What on earth is the Netflix Commitment Ring?

This invention is designed to stop you cheating on your partner with Netflix

friends with benefits sex in front of the TV

This invention is designed to stop you cheating on your partner with Netflix

Deciding to watch a TV programme together is a long term commitment – a pact involving dedication, patience and a lot of will power, especially when your partner goes out for the evening leaving you at home with just one episode of The Night Manager left to watch.

What do they expect is going to happen? Spending the evening apart mid-series is just asking for trouble.

We have all been there. You're at home alone with the remote trying hard to fight temptation, then after a five-episode binge of Game of Thrones, you’re left with a dilemma: confess your betrayal to your partner or keep quiet, faking your way through hours of TV with your boyfriend, feigning surprise at every death as though watching it for the very first time, something 12% of us have apparently admitted doing.

Over 28 million have cheated on their partners with Netflix, something that ice cream brand Cornetto describes as ‘the worst type of cheating’ - we wouldn't go that far, but it definitely does feel like a betrayal.

Every potential outcome is lose-lose: one of you will either spend your evening lying through your teeth or if you choose to be honest, ruin your partner’s viewing by blurting out annoying commentary like ‘the next scene is so sad!’ and ‘the bit after this is my favourite!’

Well not any more. Cornetto are putting a stop to that problem in a very strange way: the Netflix Commitment Ring.

The Netflix Commitment Ring is a new invention designed by Cornetto to stop you from watching shows without your partner. Yes, this is actually a thing.

Here's how it works.

When you sign up to the 'commitment package' you receive two rings that you can link to a video streaming platform that will only be activated when both rings are together.

Using the mobile app, couples register their rings and pick the series that they want to watch together, then thanks to a complex bit of technology, the app automatically blocks any shared series from being screen when the rings are apart.

#seriescommitment, but there’s one thing that’s for sure – this is all pretty hilarious.

Jenny Proudfoot
Features Editor

Jenny Proudfoot is an award-winning journalist, specialising in lifestyle, culture, entertainment, international development and politics. She has worked at Marie Claire UK for seven years, rising from intern to Features Editor and is now the most published Marie Claire writer of all time. She was made a 30 under 30 award-winner last year and named a rising star in journalism by the Professional Publishers Association.