Dive Brief:
- The National Labor Relations Board for Region 18 filed a consolidated complaint Wednesday against Delirium TV, LLC, and Kinetic Content, LLC — creators of the Netflix show “Love is Blind” — taking the position that cast members are employees covered by the National Labor Relations Act.
- According to the NLRB complaint, the “Love is Blind” creators “intentionally misclassified” cast members and subjected them to violations of their Section 7 rights. The show required cast members to sign an agreement depriving them of collective bargaining rights and directed them not to discuss “any matters” related to their employment, NLRB said.
- NLRB is seeking an order that requires “Love is Blind” creators to reclassify all participants since January 2023 as employees and notify them in writing, among other requirements.
Dive Insight:
The NLRB complaint consolidated separate charges filed by Nicholas Thompson and Renee Poche, cast members of “Love is Blind” Season two and Season five, respectively.
Separate from her NLRB complaint, Poche sued Netflix and Delirium TV in January, alleging violations of California labor law, saying the state had a “fundamental public policy against contracts that force employees to pre-emptively release intentional torts and FEHA violations as a condition of employment and that gag them from speaking about unlawful conditions in the workplace.”
Poche said she was “matched with a walking red flag” on the show, a participant whose “erratic and alarming behavior and emotional instability” caused her fear and was known to the production staff, according to the complaint. Nevertheless, she said, she was “forced to spend long stretches of time alone with him” and was not allowed to discontinue her participation or refuse to move forward with the engagement.
After filming wrapped, Poche made “limited public remarks” about her experience, which caused Delirium to initiate arbitration and seek $4 million for breach of contract, according to the complaint. Poche said she made $8,000 from her appearance on the show.
Delirium again filed a motion to compel arbitration in response to the lawsuit, which the judge granted in March.
Thompson, who participated in an earlier season of the show, married and later divorced another contestant. He also spoke publicly about his experience, telling The Daily Mail in August 2023 the show “ruined” his life, that he was treated “like a prisoner” and that people “don’t take [him] seriously” due to his appearance on the show, for which he said he was paid $10,000. “It’s a brutal, brutal, brutal industry,” Thompson reportedly told the media site.
Reality television is known for subjecting participants to intense conditions and ironclad nondisclosure agreements. Even so, “Love is Blind” has been particularly notorious among such shows. At least two other previous cast members have filed lawsuits against the show’s creators, including Season five’s Tran Dang, who, according to People magazine, alleged creators allowed her to be assaulted on set, and Season two’s Jeremy Hartwell, who alleged misclassification and described “unsafe and inhumane working conditions.”
If NLRB’s contention that “Love is Blind” cast members are employees succeeds, the reality television landscape could see a shakeup — including the potential for cast member unionization.