I love a good reality dating show, and lucky for me, there’s never a shortage of them to choose from, though Hulu's virgin-centric Are You My First? stands out from the pack. Elsewhere on the 2025 TV schedule, we’ve got Bachelor in Paradise in progress, 90 Day Fiancé and its spinoffs, and any number of Netflix dating series, like Perfect Match, which just might restore your faith in the genre. For now, I am completely hooked into Hulu's new series, despite seeing two big problems with it so far.
Are You My First? (available to stream now with a Hulu subscription) is hosted by former Bachelor Nation leads Kaitlyn Bristowe and Colton Underwood, who are guiding a cast composed entirely of virgins. The young singles go on dates and participate in challenges similar to what we’ve seen on other reality dating shows, but that brings me to the first — and probably biggest — issue with the series.
Problem 1: There’s No Way To Know Everyone Is Actually A Virgin
The entire premise of Are You My First? hinges on all of its contestants not having had sex before, and that’s just impossible to prove. Be it for medical purposes, their religion or something else entirely, each cast member has their own reason for remaining chaste, and producers simply had to take their word for it. That seems like a pretty big risk.
Executive producer Peter Geist acknowledged as much when asked by Variety how they can ensure that everyone’s telling the truth. He said:
Honestly, there’s really no way to know. Through casting, we got to know these people pretty closely, and I think we have a good sense of who these people are. Is there the possibility that someone wasn’t telling us the truth? Absolutely.
At least those in charge understood the situation, and it sounds like they still thought it was a risk worth taking. The EP continued:
The vast majority of them were super clear and honest about why they were virgins, and it just all kind of made sense. Then, it was funny when we were filming for a few days, especially coming from other dating series — my last dating series was ‘Milf Manor’ — you could just tell. These people are virgins!
It’s true that the cast of Are You My First? seems much less sexually charged than their counterparts on Love Island or Too Hot to Handle, so I guess the abstinent aesthetic is achieved either way.
At least as far as I’ve seen in the series, there hasn’t been any discussion about what definitively constitutes virginity, or if any of them are “reformed virgins.” Also, as we saw during one storyline from The Ultimatum: Queer Love's recently wrapped season, people define intimacy in different ways.
Problem 2: Colton Underwood Is Not A Good Narrator
As a longtime fan of The Bachelor, I admit that Colton Underwood — aka the “virgin Bachelor” — and Kaitlyn Bristowe serving as the hosts was one of the initial aspects of Are You My First? that piqued my interest.
I know some were perplexed by Hulu’s decision to hire the former Bachelor, myself included, given his behavior following his messy breakup with Cassie Randolph, during which she accused him of stalking her and filed a restraining order against him. (Underwood is also set to appear on the upcoming season of The Traitors, where he is arguably not the most controversial Season 4 contestant.)
All of that aside, the blunt truth is I don’t think Colton Underwood is good in this role. The script that he and Kaitlyn Bristowe are reading from is full of virgin puns and references, which I can mostly get behind with the right person selling the humor, which just isnt' the case here. I love that the eliminations are called “Virgin Sacrifices,” and the date cards are, naturally, “V cards,” but some of the jokes are made rougher through repetition with diminishing returns.
In the first handful of episodes that I’ve watched so far, Kaitlyn Bristowe has already promised to “be gentle” more than once when delivering information "in case it's our first time," and some of the other puns are similarly groan-worthy in the worst way. Colton Underwood seems to lack the enthusiasm required to naturally pull off lines like:
- I’m Colton Underwood, and if you’re confused to why the voiceover just swapped from woman to man, you’ve just lost your two-narrators virginity.
- After the initial chats, the big question is where are they gonna get laid tonight? By ‘they,’ I mean the virgins’ heads, getting innocently laid down onto soft pillows.
Those two lines are just in the first episode, which is where the A-tier scripting should be. It’s also painfully obvious that Colton is reading his lines, and even when he’s actually talking to the cast members on the show, much of his audio was re-recorded after the fact.
When the sound editing is that obvious, and the energy in the host’s voice is noticeably lower than the music, activities and everything else, it really takes me out of the show. Even if what he's actually saying isn't going to win any awards anyway.
Still, Are You My First? Has Sucked Me In, And I Can’t Stop Watching
Despite those two fairly big problems, I just keep watching the new Hulu show. The producers compiled a really good cast, in my opinion. Rachael is really compelling to me with her vaginismus keeping her from being sexually active, and Farha (pictured above) is the virgin with an OnlyFans. I also think Godwin is a lot of fun, and Madi stuck out to be immediately, too.
It’s entertaining, but in a completely different way, to see young singles in this type of environment, going through these challenges and dating in such a chaste way. Nobody’s licking anybody’s thigh or being dared to do a three-way kiss (can anybody guess which show I just finished?).
In fact, during an early-season game of Truth or Dare, it looked like nobody was even brave enough to pick Dare!
Will anyone on Are You My First? lose their virginity to a fellow castmate? I’m not sure, and I’m not sure it matters. Either way I’m enjoying the show for its concept, despite the faultiness of its premise. It will be interesting to see if it gets a second season and whether Colton Underwood and Kaitlyn Bristowe return.
All 10 episodes of Are You My First are streaming now on Hulu.
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