In its two seasons (and counting), the Netflix series "Love Is Blind," hosted by Nick and Vanessa Lachey, has captured audience attention thanks to its unique format.
Attempting to bypass the superficial aspects of dating, the series has people get to know each other in isolated rooms. In the "pods," as they're called, contestants are literally walled off from seeing potential love matches, and prevented from making decisions based on appearances.
For all its emphasis on looking past appearances, "Love Is Blind" has been criticized for a lack of body diversity among cast members. In Season Two, viewers noticed that plus-size contestants were given less screen time and were not among the six couples ultimately featured.
In an interview Monday with Insider, host Vanessa Lachey addressed criticism over the show’s casting.
Lachey, who told Insider she is not part of the casting process, said that she believes Netflix gives people with diverse bodies a "fair shot," and that the lack of cast members who don't adhere to conventional beauty standards may come down to insecurity on the contestants' ends.
“Their whole life, they’ve been so insecure about being themselves because of this crazy swipe generation that we are in and this catfishing world that we’re in that they’re so afraid to be themselves,” Lachey said.
“I wonder if they truly don’t have enough time in those two weeks to find themselves, A, and then be themselves to then find that spouse," she continued.
This isn't the first time individuals connected to the show have spoken to the casting process. In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, “Love Is Blind” creator and executive producer Chris Coelen also addressed casting choices, and said producers "really tried" to feature a "diverse pool."
“Both Season 1 and Season 2, we really tried to have a diverse pool of participants in every sense of what that word means — whether it’s experience or body type or ethnicity or whatever,” Coelen said. He added, “There’s only so many people that we showed.”
During the interview, Lachey also touched on the show's lack of LGBTQ+ representation, which she chalked up to logistics. On the show, men and women reside in separate living areas and meet only in the pods.
“If you think about if you did just women, then it wouldn’t be separate quarters, it would just be one big house of everybody out for themselves, I guess,” she said. “And if you did the men, it would be the same.”
In an interview with Metro in 2020, creator Coelen raised similar concerns about the "logistics" when asked whether future seasons of the show would feature LGBTQ+ cast members.
“Based on the setup of it, a LGBTQ+ version of that has some logistical difficulties in the current setup," Coelen said.
The Netflix series included a bisexual contestant in its first season. However, Carlton Morton's sexuality became the focus of a fight with his brief fiancée, Diamond Jack.
During their post-pod trip to Mexico, the couple's bond frayed after Morton came out to his fiancé as bisexual. Their conversation devolved into accusations and name calling. Eventually, Jack tossed Morton's engagement ring into a pool.
On social media, "Love Is Blind" viewers responded to Lachey’s statements.
“Vanessa Lachey really went on record to say the reason bigger women aren’t featured on Love is Blind is because they are too insecure to make a connection?" one wrote, adding that Lachey should have "just said nothing."
Another "called b-----t" on the notion that insecurities are to blame for the show's lack of body diversity.
Lachey and her husband, Nick Lachey, also co-host the Netflix dating show "The Ultimatum," which will have an all-queer cast for its second season.
