The new TLC show “MILF Manor” is getting slammed for going too far even by reality TV standards, which already set the bar low.
The series follows eight single moms in their 40s and 50s who are seeking to meet much younger men in their 20s and 30s. The acronym “MILF” stands for “Mom I’d Like to F***.” However, these women find out during the first episode that their adult sons are interspersed into the dating pool.
Clips posted to the official TLC TikTok account have garnered reactions such as, “vile,” “gross,” “weird,” “horrendous,” “disgusting,” “disturbing,” and the “most uncomfortable show ever.”
The New Yorker review said “MILF Manor” represents a “new low” and “perhaps even a rock bottom” for reality television, saying it’s “haunted by the [specter] of incest.”
Show participants received a message that said in part, “You are now in the same dating pool. Open your minds and have an experience you may never have imagined,” which referenced how moms and sons would be mingling together in sexually charged situations. The moms also share bedrooms with their sons, which critics point out is also indicative of the mothers coddling full-grown adults.
A real estate broker and fitness coach named Kelle Mortensen said, “I’m so excited to meet these other guys … sorry ladies I might be sleeping with your son,” per The New York Post.
The publication noted that one son described his mother as “kinky” when guessing that she was one of the women who admitted to having sex in an elevator. Another mother defended her breasts getting so much attention, telling her son, “It didn’t bother you when you were sucking on them (as a baby) either … you were really thirsty.”
“Beyond Freud’s wildest dreams,” one commenter replied to a clip of the show.
“MILF Manor” currently has a 17% critic score and 22% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.
“Faith in humanity lost,” one reviewer shared.
“Wildly disturbing,” another person wrote. “A combination of everything wrong with the world.”
Meanwhile, the show’s creator defended the concept, calling it an example of female empowerment.
“I don’t really understand what all the fuss is about,” Daniela Neumann, managing director of Spun Gold TV, told The Washington Post. She insisted that the show seeks to erase the stigma of older women dating younger men if they want to.
“No one’s doing anything wrong. And these are all consenting adults,” Neumann continued. “I don’t really understand it, but I think that anything that provokes conversation is a very positive thing.”