Blue Therapy: Are the couples real? Director reveals all

With Love Island not showing at the moment, millennials need something equally delicious to binge-watch and Blue Therapy is the answer.

The YouTube video series, from Trend Centrl, who also created BKChat LDN, sparked a massive social media conversation about the trials and tribulations of relationships – compromises, love languages, family and compatibility, and a few names.

In just two episodes, Blue Therapy had two million views, making it more popular than some TV shows.

The six-part series takes place on therapist Denise’s couch with two couples; Chioma and Paul, Deborah and Jamel, to get to the root of their problems.

Of course, the discussions were relatively respectful at first, but it wasn’t long after the dirty laundry was thrown out that the partners were rushing in and poor Denise was trying to talk – yes Paul, we were looking at you. .

It gives viewers the chance to be a fly on the wall into the lives of two young couples and all the millennial pitfalls that threaten to affect their relationship.

Can Jamel give up the Clubhouse? Would Deborah accept to buy one Gucci bag a month instead of two? Did Paul ever tell his sister that no, Chioma wasn’t available to look after her baby?

More importantly, are the couples even real?

Those are all the burning questions we’d love to know and a man who knows the truth about it all is spilling hot tea.

Andy Amadi is the brains behind the series and created it out of the longstanding success of BKChat, and spoke with Metro.co.uk about what he wants the show to say about millennial relationships.

“I wanted it to touch on the real things that young black couples go through,” revealed Andy. ‘I want to dive into the many situations involved and whether you deal with it or not, I just want to emphasize that they are there.

‘It just highlights the love of black people and how difficult it can be at times and how hard it is not. ”

Many social media conversations focus on whether the couples are together in real life or simply actors.

Andy insists they are indeed dating IRL – although he admits therapist Denise is an actress and Chioma wants to start acting.

‘What I will say is: The cast is real. They are not actors, none of them are actors,’ said the director.

‘It’s a reality show and I feel people should enjoy it like a reality show. Whether it’s real or fake… that’s up to the viewer’s interpretation. There is no cast [actors] besides Denise, who has acting experience. ‘

Some viewers have pointed out that none of the couples have photos of each other on their social media sites, suggesting that they may not be together.

Andy’s reason? ‘I have no photos of my partner on Instagram, neither here nor there. People want to connect the dots that are sometimes not there.

‘If we wanted to, we could put fake paintings there. This is reality and we are highlighting the fact that some couples don’t put each other there. I don’t know why it didn’t happen,’ he added.

As for whether the show was scripted, Andy said: ‘There is no reality show on this planet that is in some form unregulated. Their personality really is like that, but it could be enhanced a bit for the camera.

‘But we haven’t taught them how to live together, that’s why it’s so hard to decipher what it is. A lot of people want it to be completely scripted but it’s not completely controlled, it’s just reality TV. ‘

He also confirmed that the couples are not improvised actors either.

Many have wondered if couples could talk to a Black therapist who could gain insight into the cultural issues they explore during the sessions to the benefit of couples. spouse or not.

For example, Jamel has suggested the reason he didn’t introduce Deborah to his family after a year of dating was because his Ghanaian parents didn’t accept her ‘noisy’ that she was Nigerian.

Andy admits it was a conscious decision to employ a white therapist, explaining: ‘I know a lot of people in comments like, “Why isn’t the therapist black? ” I knew it would have that reaction but the truth of the matter is that a lot of my research has led me to position things the way that I did.

‘If I had a Black therapist there, even though they said ‘great’, people wouldn’t take it seriously. That’s just my opinion. I have to be realistic.

“It’s sad that I have to say it but I’m a realist.”

Undeniably the most problematic actor to date turned out to be Paul, who has received a lot of criticism for his approach to therapy sessions and his partner. He is said to be rude to Denise, misguided with Chioma, and doesn’t want to see her point of view.

Andy explains that the cast members have been ‘checked in’ first and that although he’s known Chioma since her BKChat days, he’s less known to her teammate Paul.

Andy revealed: “He has no experience watching TV, he is not online.

He recalls: ‘I talked to him and asked him a lot of questions to gauge his personality.

“I knew right away that he had strong opinions as a man and knew what kind of person he wanted his woman to be, and after doing shows like BKChat, I knew the audience wanted to see what and what they want to talk about.”

Paul isn’t the only actor receiving a lot of criticism from viewers – Deborah recently took to her Instagram to address the backlash she’s received since the episodes aired.

However, Andy said that individual couples receive support from the production team.

“When I created these shows, I knew from experience that I needed to prepare them before it was released,” he explains. ‘We had a lot of sessions after filming where we said look, if this does what we want and need it to do, please understand that even though you’re not from that world. world, but there’s going to be a lot of backlash and a lot of people are looking at you now as a public figure.

‘They will want to invade your life and ask questions and you need to be prepared to handle that.’

According to Andy, couples said they were ‘ready to handle’ [it]’.

He continued: ‘I can’t hold their hand at this stage but they have an advisor on the team whenever they need it, if they have any problems they will call me or the production managers. other to talk. Or they call each other, they all know each other and that helps. ‘

Blue Therapy is a simple concept but has clearly resonated with viewers so it’s no surprise that Andy is thinking of a second season.

“Things are going, I’ll definitely do part two,” he promised.

‘Hopefully it gets picked, that’s what I like but if not, I’m always here for the people who apply online.’

Should we expect a reunion episode like the Real Housewives series?

‘I don’t want to say too much but we have bigger plans with the couples you will see in the coming seasons. So it might even be a bigger reunion,’ he teased.

Blue Therapy episode three is available to watch on YouTube.

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