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CNN
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The National Labor Relations Board issued a complaint against the producers of hit reality TV show “Love Is Blind,” arguing that the contestants should be classified as employees and therefore be eligible for worker protections. The complaint is NLRB’s first legal action of this kind regarding reality show participants.
Contestants on reality shows frequently have to sign contracts with strict confidentiality restrictions. The complaint from the NLRB could eventually bring more transparency to an industry that can be exploitative, Cathy Creighton, director of Cornell University’s Industrial and Labor Relations Buffalo Co-Lab, said to CNN.
Two former “Love Is Blind” contestants, Renee Poche and Nicholas Thompson, separately filed unfair labor practice charges with the NLRB in 2023. After the agency consolidated and investigated those charges, the labor board’s regional office in Minnesota filed the complaint Wednesday evening.
The NLRB complaint is against production companies Delirium TV and Kinetic Content. Netflix, which streams the show on its platform, is not named in the complaint but has been named in some lawsuits about conditions on the show.
Kinetic Content’s and Delirium TV’s lawyers did not immediately respond to CNN’s request for comment. Netflix declined to comment.
In “Love is Blind,” an Emmy-nominated Netflix hit, 15 men and 15 women speak to their potential partners in isolated “pods.” The goal is to see if they can spark a connection without seeing the person beforehand and eventually get engaged and married — all on camera.
Poche — a veterinarian in Texas — said that when she signed up for “Love is Blind,” she signed a strict contract with nondisclosures, according to legal documents viewed by CNN. The NLRB said the participant agreement contained “unlawful non-compete, confidentiality, and stay-or-pay provisions.”
On the show, Poche was matched “with a walking red flag” and feared for her physical safety spending long stretches of time alone with someone “aggressive and volatile,” according to the same documents.
After Poche made public remarks about the ordeal, Delirium TV allegedly initiated arbitration against her and sought $4 million in penalties because she violated “illegal” confidentiality provisions in the contract, according to legal documents. (Poche said she only made $8,000 while on the show). And the arbitration demand for $4 million is also allegedly unlawful, the NLRB said.
In its complaint, the NLRB wants “Love is Blind” contestants to be considered employees and to be compensated for any lost wages while they are on the show.
The NLRB said the “Love Is Blind” contestants couldn’t organize as non-employees. But an eventual board decision could open the door to contestants unionizing.
The filing could “change the reality TV industry forever. The practices identified by the NLRB in its complaint against Delirium are ubiquitous in this space,” Bryan Freedman, counsel for Renee Poche, said in a statement to CNN on Thursday.
And Thompson, who was on the second season of the show with his former fiancée, Danielle Ruhl, has been vocal about his “pretty awful experience.” He alleged poor working conditions and a lack of mental health support during filming.
A string of legal ordeals
It’s not the first time the hit TV show has been embroiled in legal controversy.
In 2022, season two contestant Jeremy Hartwell filed a lawsuit against Netflix, Kinetic Content and Delirium TV for “inhumane working conditions,” including sleep deprivation and long hours without food and water, and inadequate pay for the number of hours worked.
Hartwell, who was the class-action representative, agreed to settle in July for roughly $1.4 million.
Another cast member, season five contestant Tran Dang, also filed a lawsuit in 2022 against Kinetic and later Delirium alleging false imprisonment and sexual assault.
“We support and stand with victims of sexual assault, but Ms. Dang’s claims against the producers are meritless,” Kinetic Content and Delirium TV said in a statement to People in 2023. “We have no knowledge or control over what occurs in private living spaces when not filming, and (‘Love Is Blind’) participants may choose to end their journey at any time.”
In an interview with Variety in 2023, Kinetic Content CEO Chris Coelen said one clause, a $50,000 penalty incurred if a contestant left the show early, was never enforced and was removed in later seasons.
A hearing over the NLRB complaint is scheduled for April 2025, when the Trump administration is in power. The complaint has to be presented in front of an administrative law judge, who will decide if the production companies violated labor law; the companies could then appeal the decision.
“There’ll be a new general counsel appointed by President Trump, and that general counsel will either withdraw or resolve this case pretty promptly,” Creighton said. “I would say that the chances of this going forward are nil to zero.”
CNN’s Marianne Garvey contributed to this report.
