The various suitors were able to describe their rivals in uncomplimentary ways, which made the show work well as a general devolution of dignity.
Another Barris show, The Newlywed Game, featured recently married couples competing to answer questions about each other's preferences.
The 2008 Australian series Taken Out, which was exported internationally to other countries under the title Take Me Out, featured bachelors discussing aspects of their personality and interests with a large pool of singles.
At the end of each episode, the bachelor or bachelorette must present their own "baggage" to the remaining single, who then chooses whether to accept or decline their offer of a date.
By the late 1990s and early 2000s, a new wave of dating shows began airing in U.S. syndication that were more sexually suggestive than their earlier counterparts, including shows such as Blind Date, Elimidate and The 5th Wheel, which often pushed boundaries of sexual content allowed on broadcast television.
both debuted; this was followed in 2012 by NBCUniversal Television Distribution's sale of reruns of the Game Show Network series Baggage into syndication.
A popular dating variant of the talk show involved inviting secret admirers to meet on stage.
On an episode of The Jenny Jones Show, a gay secret admirer publicly revealed his crush on a straight acquaintance; three days after the episode's taping, the acquaintance murdered the secret admirer, in which he claimed humiliation over the revelation of a same-sex crush.
Like other games, the outcomes of these activities are open to rigging, leading to missed matches and possibly unhappiness among the participants.