If love really is blind, then why is the cast so attractive?
And what did the contestants get up to behind-the-scenes?
According to the show's creator Chris Coelen,
the principle at the core of "Love is Blind" is unplugging devices so that people can have
more meaningful conversations. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Coelen explained,
"That technology — those dating apps — make a lot
of people feel very disposable. It's a very surface-level experience."
So the first rule of "Love Is Blind" is no outside media, meaning no phones, no TV,
and no WiFi. And before anyone meets in person,
the show's contestants get to know each other through a series of conversations
in specially made soundproof pods. As Coelen told Entertainment Weekly,
"They can't touch each other, they can't see each other,
but it's almost as if they can feel one another's presence."
"Looks won't play a factor. We've taken away your devices."
Filming begins with 15 women and 15 men. For the first few weeks,
the entire cast lives on set, divided by gender. In a process similar to speed dating,
everyone rotates through a series of conversations in the pods that last no more than 10 minutes.
Each person starts to narrow down whom the contestants they want to keep talking to,
and pairs who do connect end up spending a lot of time in those pods. Chris Coelen told Variety,
"They were there pretty much 24-7 [...] It's funny because we would encourage them to take
[breaks]. [...] 'You gotta eat! You gotta get some sleep!' But they didn't want to."
Once a man or woman proposes, they get to meet face-to-face for the first time. Six
of the engaged couples are then followed for the rest of the season. After a romantic getaway to
a luxurious resort in Mexico, the contestants return home. While sharing an apartment with
their future spouse, and preparing for an imminent wedding, they are forced to find
out whether their relationship could work in the real world. Coelen told E! News,
"We liked the idea that if you started with pure love that was focused on just who that person was,
could that love stand the test of time and survive the outside world."
Some viewers might have wondered if those intimate pod conversations were coerced
by producers. But according to the show's creator, producers do everything they can
to make cast members feel comfortable during their time in the pods. Coelen told Variety,
"We wanted them to make the decisions and them to control their destiny [...] They
were never interrupted in terms of like a producer saying, 'Hey,
talk about this, talk about that,' they just did what they wanted to do."
However, producers were on hand to help cast members make their
time in the pods feel like real dates. As Coelen told Variety,
"For example if someone said, 'I love Italian food and I'd love to
have an Italian dinner with my date,' we would get some lasagna and arrange
that. [...] We really wanted them to feel like it's their own thing."
For Season 1, producers actually started out with about 40 to 50
people in the casting pool, with Chris Coelen telling E! News,
"There was a certain point where we did a whittling down of people just
to focus internally on the people who were really connecting, to allow them more time."
Those who didn't get engaged by day 10 were cut from the show,
as there is a limited amount of screentime available in which to
tell people's stories. The creator revealed to the Los Angeles Times,
"We probably have more footage, in a way, on this show than we do on any show I've ever
been a part of [...] You're seeing 10 hours of the journey across all the couples. Obviously,
[we]'re picking and choosing what we feel like, ultimately, are the most relevant storylines."
Of course, not all of the couples who get engaged in the pods have their stories told on "Love Is
Blind." There were actually two couples who got engaged in Season 1 and two more in Season 2,
and their romances were never featured on the show. However, the decision to cut these
contestants wasn't personal, with a "Love Is Blind" representative telling People,
"They practically picked names out of a hat because it was hard
to predict what the outcomes would be for anyone."
"I'm the only one you'll ever need to meet."
"I like that, I like that."
It seems that "Love Is Blind" really can help some contestants find love. For instance,
Cameron Hamilton and Lauren Speed, who tied the knot on Season 1,
are still together. One of the biggest challenges the couple faced after "Love
is Blind" was adjusting to being public personalities. Lauren explained to Us Weekly,
"[W]e’re human. You know, we’re not love robots. I definitely think that we went
through a period where it was kind of difficult, but it didn’t take me long to snap out of it."
The pressure seemingly all came to a head when the couple revealed that they
were trying to get pregnant, as Cameron told Elle in 2022,
"Everyone's like, 'Hurry up. Where's the baby? [...] Oh, does Lauren not want to have a baby?'"
Amber Pike and Matt Barnett, who also tied the knot on Season 1,
are still together too, proving that Netflix's dating show really does work.
