be showing the experience of some same-sex relationships, some same-sex interactions, some queerness, I was like, sign me up!”
This also leads to personal revelations for the cast members, Evans reveals. “There were questions answered for people that I don’t know that they ever thought they would actually have to answer,” he explains. “They were challenged in ways I don’t think they ever expected to actually have to face out loud. And there were some huge breakthroughs.”
See Couple to Throuple change the reality dating space when it premieres with its first three episodes on Thursday, February 8 on Peacock. The 10-episode season will drop three new episodes each week after that, with the Episode 10 finale dropping separately.
Couple to Throuple, Series Premiere, Thursday, February 8, Peacock
This story originally appeared on TV Insider
