The series has aired for two seasons. An international version The Ultimatum: France premiered in 2022. A spin-off series The Ultimatum: Queer Love premiered in 2023.
Format
The Ultimatum is a self-proclaimed social experiment that wants to see how many couples will get married when presented with ultimatums.[2] The show features couples on the verge of marriage. Each pair has eight weeks to decide whether they want to get married or split forever. Couples will later be split up as they choose new partners from the rest of the group, and then move in with them for three weeks.
Season one of the series was filmed in various locations in Austin, Texas. The first week the contestants spent dating each other was filmed at the Marriott Downtown Hotel in the city, while the rest of the series was filmed at the Aloft Austin Downtown Hotel.[14]
Filming started in May 2021 and lasted for eight weeks with the reunion being filmed later.[15]
A trailer was in the reunion episode of season two of Love Is Blind on March 4, 2022. It was advertised as "the next great social experiment" with the same creator as Love Is Blind.[2]
The first season consisting of eight episodes released to Netflix on April 6, 2022, and later released the final episode along with a reunion special on April 13, a week later.[13]
The second season consisting of eight episodes released to Netflix on August 23, 2023, and later released the final episode along with a reunion special on August 30, a week later.[6]
Reception
Viewership
Season one of the series reached number one on Netflix in television shows in the United States on April 10, 2022.[17]
The Ultimatum Season One spent four weeks in the Netflix Global Top Ten, with 43,710,000 hours watched during its first week of release,[18] 58,470,000 during week two,[19] 29,010,000 during week three,[20] and 13,140,000 during week four.[21]
With a total of 144,330,000 hours watched within its first four weeks of release, The Ultimatum Season One ranked second, after only Love is Blind, as the most watched ongoing nonscripted series on Netflix in 2022, based on a tally of all hours viewed across all programs while in the Netflix Global Top Ten.[22]
Critical response
Daniel D'Addario of Variety writes "Love is Blind and The Ultimatum are the new standard-bearers for romantic reality TV." D'Addario states The Ultimatum "inverts Love is Blind's formula to great success...(creator) Coelen's series occupy a more unsettled place, one that uses the tools of reality (big organizing ideas, people attuned to the dramatic) to create stagings that look like our world."[23]
Jenny Singer from Glamour writes "The Ultimatum on Netflix is even better than Love Is Blind. Yes, really." Singer continues "The Ultimatum feels like an actual attempt at partnership—love, sex, intimacy, friendship, caring for each other’s dogs. The ending is insane, and so is the beginning, and the middle. That just makes it, oddly, realistic."[24]
Alexandra Whittington at Collider says "The Ultimatum: Marry Or Move On is Netflix's wildest reality series yet...If you like reality dating shows then you are going to love The Ultimatum: Marry Or Move On."[25]
Grant Rindner of GQ stated "critical reception has been mixed."[26] Sarah Manavis of New Statesman was highly critical of the show, writing, "The awfulness of marriage shows is on full display here... The premise is shoddy and unclear, especially in comparison to other dating programmes."[27] Sophia June of Nylon wrote no one from the series should get married based on the premise and "the manipulation techniques".[28] Morgan Smith of Highsnobiety called it the "messiest reality dating show we hate to love" and stated he loved it.[29]
Spin-offs
An international version of the series was released on Netflix on December 30, 2022 (2022-12-30) titled The Ultimatum: France.[30]
Ahead of the first season premiere, Netflix announced a spin-off of the show that would feature an all-queer cast titled The Ultimatum: Queer Love.[31] The spin-off series premiered on May 24, 2023 (2023-05-24) and featured JoAnna Garcia Swisher as the host.[32][33]
