REVIEW: ‘Single’s Inferno’ Season 5 Is Off to An Energized Start

By the end of the fourth season of the Korean reality dating series, Singles Inferno, there was the sense that the bit was starting to wear off. There are only so many times we can watch aggressively attractive twenty-somethings who are models, actors, former idol trainees, or students who are really trying to be models or actors, and root for their abbreviated journey in love. While Seasons 1 and 2 maintained a somewhat scrappy energy, with at least some contestants with more grounded career paths, 3 and 4 forgo the necessity and reach for pure idolatry and escapism. 

Singles Inferno Season 5 doesn’t so much rectify it as find a new, energized way to capitalize on the tired elements, making something fresh and fun to watch. Yes, the contestants are still very pretty, but there’s variety in their looks rather than eight women with a default, specific look that fits a traditional Korean beauty standard. There’s some variety in jobs – though there’s at least, currently, two confirmed models and plenty others who at least seem model adjacent (a photoshoot competition in Episode 4 is a clear giveaway on who has experience in front of the camera). 

But, more than anything, what sets Singles Inferno Season 5 apart is the general energy of it all. The contestants seem fun and engaging, even if many slip into the familiar, stilted conversations when talking one-on-one. More than anything, it’s two of the women contestants, along with some changes to the competition aspects, that give the series a much-needed boost. 

Greater variety gives Singles Inferno Season 5 the boost it needs.

What hasn’t changed at all is the general concept. Singles Inferno Season 5 follows an expanded cast of contestants who all arrive on an island to pursue love. Competing in daily challenges while seeking moments to get to know one another, contestants can win the chance to leave the island to spend a night at a luxury hotel with their preferred suitor. While there, they can reveal their ages and professions to get to know one another better, hoping for sparks to fly and butterflies to stir. 

What’s fun from the jump is that, where other seasons seemed to have main character issues, with many of the men falling for one woman contestant and committing the entire season to them, Season 5 is delivering more varied couplings. This is, in part, due to how the challengers are being sorted, with so far, multiple team-ups between the men and women. But there’s also at least the air of people actually wanting to get to know one another. 

They’re, collectively, on this island for ten days. Might as well make the most of it and not limit it to one potential would-be romance. That said, there are still favorites, but it’s refreshing to see who the favored contestant is. 

Choi Mina-sue and Kim Min-gee captivate with genuine charisma. 

When Choi Mina-sue enters the screen, the words “Oh my god, she’s so pretty” positively leapt out of my mouth. I was not alone. From the returning panelists – Hong Jin-kyung, Lee Da-hee, Kyuhyun, Hanhae, and Dex – to the other beach-bound contestants who took in her charisma and yellow dress, she makes an undeniable mark.

She doesn’t fit the mold entirely of previous favorites, bolder and more decisive in her decision making, and born abroad and studying at an American college, but she is clearly the “It girl” of the season. Even when she, in one of the more awkward moments in the entire series, fumbles the names of fellow contestants she clearly wasn’t as interested in. 

But of all the contestants, it’s track and field athlete Kim Min-gee who truly steals hearts and minds. With a no-nonsense attitude and some real protagonist energy, she is the other factor that gives Season 5 a leg up. She’s unlike any other female contestant we’ve had on the show, and she’s infectiously charming as she flusters any and all man who comes into her field of vision, whom she declares cute. 

Panelists such as Dex and Lee Da-hee have their expectations challenged.

Watching her interactions with fashion marketer Song Seung-il and optician Woon Sun-min doesn’t just highlight her charms; it also highlights theirs. Other standouts include the model Kim Go-eun and the enigmatic dancer Kim Jae-jin, whose presence first frustrates the panelists before inadvertently charming them scenes later.

It seems more and more that part of the fun is watching the panelists have to challenge their own expectations as they realize their assumptions, especially this season, aren’t always on the money. And it helps define how Season 5 seems to be going out of its way to shake things up to whatever degree they can. 

The challenges also help keep things fresh in Singles Inferno Season 5. Rather than defaulting as always to physical challenges where each group faces off against one another, there’s more balance.

From a dodgeball-style team-up where the women can’t get hit or let go of their male partner, to the photoshoot, there’s a real effort to allow more time for the contestants to interact with one another beyond the dates and the trips to paradise. 

The Netflix reality dating competition is reinvigorated by fresh challenges.

Because, as much as this is a dating series, some of the fun is simply in seeing how a group of strangers get to know one another under unusual circumstances. And, the best seasons are typically the ones where friendships are just as evident as the burgeoning romance. 

As always, certain elements don’t work as well. The trips to paradise are surely nice in person. Still, despite the ostentatious wealth on display and the variety of food they can try, it all comes across as inhospitable and sterile. And, because of this, it can make the dates themselves lose some of the heat and charm found on the island itself. 

Singles Inferno Season 5 doesn’t strip itself of its escapist artifice. There’s not a single relatable contestant to the average viewer. But there’s a needed sense of life and energy that makes it watchable and fun to engage with, especially in contrast to the monotony that became of Season 4. With some genuinely charismatic contestants and small changes to keep it fresh, Season 5 is off to a strong, better-focused start. 

Singles Inferno Season 5 Episodes 1-4 are out now on Netflix. 

Single’s Inferno Season 3 | Single’s Inferno Season 4