Love is Blind is not a perfect show. From the fan backlash over the problematic cast members to the very serious accusations of the production depriving the cast of food, sleep, and water, it’s impossible to get through a season of this show without just a little bit of controversy. Season 3 is no different. Lauren Speed, who married Cameron Hamilton during the Love is Blind season 1 finale, is calling out the show for excluding Black women from the final cut, and her accusations have caught the attention of the show’s host Nick Lachey.
As E! News reported, Lauren took to Twitter to express her feelings about the show. She wrote, “I don’t like how LIB be cutting all the black women. How come they are always in the trailer but not the show….”
In a follow-up post, she continued slamming the show and the behind-the-scenes production, writing, “I know it’s slim pickings but about 85% of them couples be forced (just moving forward for entertainment purposes) anyway. Y’all could at least force some more sisters to move forward throughout the show.”
As one of the rare Love is Blind success stories, it makes sense that Lauren is trying to champion the change she wants to see on the show. However, the show’s creator Chris Coelen has previously made it clear that he stands behind his production team and their choices. Earlier this year, when season 2 concluded, he did an interview with Variety where he addressed similar criticisms from viewers.
“I think it’s very funny for people to say, ‘Oh, you put somebody who was, you know, heavier in there, and then you just didn’t follow them,’” he told the publication earlier this year. “It’s not like anybody wants that to happen or doesn’t want that to happen. What I want to have happen is just to be true to the experiment.”
Chris continued, “You put people in there. They can’t see each other. If they fall in love, then we follow it and if they don’t, we don’t.”
Although the show’s creator doesn’t seem like he’s accepting any feedback on the show’s processes, Love is Blind’s host Nick Lachey has responded directly to Lauren’s claims about the show excluding Black women. As Entertainment Tonight reported, Nick took a break from cussing out paparazzi to respond to Lauren’s accusations about the show. He called her tweets “a fair observation,” but, similarly to the show’s creator, Nick argued that the producers follow people who are “falling in love” rather than pushing certain cast members for entertainment purposes.
“People gravitate to who they gravitate to,” Nick explained in the interview. “That’s not something that producers or anyone else can dictate or strip or have dictated or stripped. People make connections in the pods for whatever reason, and those connections are then followed through to the rest of the season.”
He continued to add that the show has made efforts to cast with diversity over the years, so hopefully, that’s something we’ll see more of in season 4.
“I think that all you can do in terms of being in the show and being in the casting department is casting fairly and with great diversity. I think that they’ve done a good job of trying to do that,” Nick continued. “How it plays out, I can’t really answer to that part of it other than I know it’s not dictated or manipulated… who moves forward. It’s really, truly the connections they make blindly in the pods.”
TELL US – WERE YOU SURPRISED TO HEAR LAUREN’S ACCUSATIONS ABOUT THE SHOW? DO YOU THINK THE PRODUCERS PUSH CERTAIN PEOPLE THROUGH FORWARD FOR ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES?
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