We’re all guilty of a good Love is Blind Netflix binge. The concept itself is pure can’t-look-away goodness. Thirty people take part in ten days of drama-full speed dating, resulting in a series of marriage proposals. Oh, and all without ever laying eyes on each other. Wild.
It is that wild in fact, that viewers are starting to speculate that Love is Blind isn’t even real, and is actually all scripted.
The answer isn’t very black and white, as it turns out that most reality shows have an element of staging at least to some degree. However, this appears to sit on the reality side of the fence. According to producers and contestants alike, everything regarding the couples was completely real. Melissa Cuevas, contestant Mark’s sister, responded to a fan on Instagram that “none” of the show is scripted, Life and Style Magazine reported.
There are small clues here and there that die-hard fans have picked up, implying that the show might be staged and scripted. For example, in Season 1 there is an episode where Jessica is holding a wine glass, but a split second later she is holding a different style of wine glass. Does this imply that the content of the show is staged? Or could it just be a slight editing mishap? What it does show is that the conversation we are being shown did not take place in the timings which are shown to us.
The pairings of the couples and the proposals appear to all be totally real, with producers actually concerned that the show could be too real, and they wouldn’t have any couples still together after the pod portion of the show. LIB creator Chris Coelen told Entertainment Weekly “as a producer I was kind of nervous like, is anybody actually gonna get engaged?” “Is anyone going to make it to the altar? And, in the end, we actually had more couples get engaged than we were able to follow on the show.”
Chris told Variety, “It’s funny because we would encourage them to take breaks […] but they didn’t want to, they wanted to stay in those pods. Even so far as want to sleep in those pods, they wanted to stay in those pods as much as possible. The more they got in there, the more they have these conversations! Deep conversations that they never had with family members or friends or people they’ve dated. They wanted to be there and talk to these people as much as they possibly could”. Aww!
Contestant Rory also confirmed this in an interview with Women’s Health, saying “they were like, ‘We were expecting one or two [engagements], not eight! We set up to film five!”
Alas, as with all reality shows the producers do play at least a small role in the content that we get to see, especially through the editing process. Plus, fast forward to the final ep and you can totally see producers trying to manipulate conversations onto certain subjects by asking specific questions to bring the drama. That doesn’t necessarily mean that the show is scripted, just that it is created in a way to maximise the entertainment factor for us Love is Blind obsessives.
Supplied
Warning: Season 2 spoilers ahead. If you haven’t finished binging through season 2 on Netflix then look away now!
So the pairings on this season are a little…unusual, to say the least. Furthermore, the outcomes of these relationships are even more unusual. Leading to more and more fans questioning the legitimacy of what they are seeing on screen. There is a whole host of drama on this season, in which it is fair to say that some of it does look slightly unrealistic.
One woman sobs tears as her partner repeatedly plays his guitar for her, and another is literally crying in a cupboard when her fiancé goes and parties at an event she is too unwell to attend. Drama. In both situations, it does appear as there could possibly be something there to up the ante a little.
Supplied
The biggest plot twist in the season came when Kyle proposed to Shaina, just hours (or minutes, who knows the concept of real-time in there) after learning that they both have very different beliefs and core values, which they are pretty stubborn about. Already nicknamed ‘Shyle’ by the media, Kyle has commented publicly about the engagement, captioning one of his pictures, “regardless of the outcome, this was one of the most exciting days of my life”. “Imagine connecting with someone for countless hours over the course of 10 days through a wall and then finally seeing them for the first time. The massive wave of emotion washed away what seemed like all consciousness and left us both in a euphoric state. No matter the outcome, this special bond I share with Shaina will be forever kept in mind, until the end of time.”
So it looks like it’s bad news for all of us reality TV cynics out there, Love is Blind may actually be true love after all!
Supplied