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We are republishing it timed to the Netflix premiere of the season.
The doors will open.
This particular reveal is not going well.
She is not sold yet, in my opinion.
Her face is so … She had a big sigh.
Theyre filming the upcoming seventh season of Netflixs signature dating reality show.
They know theyll have to make cuts, and this couple is obviously on the chopping block.
(In order not to spoil the upcoming season, future cast members names have been changed.)
The woman, Kayla, is the only remaining cast member who hasnt said I love you.
When Josh and Kayla walk toward each other, she squeals.
He slings his suit jacket over her bare shoulders.
Kayla tells him she swears her butt is usually bigger but she hasnt worked out in two weeks.
Youve got a great body, Josh says repeatedly.
Their kisses, which produce a rhythmic smacking sound, echo through the otherwise silent, cavernous soundstage.
This feels like our worst couple right now, Coelen says.
Lets see how the other ones play out.
But it just feels fake.
The mornings other reveals go better.
She is self-possessed; he is so overwhelmed hes shaky and stumbling.
Both of these reveals feel promising even, and maybe especially, the mismatched one.
She needs a guy like that, Coelen says.
The reveals are a crucial stage in whatLove Is Blindrefers to as its experiment.
Cast members are participants; its a process.
Their phones are taken away during production; TVs are removed from their hotel rooms.
There must be no internet-connected equipment that would allow someone to Insta-stalk their potential mate.
There are only two ways to see whom theyve been dating:Get engagedor leave the show.
When the show premiered in 2020, many rolled their eyes at the absurdity of the gimmick.
Then, a few seasons in, came a guilty acknowledgment of its appeal.
What happens when you fall in love with someone who looks different from what youve envisioned?
The show can capture that feeling in real time in ways that surprise both the participants and the audience.
Every season, someone announces tearfully that, for them, loveisblind.
However, the show can also be an extended exploration of all the ways thats often not true.
Sometimes, an instant distaste destroys the relationship.
Or theres a slow-burn erosion as potential future spouses see each other in a real-life context.
The dramatic irony embedded in the viewing experience feels distantly related to a prank show.
Or maybe the delusion will stick and, actually, thats love.
Theres no thumb on the scale for who proposes to whom.
This looseness contributes to the sense that its not like all those other shows.
Its freer, more honest, more authentic.
But a number of recent legal challenges from former cast members have raised fundamental questions about howLove Is Blindworks.
Two participants say they were pushed to keep filming by producers with partners they allege were abusive.
Reporting in Business Insider andTheNew Yorkerhas characterized the show as one driven by producer manipulation.
They are a continuing source of irritation for Coelen, who often brings them up unprompted.
Our conversations are studded with long, off-the-record interjections.
He is aggravated by what he views as an untruthful characterization of the show.
AndLove Is Blindis, of course, not a documentary.
The stories may not be produced in the same way soft-scripted reality shows are, as Coelen puts it.
Coelen shoots me a glance.
That phrase gets thrown around a lot, he says.
Its a colloquialism, he adds.
It doesnt mean shereallyhad a panic attack.
In person, Coelen doesnt suggest a high-profile founder of one of the biggest reality-show production companies in Hollywood.
Hes 56, tall, and a little dorky looking.
He wears transition lenses and the same outfit every day: a T-shirt and ragged jeans.
He eats his cereal with water.
Shed worried he would be a slippery, slimy TV pop in and relaxed when she saw him.
But Coelen is not laid back, either.
He obsessively references his abhorrence of falseness.
One day, he sends me a link to a David Brooks column about how art can teach empathy.
It really resonated with me in terms of what we aspire to, he says.
Coelen fell backward into reality-TV production.
When the Fox show was canceled, Coelen left journalism.
He started working as a talent agent in 1992.
There seemed to be an examination of society built within those shows, he says.
I felt like the unscripted genre had gotten away from that.
Shows about love were both high stakes and universal and became central to Kinetics production slate.
How does attraction work?
How do you know if two people are really in love?
Each of Kinetics relationship shows has a high-concept scheme that becomes a pressure test for the idea of commitment.
Seventeen seasons in, the show is very successful; the marriages less so.
ForLove Is Blind,his early pitch was People want to be loved for who they are.
Those are indications of someone who wants fame more than love.
They need to have good support systems because being on the show is hard.
