Is This Kind of Variety Show Even in Korea?! 'Change Days' Where Couples Switch Partners and Date - Comparison with 'Single's Inferno'

“Familiarity and excitement, which will you choose?”

Three couples who are contemplating breaking up for their own reasons embark on a trip to Jeju Island to rediscover the excitement they've long forgotten. Will they be able to regain the initial thrill they sought after a week-long journey? And if they do, who will be by their side?

Change Days

Hello everyone! Have you seen the variety show called Change Days? It became a hot topic because, unlike other dating programs, it features couples who are currently dating. It also shares similarities with 'Transit Love,' where participants appear with their exes (X). So today, I'm going to introduce Change Days and compare it to Transit Love!

First, Change Days is an original variety show by KakaoTV. Season 1 aired in 2021 and Season 2 in 2022, both on KakaoTV and Netflix. It's a program where three couples who are considering breaking up spend a week traveling in Jeju Island to re-evaluate their relationships. Similar to other dating programs, they go on dates with other people in the process. Even though they are contemplating breaking up, it must be incredibly difficult to watch your current partner go on dates with other people. Change Days, a stimulating concept just by hearing it, so let's dive into a comparison with Transit Love!

Commonalities with Transit Love

Cast: The most significant commonality with Transit Love is that participants appear with their significant others. The difference lies in the fact that Change Days features current partners, while Transit Love features ex-partners. It seems like casting must have been challenging for both programs. Both individuals need to be willing to participate, and they need to have star potential. In fact, there's a story that the production team for Transit Love Season 3 sent DMs to 30,000 people and conducted street casting to find participants.

Relationships: Unlike general dating programs, both shows share the complexity of relationships. In programs where participants meet entirely new people, they only need to focus on their own feelings and what they see. However, both Transit Love and Change Days share the commonality of requiring participants to be mindful of their exes or the partners of those they are interested in.

Final Choice: Another commonality is the presence of two options for the final choice. In regular dating programs, participants simply choose the person they like. However, in Change Days and Transit Love, there's an additional option of reunion. This seems to create a more complex and unpredictable development in the final choice.

Differences from Transit Love

Relationships: Relationships are also a point of difference. It's the difference between whether the couple is 'currently together' or 'a broken-up couple.' Transit Love features ex-partners, but they've already ended their relationship. Plus, there's a rule that they need to hide who their ex is, so while it's tough, they can get to know other people with a slightly lighter heart. On the other hand, Change Days features couples who are currently in a relationship, even if they're considering breaking up, which seems to have limited their ability to date and get to know others.

Duration: There's a difference in the filming period. Transit Love is filmed over three weeks, while Change Days was filmed for one week in Season 1 and two weeks in Season 2. One week is far too short a time to get to know someone. Compared to Transit Love, which is filmed for three weeks, it seems like viewers were less immersed in the show.

Conclusion: The conclusion reveals a significant difference. In Transit Love, the ratio of couples getting back together with their exes and those finding new partners is fairly even. It seems that Transit Love is a suitable program for both reflecting on past relationships and exploring new connections. However, in both seasons of Change Days, there have been absolutely no instances of couples choosing new partners. They all either reunited or broke up. This appears to be a limitation due to the relationship dynamics and duration discussed earlier.

Change Days initially gained a lot of attention, but it failed to maintain its popularity due to criticism of its predictable outcomes. Of course, it seems unrealistic to choose a different person within a week when you're already in a relationship. Many couples on Change Days seem to have recovered their relationships through dating other people. Perhaps they realized the value of their partners through this process. However, it's also clear that there's a need to improve the format and rules of the program.

Today, we've compared Change Days and Transit Love. What did you think? While Change Days may be divisive, I personally believe it's a good dating program to watch casually! I sometimes find myself empathizing with the fights of the real-life couples, haha. That's all for today, and thank you for reading :)