Seven seasons in, with spin-offs churning out by the minute, Love Is Blind is not making the point that it originally set out to prove. Love Is Blind Season 7 has left viewers of the reality series indefinitely disappointed and was the last straw for fans to feel reassured that it’s time the Netflix dating show went on an indefinite hiatus. Back when the show debuted in February 2020, viewers were privy to a new genre in the realm of reality TV dating shows. However, the series has been souring season after season, making it a disappointing and often frustrating watch.
A significant reason why Love Is Bind isn’t hitting the way it used to is the casting. The contestants’ behavior on and off screen became increasingly intolerable, ultimately lowering the show’s quality and connections. This also raises questions about the show’s vetting process and who should be allowed to participate in the experiment. The ticking time bomb to rush toward the altar without questioning practical aspects has also resulted in the show’s declining credibility. Not to mention, the lingering question of how the show exploits individuals and their emotions for reality TV content.
‘Love Is Blind’ Season 1 Was Fresh and Unique
When Love Is Blind Season 1 dropped on Netflix in 2020, it launched a revolutionary era of reality TV dating shows. When Cameron Hamilton and Lauren Speed-Hamilton got engaged, viewers had tears in their eyes and faith in the show to deliver what it promised — love based solely on emotional connections. Even the love triangles and drama between the contestants like Jessica Batten, Matthew Barnett, and Amber Pike were authentic.
They felt more natural than the outrageous ones that viewers were privy to in later seasons, such as Jessica Vestal, Jimmy Presnell, and Chelsea Blackwell from Love Is Blind Season 6. The concept was new during the first season, which also meant that all contestants had pure intentions to find love and get married in comparison to clout chasers like Trevor Sova from Season 6, who had a secret girlfriend while he was on the show.
Questionable Casting Has Led to the Downfall of ‘Love Is Blind’
Later seasons of Love Is Blind have failed to cast genuine contestants. Shady revelations have also come to light during the onset of the seasons, resulting in at least one contestant per season swimming in controversy. Jeramey Lutinski was engaged just a few weeks before filming, and more recently, Tyler Francis from Love Is Blind Season 7 was accused of being a father to three kids. On a more serious note, a contestant from Love Is Blind Season 5, Renee Poche, had filed an explosive lawsuit against Netflix and Delirium for intentional infliction of emotional distress while detailing how her on-screen partner Carter Wall was abusive, as exclusively reported by Variety.
The male contestants cast on the show have been especially questionable as the women are often left heartbroken owing to their actions. Be it contestants like Abhishek “Shake” Chatterjee or Stephen Richardson, who didn’t seem to be on the show for the right reasons. Although the show’s creator, Chris Coelen, has defended the vetting process exclusively to DailyMail, the events translated on-screen and real-life show significant gaps in who qualifies as a contestant on the popular dating show.
The Show’s Intent Is Flawed Beyond Repair
During its debut season Love Is Blind was an instant hit with its USP of testing if love is truly blind without the lens of superficiality. While the concept was fresh, new instances popped up each season that reaffirmed how the journey to finding love beyond a person’s appearance has led to the lack of emphasis on other practical aspects. The show is in a constant rut to prove that physical appearance shouldn’t take precedence, and it forgets to touch upon different elements that are fundamental to the success of a marriage. When Hannah Jiles brought up finances on Love Is Blind Season 7, her fiancé, Nick Dorka, looked evidently perplexed.
There have also been instances where there was a lack of sexual awareness amongst the male contestants in particular, as they made problematic statements on national television, like Ramses Prashad and Johnny McIntyre expressing their distaste for using condoms. The contestants’ financial stability, political beliefs, or geographical barriers end up posing as the reasons for a couple’s split, and only in an odd scenario does a couple on the show break up due to a lack of physical attraction. It must be noted that if the end goal of the show weren’t to get married under a ticking time bomb, maybe the couples would’ve had a fighting shot at figuring out if they were meant to be.
‘Love Is Blind’ Has Become Solely About Shock Value and Entertainment
The show started off as an experiment to help contestants find true love sight unseen based on an emotional connection. However, Love Is Blind has fallen into the reality TV trap of shock value casting at the expense of real people’s emotions. Contestants like Marissa George, Deepti Vempati, and Nancy Rodriguez were left incredibly heartbroken due to the casting of sketchy and incompetent men. The decline in casting has been so stark that it poses the question of whether producers do so intentionally just to up the messy spats and drama. Moreover, so many of the relationships in Love Is Blind Season 7 were not shown on-screen, and contestants had to resort to looking up information on other avenues to fill in the gaps in random moments that took place on screen.
After its seven-season run, amid the controversies, heartbroken women, and lackluster connections, Love Is Blind had lost its essence and charm. To top things off, as the seasons progress, the number of couples who finally make it to the altar has also been on a steady decline. The once-popular Netflix reality dating show is confused about what it’s trying to be. After much trial and error at the expense of people’s emotions and viewers’ time, it is time that Love Is Blind calls it quits and disappears from reality TV.
The Love is Blind Season 7 Reunion episode will stream on Netflix on Wednesday, October 30, 2024 at 9 p.m. ET. You can stream all previous seasons of the show on the same platform.
