'Love Is Blind' Pod Dates Are Crucial for Participants To Get To Know Each Other

The most important part of Love Is Blind for the singles are the pods. Those dates determine who has a connection and who doesn't, and it's literally the only way that cast members get to know their potential future partners. But if things don't work out, can they cancel dates in the pods on Love Is Blind? Or are they bound to dates that they might not even want to go on?

The pods are separated by a wall, and the singles talk through that wall without seeing the other person in order to get to know them without knowing what they look like. Pod dates can be overwhelming at first for the singles, because they happen in rapidfire. As the season progresses, the pod dates become more drawn out and personal, depending on which potential couples have dates in their respective pods.

The dates start off as speed dates in the pods. The cast members get to know each other by taking notes and marking down the names of the other people they meet. As it becomes clear that connections are forming, though, the dates in the pods get longer and more intricate. Technically, if someone has a date with another person scheduled, but they decide not to go on that date, there isn't a reason why they would be forced to enter the pods for it.

But from a production standpoint, you have to assume that producers would want to be able to film whatever uncomfortable interaction a cast member might be trying to avoid by canceling their pod date. In Season 8 of Love Is Blind, one single jokes about canceling a pod date with another person to go on a date with someone they might like more.

That makes it seem like canceling dates in the pods is possible later on in the first several episodes, after the speed dating portion is over. But it also isn't the norm. Most of the participants on the show are there to find love and to give each connection a fighting chance. To cancel a pod date could throw off their experience.

Cam Hamilton from Season 1 told Refinery29 that producers would use personal rankings and notes to figure out which dates should be set up in the pods. He added, "As the days went on, the length of the dates went longer but the number of people you saw got shorter." Singles can also request dates with certain people in the pods.

And from there, they can even plan more intricate dates, even though the participants still do not see each other until they are engaged and out of the pods. They can arrange to have trays of food set in the pod for their prospective partner, or they can even have a personal gift sent to the pod, waiting for the other person upon arrival. The pod dates aren't always easy, but the risk is worth the reward.

Watch Love Is Blind on Netflix.