The INSIDER Summary: 

• Dating reality shows started back in 1965 when "The Dating Game" premiered on ABC. 
• Since then, the genre has skyrocketed into success. 
• What started as televised matchmaking has since turned into drama-filled debauchery. 

If you think that "The Bachelor" started the reality show dating game, you couldn't be more wrong. 

The genre kicked things off over half a century ago with ABC's "The Dating Game." Since it hit the airwaves in 1965, several producers and networks have followed suit, and innocent matchmaking shows have evolved into wildly successful dating programs with an emphasis on sex and drama.

Check out the roller coaster evolution of dating shows below. 

"The Dating Game" revolutionized reality TV by playing matchmaker for young men and woman when it started in 1965.

Each episode helped one man or woman find a date with eligible contestants. The catch? The potential partners were hidden out of sight behind a board while the eligible bachelor or bachelorette made decisions based solely on their answers and voices.

By the time the show ended in 1999 after four separate runs, the game had become iconic, and was parodied on comedy shows like "Saturday Night Live" and "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno."

The next big dating show was "Blind Date," UK's big hit that started in 1985 and lasted until 2003.

It started out the same as "The Dating Game," but then sent the couples on epic first dates where they would finally meet one another. Some people ended up at ice cream factories, but others met in the Maldives or Anguilla.

Now, it's coming back this year after 14 years off the air. 

2001's "Temptation Island" started to push the boundaries of what it meant to date on TV.

Fox decided to put several happy couples in the same house as a group of lively singles. The idea was to test the couples' commitment to each other when there was so much temptation — get it? — to cheat in the house.

It was controversial before the first episode even aired, which helped drive up ratings in its first season. In the following years, several shows would take notes from this dramatic dating game. 

"The Bachelor" was one of the first game-show inspired dating shows. It first aired in 2002.

Things got competitive when "The Bachelor" hit screens in 2002. The show pitted 20 or so women against each other to compete for true love.

On top of that, they made all the women live in the same house and watch as their potential fiancé flirted and dated other women. The elimination style put a twist on the average dating show.

Here are all the couples from the show that are still together.

Runner ups from "The Bachelor" got a chance to get over their ex on "The Bachelorette."

Producers tested out "The Bachelorette" for a few seasons after "The Bachelor" first began, but went on hiatus after three seasons until coming back in 2008.

The show chooses leading women from the previous seasons to find someone new. Now the "Bachelor" stars are also chosen out of the pool rejects from "The Bachelorette." This endless circle is one thing that makes the show so successful since they use people who the audience already loves.

Here are all the couples from the show that are still together.

"The Bachelor" also inspired spin-offs such as 2010's "Bachelor Pad" and 2013's "Bachelor in Paradise."

After appearing on "The Bachelor" or "The Bachelorette" many contestants were offered spots on "Bachelor Pad" or "Bachelor in Paradise," both of which were set up more like game shows.

These shows also used the elimination-style antics and seemed to be more inspired by game shows like "Survivor" or "Big Brother" rather than typical dating shows.  

"Joe Millionaire" added a surprising twist to the reality show drama in 2003.

"Joe Millionaire" tricked several women into thinking they were competing for a chance at true love with a very wealthy man. They didn't know that the man, Evan Marritott, was actually just an average guy until the very end. Then the winner had to decide if his average-ness was acceptable.

An even bigger twist came when the winner, Zora Andrich, chose the construction worker and producers surprised them with a million dollar check.  

The show was supposed to be a one time thing, but thanks to it's overwhelming success, producers gave it a second shot. Unfortunately, the ruse was up.

2003's "Average Joe" learned from the failures of "Joe Millionaire" and had four successful seasons.

The show gave a group of average men (i.e. nerdy, out of shape, or blue collar workers) the chance to date an attractive young woman. This show also followed the elimination style game, but switched things up by bringing in a group of not-so average Joe's in the middle of the season. 

The producers took note from "The Bachelorette" and offered Adam Mesh, one of the rejected Joe's, a chance to find love in season three before returning to their normal structure for season four. 

Dating shows began to evolve further into game shows when "For Love or Money" came out later in 2003.

