‘Love Is Blind’ Is a Major Phenomenon, but How Much of It Is Scripted?
The drama on Netflix's 'Love Is Blind' sometimes feels too good to be true — is it actually all scripted?
Updated Sept. 23 2023, 2:19 p.m. ET
Most fans will tell you that Love Is Blind is one of the most compelling, wild reality shows on Netflix. Now in its sixth season, the show continues to have some viewers wondering precisely how much of it is actually real.
No reality show is as organic as it seems to be, but just how scripted is Love Is Blind? Here's what we know.
What is ‘Love Is Blind’ about, and is it actually scripted?
The show follows 30 people looking for love, going through ten days of speed dating that ultimately end in marriage proposals. However, over those 10 days, the people on the show never lay eyes on one another. The show follows a number of couples through their proposals and all the way to their wedding days, where they have to decide whether or not to go through with getting married.
According to many viewers, the wild nature of the show must mean it has to be scripted.
Love Is Blind is not scripted, and the show is real — at least to some extent. Everything surrounding the couples and their engagements is completely real, according to the show’s producers and contestants. There were reportedly nerves on set that the show was too real and that the reality of the show would be its downfall.
In a 2020 interview with Entertainment Weekly, series creator Chris Coelen said that his primary concern was whether the show would have any contestants to follow when everything was said and done. "As a producer, I was kind of nervous, like, is anybody actually gonna get engaged?" Chris said. "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."
Rory, one of the Season 1 contestants, attested to something very similar in an interview with Women’s Health. “They were like, 'We were expecting one or two [engagements], not eight! We set up to film five!'" Rory said.
Despite what 'Love Is Blind' showrunners say, there's still an element of fakeness to the show.
As real as Love Is Blind may seem, there’s a certain level of artificiality that comes with every reality TV series. Contestants may behave a certain way because they know there are cameras around, and editing can also hide some of the truth about what characters are really thinking or feeling. Producers are also capable of influencing the way contestants think or feel, which may help to explain why the show features so many successful proposals by its finale.
As previous seasons have suggested, producers can also force the conversation between contestants in certain directions in order to keep the show dramatic and entertaining. That’s not to say that the entire show is scripted — instead, it’s produced in a way to maximize the entertainment value for those who are tuning in. On the whole, Love Is Blind is as real as a reality TV show can be.
That doesn’t mean that it’s 100 percent authentic, but if the love between the contestants is real, maybe that’s all that matters.
Love Is Blind Season 6 is now streaming on Netflix, and you can catch previous seasons there as well.
