‘IT F*CKED WITH ME’

Traumatized ‘Love Is Blind’ Contestants Detail ‘Emotional Warfare’ Behind the Scenes

One former cast member alleged that producers pressured her to stay on the Netflix show even after she confessed she was having suicidal thoughts.

Four seasons, two divorces, and one disastrous live event into Love Is Blind’s reign over the reality TV landscape, some former contestants are coming forward with allegations that the process of filming the Netflix series was traumatizing. In an Insider report, some cast members described being treated as disposable as they were deprived of adequate food, water, and sleep on set. Producers pushed the cast to divulge their deepest and most humiliating insecurities to the cameras in what one contestant described as “emotional warfare.” The cast was not provided with mental-health support services during or after filming, and three contestants said they experienced panic attacks on the show. Danielle Ruhl, a contestant on season two, said producers pressured her to stay on the show even after she told them she was having suicidal thoughts. “I don’t think that I’ve felt myself since before filming,” she said. “I’m trying to refind who I am because it fucked with me so much.” The show’s production company, Kinetic Content, later told Variety in a statement that it had “rigorous protocols in place to care for each [contestant] before, during, and after filming.”