Theres a mental toll.
The expedited process can create a lot of confusion in our heads.
Theyre separated by sex first the women gather, then the men.
Furthermore, he adds, this is not a TV show.
We put up this machinery, but anything that happens is up to you.
Coelen has a gurulike intensity when he speaks.
This mans eye contact is insane.
These are meant to be informational sessions with advice about how to make the most of the experience.
On the first days morning meeting, Coelen brings up the alcohol on set.
To do that, I think you have to be comfortable.
To get to know them, to open up whatever that looks like to you.
He does have a suggestion, though.
What I wouldrecommend, he continues, is do not drink to excess.
Because in my experience, thats a really bad way to connect with someone.
Coelen is, of course, aware that a reporter is watching him.
None of this is required, and some people skip them entirely.
Still, these are things theyshouldtalk about, Coelen says.
A cast member who doesnt want to answer those questions may not be ready for marriage.
When their dates are over, he says, the audio will simply cut out.
(Despite this warning, several people on the first day end up talking to an empty room.)
These rankings are crucial to howLove Is Blindworks.
On the first night, one womans sheet comes back with Not Elliott!
written starkly across the bottom.
The rankings not the producers decide who dates whom, Coelen emphasizes in the morning talks.
This, he explains, is the beautiful thing about the show.
Bad for your real experience, bad for TV.
Good for your experience?
Several people are doing shots by 11:30 a.m. (You guys went to three different restaurants!
one of the men tells producers.)
In their conversations with one another, many talk about their faith.
Ive prayed more in the last two days than in the last two years, one says.
What do you think happens when we die?
is the first question a woman asks on her first date with someone.
For some, I can see the connection, or the absence of one, in real time.
In between dates, crew members hustle into the pods to fluff pillows and spray everything with Febreze.
Some of the cast diverge from the talking points.
One woman talks about conspiracy theories she believes, including that the moon landing was faked.
Without body language, the men shes dating cant seem to tell whether shes trolling them.
I hate Ben Shapiro, but Ive got a good Ben Shapiro impression, a different guy says.
Throughout filming, producers pull cast members aside for one-on-one interviews.
They ask questions like Who has the sexiest voice?
and What kind of energy does he give you?
I was like, Absolutely do not do that right now.
Angelina was clear about not doing anything she didnt want to do.
But people would forget that sometimes, she says.
Hes been staring at his laptop, working on an edit for the previous season.
He doesnt particularly care who any of these people are until theyve made it to the proposal stage.
This early in a season, he has barely learned their names.
They put sticky notes on some of the photos to indicate their favorites.
Theyre the ones I want to track, one of them says.
Producers do this too.
Its all wishful thinking, though the cast choose whom they choose.
I know Im a main story line!
the anxious woman says to her cohort in the lounge.
Nearly all of the sticky-noted cast members have left.
About a week into filming, the sisters, Angelina and Emma, decide its time to go.
Angelina tells the guy shes been dating that she really is interested in him.
The days were very long, and the cameras were a lot, she tells me afterward.
Someone will reach out about aftercare, Coelen tells them.
If you guys want to go see a therapist, he starts to say.
Probably need one now, Lucas interjects.
I love that you say that, Coelen replies.
To just go cold turkey on that is weird, right?
So hey go talk to somebody!
We pay for it.
This is the kind of experience the casting team tells potential participants about the show.
When someone decides they want to leave, according to the production, they can.
According to some participants, however, that is not always the case.
I knew I was going to give my phone away.
I get that, Thompson says when I ask about it.
Thompsons season-two castmate Shake Chatterjee has a different memory of production.
There was always food available, he says.
(He did very much enjoy his experience filming a different meta-series,House of Villains,an E!
show unrelated toLove Is Blindthat casts reality stars from many different series.
For some especially those who did get married all of that stress is necessary to achieve the end goal.
You are not a prisoner, he says.
We dont push alcohol.
The cast is provided catered meals.
Even without enforcement, the presence of that fine could make people worry about leaving, I point out.
Im not inside peoples heads, so I have no idea what theyre concerned about, Coelen says.
Both Thompson and Chatterjee were featured prominently in season two.
It was optimized for cost and to protect the shows blind-love concept but wasnt conducive to falling in love.
And maybe you said something two days ago you regretted and youre worried about that.
