Anyone who watches Netflix's explosively popular dating reality show Love Is Blind can tell you that contestant vetting on the series is shoddy at best, and now, an exposé by Insider has revealed that allegedly atrocious on-set conditions compounded some participants' already-rocky mental health issues.
"I kept telling them, 'I don't trust myself,'" Season 2 contestant Danielle Ruhl recalled of her experience with producers on the show. "'I've tried committing suicide before. I'm having suicidal thoughts. I don't think I can continue in this.'"
That snapshot portrays a culture of emotional neglect allegedly rampant on the series' production side. Other contestants similarly recounted their experience on the show, claiming that there was a lack of food and water, as well as poor sleeping conditions in "drab trailers crammed with bunk beds during the 10 days dating in the pods," where all 15 female Season 1 participants slept together amid a cockroach infestation and 20-hour filming days.
"There was no privacy, it was cold, it wasn't comfortable," Season 1 contestant Danielle Drouin explained.
Ruhl further complained that her mental health issues should have disqualified her from the show, sharing that at one point, she fainted while drinking champagne in the pods and was made to "go right back into it."
She also shared that a fight between her and now-ex Nick Thompson was misrepresented in editing — showing Ruhl having a meltdown over what Netflix portrayed as jealousy over another woman, when Ruhl says, in reality, she had a panic attack over possibly contracting COVID-19 as the couple arrived to vacation in Mexico.
"I don't think that I've felt myself since before filming," Ruhl said. "I'm trying to re-find who I am because it fucked with me so much."
Kinetic Content, the production company behind the show, has issued the following statement: "The wellbeing of our participants is of paramount importance to Kinetic. We have rigorous protocols in place to care for each person before, during, and after filming."
Netflix has yet to respond publicly on the matter.
"I kept telling them, 'I don't trust myself,'" Season 2 contestant Danielle Ruhl recalled of her experience with producers on the show. "'I've tried committing suicide before. I'm having suicidal thoughts. I don't think I can continue in this.'"
That snapshot portrays a culture of emotional neglect allegedly rampant on the series' production side. Other contestants similarly recounted their experience on the show, claiming that there was a lack of food and water, as well as poor sleeping conditions in "drab trailers crammed with bunk beds during the 10 days dating in the pods," where all 15 female Season 1 participants slept together amid a cockroach infestation and 20-hour filming days.
"There was no privacy, it was cold, it wasn't comfortable," Season 1 contestant Danielle Drouin explained.
Ruhl further complained that her mental health issues should have disqualified her from the show, sharing that at one point, she fainted while drinking champagne in the pods and was made to "go right back into it."
She also shared that a fight between her and now-ex Nick Thompson was misrepresented in editing — showing Ruhl having a meltdown over what Netflix portrayed as jealousy over another woman, when Ruhl says, in reality, she had a panic attack over possibly contracting COVID-19 as the couple arrived to vacation in Mexico.
"I don't think that I've felt myself since before filming," Ruhl said. "I'm trying to re-find who I am because it fucked with me so much."
Kinetic Content, the production company behind the show, has issued the following statement: "The wellbeing of our participants is of paramount importance to Kinetic. We have rigorous protocols in place to care for each person before, during, and after filming."
Netflix has yet to respond publicly on the matter.