**Spoilers for season 4 of Love Is Blind ahead**
The blows just keep coming for Netflix’s once highly-anticipated Love Is Blind season four reunion. First, it was plagued by technical issues, and then once the special did air, fans had major issues with the content—specifically the hosting style of Vanessa Lachey.
After the hit reality dating series wrapped up the final stage of its social experiment in season four by taking its remaining couples to the altar to either say “I do” or “I don’t,” Netflix announced a special treat for viewers. The show always airs a cast reunion episode prior to the “After the Altar” episodes, but this time, Netflix promised to deliver the reunion in real-time. The season four contestants were set to appear in a reunion that would be live-streamed on Netflix on April 16th at 8:00 PM EST.
Unfortunately, when the time hit for the show to start, viewers were met with an error message. As users went to social media to report their issues, it became clear that the reunion was experiencing technical problems and delays. However, it was an hour and a half before Netflix notified its subscribers via Twitter that the Love Is Blind reunion wasn’t going to be a live event and would instead be available once the recording was finished.
When the reunion finally became available on Netflix, some viewers were already a bit frustrated with the whole fiasco. Hence, they really weren’t in the mood for co-host Vanessa to be the most problematic part of the reunion.
Vanessa Lachey slammed by fans after Love Is Blind reunion
Vanessa has been co-hosting Love Is Blind since season one alongside her husband Nick. The co-hosts have received scrutiny in the past over accusations of being biased or attention-seeking or, in Nick’s case, for shading his ex-wife. However, many found Vanessa’s behavior at the season four reunion wholly unacceptable, especially when she went around and demanded to know when the four married couples were planning on having babies. She stated, “I need to know, who’s going to give me our first Love Is Blind baby?… We’ll start with Brett and Tiffany. What are you all thinking on the baby timeline?”
Most of the couples uncomfortably stated that they had no “timeline” for welcoming a baby and also commented on how weird it was for Vanessa to be pressuring them to procreate just a year after they married. This was a deeply personal question to ask in front of millions of viewers. Yes, these couples signed up to appear on a reality show about their personal lives but as a society, we’re trying to move away from the archaic notion that it’s somehow acceptable to pry into a couple’s reproduction decisions. If this question needed to be asked, it could have been done tactfully. Plus, the fact that she asked “when” (not if) they were having children and demanded a timeline for the subject carried the implication that one can’t marry without having babies, which was very uncomfortable to watch.
Lachey’s troubling approach to the reproduction conversation didn’t soften the blow of the episode’s other major controversy, in which viewers accused the co-host of displayed bias against contestant Paul Peden. Peden and Micah Lussier were one of the couples who were engaged in season four, but they ended their relationship before the end of the show. Peden had expressed concerns about not being able to picture Lussier as the mother of his children in the future. It was a harsh comment, but given that the show filmed Lussier repeatedly bullying the other female contestants, it really wasn’t too shocking. However, during the reunion, Vanessa brought up the comments and aggressively questioned Peden about them, even interrupting him at times and seemingly attempting to take the words out of context to make him look bad. Peden later spoke out about the incident, claiming that Vanessa had a personal bias against him and was trying to “punish” him for some reason.
Fans petition for Vanessa’s removal
Following the reunion, a petition on Change.org gained traction calling for both Nick and Vanessa to be removed from the show as hosts. As of the writing of this article, the petition has nearly 25,000 signatures. Meanwhile, Twitter users have also raised calls for the pair’s removal from the show and expressed outrage at Vanessa’s insensitivity during the reunion.
Neither Netflix nor the Lacheys have responded to the backlash publicly, though Vanessa did reportedly send Peden flowers as an apology following the reunion.
(featured image: Netflix)
Published: Apr 19, 2023 05:26 pm