Chris Coelen, the creator of Love Is Blind, has defended the show’s vetting process after major revelations about the season seven cast came to light.
The TV producer discussed season seven of the Netflix dating series during an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, published just hours after the reunion special aired on Thursday (October 31). During the conversation, he addressed some of the online criticism the show has faced for its process of evaluating contestants before casting them on the show.
“Well, a couple things. One is we have a very rigid vetting process. We have background checks and psychological evaluations,” he said.
When contestants are cast on Love Is Blind, Coelen noted that Netflix won’t scrutinize their entire family history or relationship past. Most notably, season seven cast member Tyler Frances waited until later in the season to tell his now-wife, Ashley Adionser, that he was the father of three children.
“Everyone in the world has a story and we aren’t the police. We don’t regulate or monitor their conversations whether they’re being filmed or not, by the way,” Coelen continued.
“We’re not dictating to them what they should talk about, what they shouldn’t talk about. If someone has children or doesn’t have children, that doesn’t preclude them from participating in the process.”
While everyone on Love Is Blind has their own story, Coelen claimed that it’s not the show’s job “to make sure that everyone talks about everything.” Instead, the show is giving people the opportunity to find love in an unconventional setting.
“Our job is to provide them a forum that they use how they wish, to see if they can connect with someone and fall in love and, hopefully in the process – because it contributes to them being in love – be very open and transparent with each other, even through some topics that can be very difficult,” he said. “It’s not our obligation to report to everyone everything that you might find interesting. That’s not really our place, because our job is to document that.”
The Love Is Blind creator also said that Netflix doesn’t want to film couples on the show at all times. In fact, he wants contestants to “have off-camera time” to “really get the full picture” of each other before deciding if they want to get married.
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During season seven, married couple Adionser and Frances revealed they had first discussed Frances being a father when cameras weren’t rolling. While Coelen admitted there was no way for him to know exactly “what people talk about off camera,” he emphasized that viewers’ negative opinions about each Love Is Blind couple “doesn’t really make any difference” in the real world.
At one point during season seven, Frances spoke to his partner about being a sperm donor for his close friend and her wife, who wanted a baby. He explained that his friend’s wife “ended up leaving her,” and he stepped up to the plate as the sperm donor for her children.
“This was my very close friend. So, I stepped in – voluntarily stepped in – and helped. There are pictures of me around, you’ll see me around. I’ve spent holidays with all my friends, you know, all their kids. And I played a part that became very shaky with a friend,” he said during the reunion, with Adionser sitting by his side.
He made it clear that this wasn’t Adionser’s first time learning about his three children either.
“I do want to let people know, Ashley knows all this. This is news to the world. This has never been news to us,” he added. “And I’m giving this explanation now because I feel like the world is waiting for it. I don’t owe anyone an explanation but my wife.”
The latest season of Love Is Blind saw seven couples get engaged before ever meeting in person. Much like seasons past, each relationship began in rooms known as “pods,” where contestants are tasked with falling in love through only an emotional connection.
Ultimately, only two couples – Adionser and Frances, and Taylor Krause and Garrett Josemans – were married, as five other couples broke off their engagements before their wedding day.