It builds up, and eventually you feel a little crazy.
Im not a psychopath.
Eventually, it became too much and he had a panic attack while in an interview room.
At this point, he did exit the show.
His mom DoorDashed him a meal while he waited in the hotel lobby for his personal effects.
It was not a great experience, he says.
I ask whether hed ever considered a lawsuit.
TheLove Is Blindcontract classifies cast members as independent contractors who are paid up to $12,000 over six weeks.
Coelen wont speak to the work classification, but he says he doesnt have any patience for this view.
That is a mistaken premise.
In his opinion, a Real Housewife is more like a series regular a reality show is her career.
Are youforcedto sign up for the union?
It is the most fucking incredible experience I have had the privilege to witness.
Thats the reason to do it.
Its not a job.
Its not a career.
It is an opportunity.
Many cast members describe the pods portion ofLove Is Blindas exhilarating.
The other lawsuits against the series concern what happens when that experience goes awry.
She alleges he groped and assaulted her, which she says she reported to producers the following morning.
Some of her fellow participants felt she wasnt invested in the process.
She would goof off and use someone elses name on her dates.
She introduced herself to my husband as Linda, says Gonzalez, one of her castmates.
She was not taking things seriously.
Still, Dang made it far.
After the pods, she continued to the romantic getaway with Smith.
It quickly became clear that things werent going well between them.
It could be a lot of things that dont make her feel pressured into having sex.
No, this is a nonnegotiable, Smith responded.
I need more physically from her.
(Smith denies all of these allegations.)
By that point, Dang and Smith wouldnt even look at each other.
Dang had taken off her ring and said theydbroken up.
I felt like a blow-up doll in the bedroom.
They asked her, Why are you still here?
Two other participants, Jared Pierce and Taylor Rue, had already left the production.
Dang told them producers wanted her to stay.
Dang left the show a week or so later.
She filed her suit in August 2022, nearly a year before the season would be released on Netflix.
Dang and Smith were both completely omitted from the episodes.
(Dang declined to comment through her lawyer.)
I ask Coelen what a producers role would be in the event a cast member reported an assault.
We very pointedly dont want people to stay in a situation that they are uncomfortable in.
He reconsiders the word choice.
Uncomfortableis the wrong word because people are going to get uncomfortable.
Its an uncomfortable situation.
Any time somebody says that, thats it.
That said, he continues, they have to relay this to the proper person on set.
Thats why were very specific about c’mon confirm you talk to a senior-level person.
I ask Coelen how someone like Wall could be cast despite the shows screening process.
The way I look at it, we dont cast the show, he says.
Then the participants cast themselves, he says.
The issue, he implies, isnt that Kinetic had cast Wall.
The issue is that Poche chose him.
Listen, he says, its not an infallible process.
Poches mother, Dixie, was filmed briefly for a meet-the-parents scene.
Even to me, the production crew said they knew Carter is troubled, she recalls.
But for the sake of filming, they said, Lets just get through this.
When she told her daughter to leave the show, she replied, Theyre going to penalize me.
I have to see this through.
Poche also wanted to be on television.
Several people recall producers asking Poche to stay because she was going to be the face of the show.
Oh my God, Coelen says when I relay this to him.
Ineversaid that about Renee.
It would never be something that comes out of my mouth.
He doesnt know why a lower-level producer would suggest that to a cast member either.
It is counter to every way the show is made, he says.
Chloes distaste, Coelen notes, is at least honest.
We want to follow the ones we feel are genuine, Coelen says.
We dont want people to do stuff for TV.
Chloe and Ethan are young, theyre appealing characters, and theres tension between them.
What did you like about them?
Coelen asks a younger producer standing nearby.
I like that he gives off F-boy energy, but he has an underlayer, she says.
Hes a cat owner.
No one seems to think the two are destined for marriage, but theyre entertaining to watch.
If there were dates going on, the producer says, Id specifically tune in to theirs.
They are authentic in the sense that theyre authentically compelling to watch.
At the end, all of us went there for all the reasons, one cast member tells me.
We want to be on TV.
And we want to find love.
Its one of the many inescapable contradictions inherent in the show and its genre at large.
The experiment gets muddled by the unpredictable mixture of motivations and personalities in each new cast.
The production teams value system shapes the gut-level judgment calls of what constitutes authenticity and what reads as false.
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