The Ultimatum

If while watching Netflix's latest reality dating “experiment” 'The Ultimatum: Marry or Move On,' you keep asking yourself, “Wait, who did she come here ...

Who does Hunter choose to date? Who does Nate date? The couple with the most legitimate and thorny deal-breaker, Lauren and Nate disagree on the subject of children. He wants to “travel, have fun, and be financially stable” before getting married, but April wants to get married and fill her SUV with kids immediately. It’s a problem that could be easily remedied with a quick onscreen pop-up every now and then (instead of a chyron telling us their ages every single time), but as it stands, the show loses some of its steam when viewers are trying to remember several layers of relationship tension. It got to the point that I was distracted from The Ultimatum’s most dramatic moments by having to constantly ask, “Wait, who did she come here with?” and “Sorry, who is his girlfriend dating now?”

Nothing proves if your love is “true” like being forced to watch your boyfriend or girlfriend fake-marry some rando.

After that, they’ll then enter a second three-week “trial marriage” back with their original partner, and at the end of the show, they’ll decide whether to propose to the old person, propose to the new person, or leave single. Of course someone new can listen to your hopes and dreams without judgment—they haven’t had to endure two years of your farts, or your feelings on the merits of duvet covers. Participating in this social experiment, Vanessa says in all earnestness halfway through the series, is “about you as a person, and God willing, finding that other person. What’s crazier is this: Ultimatum has each couple pretend to break up, then makes every contestant enter a three-week “trial marriage” with another “newly single” contestant. Not so with the chaotic new Netflix show The Ultimatum: Marry or Move On, an experiment from the creators of Love is Blind so torturous it should probably invoke ethical review by the Office for Human Research Protections. It features six established couples, all made up of pairs in which one has given the other an ultimatum to propose or break up. Contemporary matchmaking shows that corral heterosexual strangers to mix and mingle, demanding that they lock someone down after mere weeks of so-called dating—Love is Blind, Sexy Beasts, all the Bachelors and Bachelorettes—are a special kind of farce.

Netflix's 'The Ultimatum: Marry or Move On' delivered the drama in the first eight episodes — read our recap, and grade the season so far.

Madlyn backed up April, revealing that Nate told her 10 minutes before proposing to Lauren that he was going to choose her. When Nick asked Hunter what he was thinking in that moment, Hunter took the opportunity to propose to Alexis. This set April off because she felt like she wasted her whole week. Six participants issued an ultimatum to their partner to either commit to marriage or break up.

Get all the details about each couple's relationship struggles in Episodes 1-8 before the Episode 9 finale reveals who gets married and who moves on.

And be sure to tune in to TV Insider for recaps of The Ultimatum season finale and reunion special, set to come out April 13 on Netflix. And at the end of the week, they chose a new person to be their trial spouse for three weeks. The first eight episodes of the latest series from the Love Is Blind creators dropped Wednesday, April 6 on Netflix. And if you can believe it, it’s even wilder rise than its sibling series.

Netflix's 'The Ultimatum' has arrived! Here's where to follow the cast on Instagram for updates on their relationship status and if they're still dating.

She's ready to get married and have kids, and thinks Randall is too—but he wants to get some things done before putting a ring on it. These two have been dating for two years and April was the ultimatum-giver, telling cameras, "I just want a ring and I want a baby. "We have dated through college and I have graduated and I have everything planned out in my life," Rae said in her intro. These two have been together one-and-a-half years and Shanique issued the ultimatum. Meanwhile, Jake explained, "She's my best friend and I do want her to be part of my life 'til I die." One person in each relationship is ready to make it official, and the other person is experiencing cold feet.

The re-coupling episodes of Netflix's new dating series 'The Ultimatum' were nothing if not chaotic. Here, we break it down.

