Love Connection type TV Show

A version of this story appears in Entertainment Weekly’s Summer TV Preview issue, on stands Friday and available here. Don’t forget to subscribe for more exclusive interviews and photos, only in EW.

Andy Cohen may have found his true calling hosting Fox’s revamp of the classic ’80s series Love Connection, which premieres tonight at 9 p.m. “It capitalizes on everything I love, which is asking awkward questions of people and getting into their personal lives,” says Cohen. This reboot, from Mike Fleiss (The Bachelor), follows men and women going on blind dates with the hope of finding romance.

The new hour-long Connection has contestants, including gays and lesbians, tackling three romantic rendezvous per episode, with a big-money twist. Explains Cohen, “If the audience vote is different from who the dater chose, the person can get $10,000 to give up his love connection to go with the audience vote.”

The couples are also asked to score each other’s looks. “I reveal to them how they scored each other,” says Cohen, who shot the 15-episode season during a weeklong hiatus from his Bravo talk show Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen. “Women are really mean to short men — that’s one thing I’ve learned.”

Cohen also found out that a lot of singles today are being a little relaxed on manners. Says the host, “It’s incredible how many people are late for dates in this age. People are late for dates all the time. It’s crazy!”

See? Reality TV can be educational!