Love Is Blind turned dating into a social experiment, but some contestants say it came at a cost.
Multiple contestants have come forward in recent years, claiming they were forced to film in “inhumane working conditions” and were not given proper support from producers while filming. But series creator Chris Coelen officially responded to the allegations in a new interview with Variety, calling the accusations “insulting” and “disrespectful.”
“It might sound hokey, but we want people to walk away from this with personal growth, and I’d say the vast majority of people who participate, walk away talking about the transformational qualities of having been in the experiment,” he said. He denied multiple accusations contestants have made against the series and detailed production’s approach to supporting contestants inside and outside of the show.
In 2022, former contestant Jeremy Hartwell sued Netflix and the show’s production company, Kinetic Content, citing “inhumane working conditions” and claiming he was left isolated “with no access to a phone, food, or any other type of contact with the outside world.”
Coelen shut down Hartwell’s claim, calling it “insane” and saying, “We tell them that they won’t be able to travel freely while they’re in the pods. We tell them they won’t have phones or TV or internet service in the pods or in their hotel rooms where they stay or in the romantic getaways.”
He also addressed a string of other claims, including those from former contestants Nick Thompson and Danielle Ruhl, who claimed they had a severe lack of mental health support while filming.
Ruhl claimed that she was transparent about dealing with suicidal ideation before filming began, but was cast on the show anyway.
While Coelen denied that she disclosed her mental health history, Ruhl said in a statement to Variety, “It wasn’t something I specifically noted in the application itself. I had conversations with producers. I had conversations with therapists, but to their point, it was nothing that had been written down, so whether or not something had been communicated to them, I don’t know.”
She also stood by her previous claim that she told producers that she wanted to leave while filming in Mexico because she was experiencing suicidal thoughts, another claim that Coelen shut down.
“She didn’t inform the production team that she was having any thoughts of self-harm. If she had, we wouldn’t have continued to film with her,” he said. “She never asked anyone in production ever to leave the show. She was free to leave the experiment at any time, as many participants have in the past.”
Coelen also said that, despite the former contestants’ claims, two psychologists are present while they are in the pods and they are given a hotline in which they can connect with a specialist 24/7. Kinetic also encouraged contestants to attend therapy after completing the show and has offered to pay for sessions, including Ruhl’s after filming.
Coelen maintains that producers were “really transparent about the detail of what participating in Love Is Blind entails.”
He said, “I urge all potential participants to always prioritize their own well-being, above being on TV, or participating in this experiment, no matter how great the upside might potentially be.”
Love Is Blind is now in its fifth season and, as Variety notes, has been somewhat of a success in its mission: seven of the nine couples that have gotten married on the show are still together.
New episodes air on Fridays on Netflix.
