Not one couple who met during season nine of \u201cLove Is Blind\u201d had a fairy-tale ending, a shocking conclusion that has made some fans question whether the dating show is worth their time. <\/p>\n
When the series debuted on Netflix in February 2020, viewers gravitated toward its refreshing premise: Can people fall for each other without seeing each other? The idea especially resonated with people who were starting to feel isolated as the Covid-19 pandemic began to take hold. <\/p>\n
From their isolated \u201cpods,\u201d contestants speed date each other, engaging in hourslong raw conversations that sometimes can lead to proposals within days of their \u201cmeeting.\u201d Netflix then has the lovebirds test whether they actually mesh in person. The journey ultimately leads some of the couples to the altar, where they are tasked with saying yes or no to their matches after just weeks of knowing each other. <\/p>\n
But the absence of genuine romance this season, coupled with several controversies<\/a> over the past few years, has fueled disdain for the series from some fans who say the show has become unwatchable. <\/p>\n \u201cI think the series has lost its spark, the reason it was created,\u201d said Kadidjha Traore, who was among the many fans who posted about their disappointment on TikTok<\/a>. She cited the success of season one fan favorites Lauren Speed-Hamilton and Cameron Hamilton, whom she described as \u201cthe poster child of loving being blind.\u201d<\/p>\n However, as the seasons went on,\u201d Traore said, the show \u201ckind of has deteriorated.\u201d<\/p>\n Dating shows continue to vie for viewership in an oversaturated market for such programming. Ratings for the long-running \u201cBachelor\u201d franchise and its numerous spinoffs have waned amid criticism for being too stale<\/a>. Even highly popular shows like \u201cLove Island\u201d (both the U.S. and U.K. versions) have faced intense scrutiny from fans over how they have handled cyberbullying of contestants and their mental health<\/a>. <\/p>\n \u201cLove Is Blind\u201d hasn\u2019t faced a dip in viewership during its five-year run. Each season, which has taken place in a different U.S. city, has continued to maintain a spot in the most-viewed rankings on Netflix after it drops. The season eight premiere<\/a> this year generated 1.07 billion viewing minutes in the United States for the week of Feb. 10-16, according to Nielsen. (Viewing numbers for the latest season aren\u2019t yet available.)<\/p>\n However, many viewers online have complained that the show no longer lives up to the premise that captivated them. On the Reddit page dedicated to the show,<\/a> fans have analyzed <\/a>the ninth season\u2019s<\/a> trajectory across hundreds of comments in more than a dozen threads<\/a>. TikTok users have also dissected the couples in their videos, some of which have racked up millions of views<\/a> and thousands of likes<\/a>.<\/p>\n A representative for Netflix didn\u2019t immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n Keeping viewers engaged is part of the challenge of reality TV, according to Claire Fallon and Emma Gray, co-hosts of the \u201cLove To See It\u201d podcast, which covers other pop culture topics. <\/p>\n \u201cThe thing about a reality television show is that while producers can intervene and do a lot to shape that narrative, you are still dealing with real people at the end of the day,\u201d Gray said. \u201cAnd you\u2019re going to get what you can get and have to make do with what was felt.\u201d<\/p>\n Fallon said: \u201cThere\u2019s something that\u2019s very straightforward about making a reality dating show, right? Like, you don\u2019t need to write scripts or, you know, get people in costume, and, like, it\u2019s low-budget and it\u2019s a pretty simple formula.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cA lot of fans understandably want a season that has good drama, a couple of villains and then at least one love story that\u2019s sort of uplifting that makes them feel inspired and like they can live through the romantic happiness of the people in that relationship,\u201d Fallon added. \u201cAnd if you don\u2019t have all of those components really firing on all cylinders, especially when people have such high expectations of a show, people are going to start to feel disappointed with the product.\u201d <\/p>\n But that\u2019s a production feat that\u2019s \u201chard to nail in practice,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n \u201cLove Is Blind\u201d has received blowback in past seasons, with viewers taking issue with the show\u2019s having technical challenges<\/a>, short-lived marriages<\/a> and secret relationships<\/a>. The candidates\u2019 political beliefs have also sometimes prompted wider discourse<\/a> surrounding whether ideological differences can still be a deal-breaker when it comes to love. <\/p>\n This season, which took place in Denver, fans appeared especially frustrated by the casting choices. Several online questioned the motivation and maturity of those selected for this season, as well as whether their backgrounds (and their dating histories) were actually vetted.<\/p>\n As with other reality shows, many contestants from \u201cLove Is Blind\u201d have gone on to become influencers and podcasters following their appearances after having gained notoriety and audience on social media.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople can use the show to launch other projects to launch their careers, and that\u2019s not something you can really get around, because that is kind of the attention economy that we live in,\u201d Gray said.<\/p>\n A storyline that drew a lot of negative reactions involved contestant Patrick Suzuki, who was turned down by his match, Kacie McIntosh. She ended their engagement shortly after they met in person. McIntosh told Suzuki it was because she couldn\u2019t do the show anymore, but to the cameras she said it was because she didn\u2019t think her \u201cattraction to him\u201d would \u201cgrow.\u201d (Suzuki is Asian American, and McIntosh said she\u2019d never dated anyone of his ethnicity before.)<\/p>\n Contestants Nick Amato and Annie Lancaster also garnered backlash after their discussion in the pods about what they would do if their future kids were gay. Amato said he feels being part of the LGBTQ community is a \u201cfad\u201d (he has since apologized on his Instagram account<\/a>), and Lancaster said she wouldn\u2019t be thrilled. <\/p>\n \u201cI watch these reality shows to escape,\u201d Traore said. \u201cI like all those shows just to not think about what\u2019s going on right now. But this season of \u2018Love Is Blind,\u2019 like, really just brought you back into it.\u201d <\/p>\n Rikkii Wise, who has amassed a following of about 200,000 people on TikTok, where she posts \u201ctea\u201d (or gossip) related to reality shows, said she actually enjoyed that there were \u201cmess and drama\u201d rather than romance. But she understands the fan complaints \u2014 of the five featured couples, three broke up before<\/em> the altar, meaning just two weddings were shown on screen. <\/p>\n \u201cObviously you can\u2019t force people to go to the altar, but I think that maybe they should bring that clause back, because if we had no couples go to the altar, the audience is going to be in an uproar,\u201d said Wise, who goes by storytimewithrikkii on social media. <\/p>\n![\"Season](\"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_fit-760w,f_auto,q_auto:best\/rockcms\/2025-10\/251027-love-is-blind-mn-0930-cbcfe8.jpg\")
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