Nate is pissed about what she said to the point of Jake stepping in to tell him to "let someone f---ing talk." Alexis jumps in to say she thinks a lot of people are feeling what April is about the experience and Nate's surprising move, because it doesn't seem like Nate and Lauren have settled the question of having a family. Alexis and Hunter and Nate and Lauren leave the experience engaged. Colby even presses Lauren about the lack of excitement he saw in her moments after she enthusiastically said "yes" to Nate's proposal. The shocking turn of events bums April out because she feels like her week was wasted and she still doesn't have a partner for the three-week trial marriage. Even Nick and Vanessa are concerned about what Nate is doing, which is proposing to Lauren. Given that it was Nate who initially gave Lauren the ultimatum, and that he just said having kids was an "all-encompassing" issue for him, several cast members ask about how they'll resolve that issue. After Alexis goes on to express the clarity she found, and confirms that even though she loves Hunter, she will walk away if she has to, Hunter stands up and declares, "Guys, I want to marry Alexis." Between her love for Randall and the connections she made with both Zay and Nate, Shanique is conflicted about who to choose. I want it to feel easy and to feel like it's always evolving, it's always growing," she says during the dinner. "I don't want him living with someone else, I don't want him dating someone else," says Alexis, who didn't connect with any of the other men during the first stage. From the creators of Love Is Blind — and also hosted by Nick and Vanessa Lachey — The Ultimatum tests the relationships of couples by having them enter into trial marriages with new people after one person in the relationship gives the other a choice: engagement or ending the relationship. He formed a strong connection with Rae, who was honest about the strangeness of the experience and feeling jealous about seeing her partner, Zay, going on dates.

Netflix's 10-part bin fire gets couples on the verge of marriage to ditch their partners and date someone new. This is reality TV so bad you will pray for ...

The answer is “Yes, absolutely”, and it is delivered in the form of The Ultimatum: Marry or Move On. In this 10-part bin fire, the Lacheys introduce us to what is claimed to be six couples, but by my instantly anxious and fevered count, number at least 302, who have in common the fact that one of each pair wants the other to put a ring on it or else call a halt to their relationship. Homosexuality has not yet entered the Lacheyean universe, although they have promised a second season with an LGBT cast). “A” denotes blondness, “B” denotes not-blondness and that is literally everything covered that matters in this show. Anyway. The couples are split up and encouraged to lounge round a pool, have dinner, drink cocktails and see if they “spark” with anyone else. Shit or Get Off the Pot would have been a better title, but, alas, the US still clings in the strangest ways to its Puritan past, so to marry or move on is the decorous choice presented. This all goes exactly as well, which is to say as badly, as you would expect. The last programme presented by married couple Nick and Vanessa Lachey (fixtures in the reality TV firmament for the last 10-15 years, for reasons that need not concern us now, or possibly ever) was Love Is Blind. This was (indeed continues to be, until at least 2024, as a fourth and fifth seasons have just been commissioned) a show in which strangers communicate from single “pods” without being able to see each other until various pairs profess themselves in love, become engaged, then meet and get to know one another for a month before actually-factually getting married.

'The Ultimatum,' a show about testing the strength and compatibility of existing couples, landed on Netflix just in time for reality TV lovers to enjoy.

Interestingly enough, he’s also shared a few pics from Colorado! So, is the couple still together, and were they able to come to a true decision about having kids? He told the cameras, “Colby is the type of guy, in my head, that is gonna continue to try to push the envelope, continue to try to approach Lauren, and that worries me. There are no signs they've made it down the aisle just yet, but it appears the couple is most likely still together and making things work. It’s been about a year since Lauren and Nate got engaged after his change of heart about having children. Having kids is definitely a dealbreaker conversation for many couples, which is why fans of the show are curious to know if Lauren and Nate have been able to move forward from there. Nate seemed hell-bent on his choice to end things with Lauren and pursue a relationship with a woman who’d be willing to start a family with him until feelings of jealousy began popping up in his head.

Are Lauren Pounds and Nathan Ruggle from 'The Ultimatum' still together? Let's investigate their Instagrams and Venmo interactions for clues.

But when you head on over to Venmo, things get a little more interesting. Nathan, for his part, made it clear that he wants to get married and have kids. It looks like Nathan never appeared in Lauren’s Instagrams, so that’s really no help. “I feel kind of awkward interacting with children sometimes. It’s a massive pressure cooker situation and, while some couples definitely crumble, others actually make things work. On Netflix’s The Ultimatum: Marry or Move On, real-life couples are put on a dating show where they have to decide if they’re ready to get engaged or break up.