Love Is Blind spoilers ahead!
Love Is Blind viewers are calling out its casting team amid new allegations that another contestant was in a relationship while Season 6 was being filmed.
As you might know, Love Is Blind is a Netflix dating show that features a bunch of singletons forming romantic connections without actually seeing one another, by communicating through pods. They ultimately get engaged without seeing their partner, and then, after vacationing together in Mexico and spending a few weeks living together in the ~real world~, they take to the altar for their big wedding day.
But in recent years, several viewers have flagged that the LIB contestants appear to have an overall declining interest in the actual marriage part of the show.
For example, this season, physical appearance was mentioned by multiple contestants in the pods — something that was strictly ruled out in previous years. One cast member, Clay Gravesande, tried to convince his love interest, Amber Desiree “AD” Smith, to tell him what she looked like before he made the decision to propose, noting that he needed to be “super turned on” by his wife.
“I just have to be attracted to you,” he told her before explaining that he naturally dates “petite” women and describing his “favorite attributes” as women’s “lips” and “butt.”
With this in mind, viewers have questioned the casting of LIB, with some even suggesting that the mention of physical appearance — which, obviously, defeats the purpose of the show — completely “ruined” the entire experience.
And this discourse around the casting only continued once it was alleged that several contestants were in secret relationships while the show was being filmed.
Last week, contestant Jeramey Lutinski faced backlash after his ex-fiancé — and her mom — claimed that he was “engaged and living with” her when he allegedly applied to be on LIB.
So far this season, we’ve seen Jeramey form connections with two women: Laura Dadisman and Sarah Ann. He ultimately decided to get engaged to Laura, although things got messy for the couple in the latest episode after Laura confronted Jeramey for being out until 5 a.m., suggesting that he was with Sarah Ann. Jeramey said he ran into Sarah Ann at a bar and briefly spoke to her, although Laura checked his location and said that in the early hours of the morning, he was nowhere near said bar and was instead in the area where Sarah Ann lives.
After the recent episodes aired, Jeramey’s ex-fiancé Brittani Mcliverty took to Laura’s Instagram comments to write, “Did he ever tell you about his ex-fiancé from right before you? Surely not... Or the house WE sold a week or two before he filmed for this show?”
Before long, Jeramey spoke out and confirmed that he was engaged to another woman before going on LIB. However, he denied Brittani’s claim that they sold their house just before he went on, and also claimed that he’d been approached for the show by a casting director via DM, which he shared an alleged screenshot of.
“I want to quickly address the story that's going around about my previous engagement prior to Love Is Blind,” he said in an Instagram video. “Anybody that I was on dates with, my castmates, and in multiple interviews, this topic was discussed. Nobody is surprised by this. It was something that was well documented. Unfortunately, with all of the footage that is captured, not all of it makes it into the final cut. This just happened to not make it in there.”
“This whole process had not even begun until I was out and on my own. Additionally, yes, my home sold a week or two before filming. Listed in October or November, sold in March,” he went on before later adding, “Not going to give this one any more attention.”
Not long after, another contestant was accused of being in a quiet relationship while shooting LIB.
“Obviously I'm not going to tell you who it is. I still think he's the love of my life and we can work past this,” she said. While Ryann didn’t name-drop anyone, she referenced her supposed boyfriend talking to a “woman who has a child,” leading many to believe that she was speaking about Jimmy, who previously formed a connection with Jessica Vestal.
But Jimmy quickly denied the rumors, claiming in a TikTok of his own, “I don’t know this woman. I’ve never met this woman. Not true. I gotta give it to her. It's an incredible marketing ploy. She is getting so many clicks and making so much money off my name. It's insane.”
However, things have only gotten messier since, with another cast member being accused of having a secret relationship while filming: Trevor Sova.
Trevor, who has largely been branded a fan favorite this season, found himself at the center of public attention this weekend after a series of alleged texts between him and his apparent then-girlfriend surfaced online.
Photos of Trevor and the woman, bodybuilder Natalia Marrero, also circulated online, with one seemingly having been taken in March 2023. In the alleged text messages, Trevor seemingly gushes about his love for Natalia and says that his onscreen connection with contestant Chelsea Blackwell was “pretend.”
At the end of the alleged text messages, Trevor seemingly ends things with Natalia in early February 2024 — just before the season started airing. Trevor has not yet publicly addressed the rumors.
Discussing all of this online now, a bunch of LIB viewers are calling out the casting team and accusing them of being “lazy” with their background checks.
Meanwhile, fans went on to call for LIB to be canceled entirely as they called out the “ridiculous” casting this season.
“Can we just cancel LIB after this season? This is getting ridiculous. There is no way in hell that casting and producers didn’t know this,” one comment on Instagram read. “Fire the casting team,” another said.
“Is being in a relationship a prerequisite for getting cast on this show??” one person quipped, while another added, “Shame on producers for their crappy vetting!”