Thanks to the success of "Joe Millionaire," many producers started to bring money into the picture. Dating shows began to look more like game shows.

"For Love or Money" furthered this trend in 2003 by telling contestants up front that they would have to choose between love and money if they made it to the finale. 

2003 proved to be a big year once more for these types of TV programs when "Boy Meets Boy" — the first gay dating show — hit the air.

"Boy Meets Boy" also followed the elimination-style dating game, but in a sick twist, it was revealed halfway through the season that half of the contestants were actually straight.

If the bachelor chose someone who was gay, the pair would win a cash prize and a trip. Of course, there was a ton of backlash. Even his best friend Andra Stasko who appeared on the show to help him along the way was furious. 

It was around that same time that MTV started to dive into dating shows as well. They kicked things off with "Room Raiders" in 2004.

MTV made dating shows appeal to an even younger demographic. "Room Raiders," which led men or women through the bedrooms of three contestants and made them pick a date based on what they found, featured many people who were in college or in their very early 20s.

With the success of "Room Raiders" it was only a matter of time before they put more efforts into dating shows. 

MTV made several trashy TV hits for the younger generations over the next several years. They aired shows such as 2004's "Date My Mom," 2005's "Next," and 2006's "Parental Control."

MTV became a mecca for young dating shows. They aired "Parental Control," "Next," "Date My Mom," and "The X Effect," all while keeping up with 2001's "ElimiDate" which ran for five years.

Unlike many of the other dating show producers, the minds behind these MTV hits didn't seem to care that everything was so obviously staged. 

Shows like "Rock of Love," "I Love New York," and "A Shot at Love" became popular between 2006 and 2009 thanks to the growing success of rowdy reality TV shows.

After becoming hot beds for reality TV and competition based shows, MTV and VH1 had a lot of familiar faces to work with. They often took the fan favorites from other shows and gave them their own dating competitions. 

People like Tila Tequila, New York, Bret Michaels, and Flavor Flav all took shots at finding love on TV. 

Bravo's "Millionaire Matchmaker" hit the small screen in 2008 and veered far from the traditional game show style.

The reality show followed matchmaker Patti Stanger as she coached millionaires on dating. Unlike other shows, "Millionaire Matchmaker" wasn't a game at all. The people on the show were real and many really were looking for love.

After eight successful seasons, the show came to an end in 2015, and there hasn't been a popular show like it since. Unless, of course, you count her reboot on WEtv called "Million Dollar Matchmaker."   

But staged dating competitions were still a massive success. Take 2010's "Baggage" for example, hosted by Jerry Springer.

The man or woman deciding on the dates during this 30-minute show eliminates contestants based on their secrets and problems — presented in suitcases or "baggage" — until only one is left standing.

Then the tables turn and the bachelor or bachelorette must reveal their own baggage. 

MTV's "Are You The One?" brought science into the picture when it premiered in 2013.

Each contestant on this show is scientifically matched with their perfect partner before the show begins. When they all move into the same house, they're tasked with figuring out who matches with who.

They spend their days in the house competing in games, going on dates, and of course, falling in and out of love. If they all pair up perfectly by the end of the season, the contestants get to split a ton of prize money. 

Believe it or not the show has produced quite a few successful couples. Many people dated their matches after the show and there are still five couples from the show that are still together. 

VH1's "Dating Naked" took things to a whole new level in 2014.

The ongoing show features two main daters, a man and a woman, who are introduced to new contestants every week. At the end of each week, the main daters get to pick one person to stay for the next week. The cycle continues until the end of the season when the main daters make their final pick.

Oh, and all of this goes down while they're all completely nude. 

And now, "First Dates" is set to premiere on April 7, 2017. Could it revolutionize dating shows?

Instead of pitting men and women against each other in the name of love, Ellen DeGeneres plans to have this "reality show" be as real as possible. The fly-on-the-wall cameras will let viewers watch first dates as they unfold, bringing a whole new definition to the term "reality TV."  

Who knows? Maybe series like this will become the new standard as far as dating shows go. You can watch the trailer for it here.

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