Are the couples on Blue Therapy real?

About two Sundays ago, I woke up to a post from one of the accounts I follow on Instagram asking women if they can be with a husband who doesn’t want sex all the time, or words to that effect. This question posed over a clip of a couple at a therapy session was in reaction to what was said in the said clip. The young woman was complaining about the fact that her boyfriend no longer has sex with her frequently. And by frequently, she was talking about their going weeks without any sex. The couple in question is Chioma and Paul. Later on, that same day, someone else posted another clip from the same therapy session. It turns out that the series has been around since the end of April. In case you’re wondering, the show generating so much interest is Blue Therapy, a Youtube series created by Andy Amadi. The series is on Trend Centrl channel. If you haven’t heard about Blue Therapy, you may be among a tiny minority who are in the dark because judging by the views it has received on Youtube. Each of the five episodes has garnered almost 2 million views, and at least one episode has over 2 million views. Everywhere you turn, people are talking about the show, online and offline. So, it’s safe to say that Blue Therapy is a hit.

The series comprises two couples: Chioma and Paul; plus, Deborah and Jamel. The couples attend therapy for the cameras. Their therapist is Denise Waterman who describes herself as an “actress, presenter, voice-over and lifestyle model”.  Each couple has difficult issues to iron out although Paul and Chioma who are Nigerians, appear to have quite a lot to deal with. Paul who is a private fitness consultant among other hats he wears is pretty full of himself. From his dislike of Nigerian food, palm oil, and Nigerian music and the fact that Chioma is not calculating her calories, Paul has a lot to complain about. He also seems to confuse his so-called ‘high net worth’ clients with his own actual monetary worth. And there are times he feels he’s way ahead of his girlfriend or that she’s not well-connected enough to get invited to certain places. Chioma on the other hand acts as the neglected, self-starved and long-suffering girlfriend. She is also bent on cooking Nigerian dishes the way her grandmother and others taught her and thinks it’s disrespectful to these women to weigh Nigerian food which is definitely not true. Various resources and tools are available online to help Nigerian chef. And there are points in their conversation you wonder what she’s really getting from the relationship.

Even though Deborah and Jamel don’t pack as much punch as Chioma and Paul, Deborah’s unbelievable tone-deafness is something to watch. Apparently, because her father used to treat her like a princess, she now expects her boyfriend or any man she’s in a relationship with to cater to all her material needs. The more expensive, the better. Meanwhile, Deborah who’s Nigerian also has trust issues and Jamel, a Ghanaian, thinks his parents might think her too loud. No subtlety at all in the stereotyping. Jamel has yet to introduce Deborah to his parents after over a year of their relationship. By the way, Deborah is 23 while Jamel is 27. If you ask me, neither of them appears ready for a serious relationship.

This brings us to other issues. In light of Blue Therapy’s growing popularity, and the series being the talk of the town, all kinds of issues have popped up. There have been questions about whether the show is real or if it is scripted, etc. It’s easy to believe that Blue Therapy is scripted and that the couples are not real. What’s not to believe? There are four members of the cast straddling different extremes. But how is this different from a typical Nollywood film shot in the UK? Blue Therapy mirrors that perfectly complete with the token ‘badly acting white wakapass.’ The therapist isn’t exactly wakapass considering she plays a major role. Even though I’ve never been to a therapist, so I have no first-hand knowledge of how therapists are supposed to behave, Denise doesn’t appear to be in control of the conversation at all.  There are times one is left wondering what help or if any help she has rendered. To further support the idea that Blue Therapy could be scripted, we know that at least one of the cast members, Chioma is no stranger to reality TV, having taken part in BKChat, a Big Brother-esque show produced by the same people. In fact, Paul raised this as a possible reason his sister hasn’t warmed up to Chioma in spite of their being in a relationship for at least three years.

The foregoing notwithstanding, a case can be made for Blue Therapy being real. Or not being completely contrived. I think the way the cast members speak and behave cannot be down completely to scripting or acting. But so what if the show is scripted anyhow? At the very least, a case can be made that the cast members and their lives as presented are real or believable. And that these people were cast because of the kinds of people they are. What’s so unreal anyway? I’m pretty sure a good number of us know at least one person who’s like Paul or Deborah. Or Jamel. And there are definitely many women who can relate to Chioma: The long-suffering, neglected girlfriend whose self-esteem has taken a huge knock. To top it off, at the end of the day, let’s not forget, Blue Therapy is entertaining.

The season finale of Blue Therapy will be aired Thursday, June 3.

Onoshe Nwabuikwu, AIRTIME columnist is a renowned TV/Film critic and Film scholar. She also has experience in Advertising as a senior Copywriter and Corporate Communications as Communications consultant.