If you loved the pure honesty of You Can’t Ask That, there’s a new show you need to add to your schedule.
It’s called Look Me In The Eye, it will probably make you cry but it might also make you a better person.
The show is hosted by Ray Martin and is based on a UK format that’s been adapted for an Australian audience. It aims to answer one question – can eye contact alone repair a broken relationship?
Listen: The Binge host Laura Brodnik explains why Australia is so obsessed with Look Me In The Eye. Post continues after audio.
You’ll be surprised at the answer.
Inspired by the social theory of the power of eye contact, pairs of people who are either estranged or experiencing problems have to look at each other square in the eyes for five minutes. They’re not allowed to say a word.
Once their time is up, they have time to themselves in separate rooms where they then decide if they want to meet again and talk or if they’ve had enough and never want to see each other again.
The 17 couples featured in the six part series range from an estranged father and daughter to former child solder Ayik who faces his former prison guard.
Viewers took to social media after the first episode last week to describe it as "absolutely gutwrenching" and "the most emotional and confronting TV [I] have ever watched".
"THIS is how TV should be used. As a medium to tell powerful HUMAN stories of love, healing, growth, unity. and forgiveness. Let's showcase humanity being its best version. So we can all become our own best version. God this is good. No... GREAT," wrote another.
It's simple yet powerful television that's handled beautifully.
"Everyone I've spoken to who has watched the show has dissolved into a puddle of tears just describing the moment they watched it," Mamamia Entertainment Editor and The Binge host Laura Brodnik said on the latest episode.
"It's in a format that could feel exploitative, if it wasn't done in such a nuanced way, it's also seen through a pureley emotional and human lens. There's no sense that these people are being pushed beyond their limits.
"There's no live audience or crazy Dr Phil coming in and questioning them, just two people deciding whether they can forgive and reconnect and you just watch it happen."
The six part series is on SBS on Wednesdays at 8:30pm and is also available to stream on SBS On Demand.
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