Season 2's resident bad girl, Shaina [SHAY-nah] Hurley, packed her bags and ditched fiancé Kyle
Abrams after their first night in Mexico, but he still held out hope. He's not carrying a torch
for her any longer, however. In an interview with Us Weekly following the show, he said,
"There's nothing left. I mean, we're not friends or anything. [...] That ship has sailed."
Kyle, who is an Atheist vegan, found himself wooing Shaina,
a Christian carnivore, on the show, telling Us Weekly,
"I didn't wanna quit. I wanted to give everything I had. I didn't
want any regrets of just ending it to end it."
Before getting engaged to Kyle, Shaina had feelings for fellow contestant Shayne Jansen,
which she told him about. However, Shayne decided to propose to Natalie Lee instead.
Despite Shane's engagement, Shaina attempted to drive a wedge between
the duo during the season. Understandably, this didn't make Shaina particularly popular
with a lot of viewers, and she quickly became known as Season 2's villain.
"It just doesn't feel right in my spirit."
The entire "Love is Blind" set is designed around the pods. And when they're not dating, the men
and women have separate living areas, each with a designated lounge area where the contestants can
hang out in between dates. Speaking to Refinery29 about their downtime, Lauren Speed revealed,
"We did everything. We baked, we had a twerk class. We would just have conversations,
talk to each other about our experience, play pool. It was literally a sorority.”
Meanwhile, Season 1 contestant Kenny Barnes told the outlet,
"I baked a cake for the guys because I love cooking and stuff like that. We're
getting four hours of sleep on cots. We'd wake up and go for runs. Like,
we've got to get blood flow going or we're gonna lose our minds."
Basically, it sounds like quite the bonding experience.
All that soul-searching and deep discussion is bound to make a person hungry. Luckily,
the production crew was on hand to take care of all kinds of special requests
from the cast on the show, as Kenny Barnes told Refinery29,
"If you wanted a special snack they'd go run and get it. Bailey's and coffee
was my go-to. [...] I couldn't eat 'cause I was honestly just messed up emotionally."
Kelly Chase said she was just fine with meats and greens, telling the outlet,
"[B]ut everyone else was being very, very particular. Like,
'I need the chocolate chip pop tarts with chocolate frosting."
As for alcoholic beverages, Cameron Hamilton revealed to Refinery29,
"Lauren and I had bonded over our love of Hennessy at one point. We went into the pod
one day and then there was Hennessy in there for both of us. [The producers] listened."
There is one thing that happened on "Love is Blind" that producers didn't see coming,
and that's the friendships that were forming behind the scenes.
Speaking to Oprah Daily, Lauren Speed explained,
"You'd think that people would be catty because some people would like
the same guy. But we actually formed a sisterhood, no lie. We bonded through
this once-in-a-lifetime experience. [...] We all shared that, and it created a family."
Discussing the cast members she's still in touch with from her season, Lauren told Elle,
"We’re connected for life. We went through something that none of us will ever forget."
Mark Cuevas has also remained close with the guys from Season 1, telling Oprah Daily,
"There was such a big support when you saw someone fighting the experience. We were like,
'Listen man, what's up. Let's talk about this.'"
"Love Is Blind" forces couples to get to know one another without ever seeing each other. And
for creator Chris Coelen, this was crucial to the show's success, as he told E! News,
"One of the ways that relationships go wrong has to do with many surface things."
However, many people have criticized "Love Is Blind" for its casting pool,
which mainly consists of generically good looking people.
"Did you ever think there's more to life than being really, really, ridiculously good looking?"
"Love is Blind" certainly isn't the first reality series to be criticized for its
narrow ideas of beauty, but it seems to have followed in the footsteps of shows like "The
Bachelor" that have historically lacked diverse contestants. As one writer at Vice bluntly asked,
"If love is, indeed, blind, and this show aims to challenge us to see beyond physical attraction
when it comes to finding a partner, where the hell are the uggos to prove their theory?"
Meanwhile, a Marie Claire reporter acknowledged that physical attraction
can grow over time with the right person, adding,
"But why not celebrate the range of people who exist on this planet? Why
champion traditional definitions of beauty while claiming not to prioritize looks?"
Defending the series, and the connections some of the contestants have made on screen,
creator Chris Coelen told Oprah Daily,
"This is a show where the participants know everything
about one another where they choose one another."
Of course, the jury's still out on whether you can really know everything about a person
you've never seen and have only spoken to through a soundproof booth for 10 days.