RTÉ conducts Love Experiment

The Love Experiment format debuted in Belgium on youth channel Tipik

Irish national broadcaster RTÉ has commissioned a local version of social experiment format The Love Experiment.

Based on a psychological experiment conducted in 1996 by US psychologist Dr Arthur Aron, the format sees two strangers seated opposite each other ask 36 intimate questions, after which they must stare at each other for three minutes with uninterrupted eye contact to see if a connection develops.

The format is from Australian prodco Media Stockade and Dublin-born filmmaker Sinéad McDevitt (Alchemy Productions) and developed from her short film How to Fall in Love with a Stranger.

The Love Experiment first aired in Belgium on francophone pubcaster RTBF’s youth channel Tipik.

Australia- and UK-based distributor Flame Distribution has also sold the format to South African broadcaster Media 24 for VIA TV, the Afrikaans lifestyle channel.

Fiona Gilroy, content sales and acquisitions director for Flame Distribution said: “This format couldn’t have been better timed as the pandemic has clearly driven a wedge between social interaction and relationships more than ever, creating a real craving for connection.”