The Daily Mail has finally jumped on the bandwagon of the mega-popular Chinese dating show If You Are the One (IYATO), publishing an article raving about the virality of the contestants’ brutal honesty a mere EIGHT years after the program first hit the airwaves and went viral for… the contestants’ brutal honesty.
IYATO caught the eye of the tabloid when a recent tweet from February 2018 started blowing up online, prompting the publication to report it as news.
Thing is, this is not the first time IYATO has gone viral. In fact, this isn’t even the 10th time the show has gone viral over the past eight years.
The first – and arguably most infamous – time IYATO became an online sensation occurred way back in mid-2010, just months after the show premiered. Female contestant Ma Nuo was asked by an unemployed suitor whether she would “ride a bicycle with him” on a date, only to be brutally rejected with the line “I would rather cry in a BMW.”
This quippy BMW remark quickly made the rounds on the internet and drew in massive amounts of attention, turning Ma Nuo into China’s most buzzed about woman for a period and prompting several articles exploring the line’s underlying subtext about Chinese social values. In fact, it even drew the attention of Chinese government censors, who ultimately forced the IYATO producers to redesign the show’s format to be more “clean”.
BMW fan Ma Nuo. Source: SBS
As a testament to the enduring virality of the BMW moment, online videos parodying the statement were still popping up as recently as 2017:
For all of the Daily Mail’s revelations into the honest brutality of IYATO contentants’ remarks, none of this is new to Australians, especially those who have been obsessed with the candidness of contestants on the show for years.
Since that landmark BMW moment in 2010, IYATO has been offering up hilarious viral moments like clockwork for the past eight years, all of which focus on the hilariously honest – and occasionally brutal – comments made by the show’s contestants:
Ever since IYATO started screening locally on SBS in April 2013, The Guide has consistently provided coverage of the show. If you’re on the market for some top quality IYATO stories, you could try...
Source: SBS
Source: SBS
Source: SBS
Source: SBS
Source: SBS
- The best reasons why guys should be an IYATO contestant
- The best dating tips (from the guys of IYATO)
- How IYATO is a cultural eye-opener
- And even that time an Australian guy found love on the show
Watch If You Are the One Sundays at 7:30pm on SBS VICELAND and at SBS On Demand:
