These Love Is Blind Filming Secrets Will Really Open Your Eyes

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Viewers may be blind to these behind-the-scenes tricks. 

When Love Is Blind first launched in 2020, viewers were eager to see which couples would get married. But after the show aired its ninth season finale on October 22nd, people are now asking much bigger questions about the series as a whole.

For example, after the first season of the show aired, viewers noticed the contestants always used gold cups. Many people guessed this was done to make it harder to tell how much liquid was in each glass, which would help the editors avoid mistakes when putting the show together.

However, Chris Coelen, the creator of the dating show, later clarified that the decision was made purely for visual appeal.

In 2022, he told Variety that the show has a distinct style – viewers immediately recognize it as theirs. He appreciates how it genuinely follows the lives of the people featured, while also maintaining a fun and easygoing connection to those stories.

 
 

Fans have solved another mystery from Love Is Blind. Matthew Duliba, from season six of the Netflix show, shared that contestants earn $5,000 just for participating in the pod dates.

Recently, Vanessa and Nick Lachey, the hosts of Love Is Blind, revealed a funny reason why they’re no longer present when couples meet in person after leaving the pods.

In a video published on October 8th, Vanessa explained that everyone involved in getting the stars ready was present at the premieres. She said, “We all used to be at the reveal, so when they walked the red carpet, it was me, Nick, the hair and makeup team, the costume designers, and the audio crew – the whole team was there.”

Okay, so after that amazing first season, apparently having so many people working on it was causing problems? I mean, seriously? It was a little chaotic behind the scenes, they said, and it was messing things up. It’s just… hard to believe anything that good could be too much, you know? But they decided they needed to scale it back. It breaks my heart a little, honestly.

It became overwhelming how much the crew reacted to each new couple getting engaged,” Vanessa said, mimicking their hushed ‘Shh!’ whenever someone walked in.

The ninth season of Love Is Blind premieres on Netflix October 22nd. Before then, here are some behind-the-scenes details about the show.

Do contestants get paid for being on Love Is Blind? According to former participant Matthew Duliba, they receive $5,000 for the portion of the show filmed in the pods.

Most of the financial gain from the show comes from sponsorship deals after filming. For example, Deepti Vempati and Natalie Lee, both from season two, each earned around $500,000 as social media influencers within two years of their episodes airing in 2022.

Contestants on the show sleep arrangements have changed over the seasons. In season one, they slept on cots in trailers near the common areas. However, for season two, Netflix provided hotel rooms for more comfort. Staff members accompany them to and from the rooms to prevent any unauthorized contact between contestants.

As a huge fan, I was totally fascinated to learn from Micah Lussier, who was on season four, that everything isn’t quite what it seems! She shared on TikTok that we actually see the contestants staying in a real hotel, not the pods themselves. The pods are really just a set built in a giant studio, and even the bathroom trips happen outside in trailers. It’s amazing to think about how much goes on behind the scenes!

Oh my gosh, you won’t BELIEVE this! Apparently, the contestants don’t even have their phones while they’re in the pods! Like, zero contact with the outside world! And it doesn’t stop there – they’re still phoneless during the whole tropical getaway part of filming too! It’s insane! They’re totally cut off, forced to really connect with each other. I’m obsessed with knowing everything about how this impacts their connections!

Shayne Jansen shared of their vacations, “You don’t have your phone or anything on you.”

The “pods” part of the experiment typically lasts around 10 days, starting with 40 to 50 people looking for love. However, not everyone makes it through the entire process, as some participants are eliminated along the way.

To give the most engaged contestants more attention, we narrowed down the group participating in the pod conversations,” explained Chris Coelen, creator of Love Is Blind. “Eventually, we were left with around 20 to 25 people in the pods.”

Initial dates were arranged like a speed-dating event, giving each person eight to ten minutes with every potential match. After that, participants were free to talk to anyone they chose, for as long as they wanted, but all conversations had to be scheduled through the show’s staff, as direct communication was not allowed.

Sal Perez, a contestant from season two, revealed that singles on the show are provided with suggested topics and questions for their dates, but they aren’t required to follow them.

Kyle Abrams explained in an interview with TopMob News that they had some conversation starters prepared. He said that if a conversation slowed down, they could easily use a small notebook to find new topics and keep things going.

Despite what you might think, the show wasn’t planned out in advance. As contestant Kelly Chase explained to Business Insider, the cast wasn’t given a script.

Kelly shared that one of her favorite parts of filming was the food! Contestants had plenty of choices to eat while they were in the pods.

She explained that for the first ten days of shooting, the crew had a wide variety of catered meals to choose from, including grilled fish, chicken, steak, plus vegetables, pasta, rice, and fruit.

Although the proposals all take place on the same day, the show sometimes presents them out of order to keep things interesting and prevent viewers from seeing them all consecutively.

According to Cosmopolitan, Kelly described a peculiar engagement day tradition. Apparently, everyone proposes on the same day, followed by a brief, fifteen-minute meeting with their new fiancé(e) before separating and going home. Couples don’t see each other again for several days, which Kelly finds quite strange.

9. Where do the engagement rings come from? 

The creator explained to Entertainment Weekly in 2025 that once the rings are given to the recipients, they are a gift. There’s no expectation of return, even if the relationship ends. The rings belong to them, and they are free to say whether or not they paid for them.

10. Hosts Vanessa Lachey and Nick Lachey are no longer allowed to be at the reveals. 

In a 2025 interview with Parade, Vanessa explained that she and Nick used to be present at the premieres. She described how the whole team – including hair and makeup artists, costume designers, and the audio crew – would all gather to watch the cast arrive on the red carpet.

But it ended up being “probably 50 people” in the room, which detracted from the romance.

Honestly, things got a little chaotic, and we realized we needed to scale back. We decided the reveal should be a really intimate moment for the couple, just them and the cameras – a chance for them to truly shine without all the extra noise and people around.

Producers were hoping for a handful of engagements – they didn’t expect more than five couples to get engaged during the first season. However, eight couples actually got engaged after the initial ‘pod’ phase, and the show wasn’t equipped to film the journeys of that many couples, so they couldn’t continue following them.

We really wanted to share a variety of stories,” Coelen explained. “It was amazing to see so many couples genuinely connect and find lasting relationships. We actually had more good stories than we could fit into the show, which is a testament to the connections being made.

Rory Newbrough and Danielle Drouin were one of the engaged couples on the show. While the other couples filmed in Mexico, Rory and Danielle spent a week in Miami. However, shortly after returning to Atlanta, they broke up on good terms. Danielle realized she still had feelings for another cast member, Matt Thomas, and wanted to explore that connection. Unfortunately, Danielle and Matt’s relationship didn’t work out either, according to Rory in an interview with People magazine.

Another relationship that formed during the first season, but wasn’t shown on TV, was between Westley Baer, who talked about the challenges of dating as a shorter man, and Lexie Skipper. They dated for three months after filming in Atlanta, but Westley later told People magazine that a big career move led to their breakup. He explained that he decided to sell all his belongings and move to Asia.

In addition to one couple from season two, Caitlin McKee and Joey Miller, and Kara Williams and Jason Beaumont, also became engaged, though their relationships weren’t documented on the show.

14. Are constants allowed to talk when there’s not cameras around?

Micah explained that filming isn’t happening when contestants are in the ‘pods.’ There are always cameras running during those conversations. And in the lounge, the producers prefer silence when cameras aren’t on, because chatter could cause them to miss important parts of the story.

She said the experience in Mexico is similar. 

She explained that they wouldn’t share any intimate moments or have private conversations until they were left alone together for the first time, which would happen in a room that first night. That’s when they’d finally have a truly personal conversation.

But when they go home, there’s more freedom to speak without being filmed.

She explained that because filming happened almost every day, the cast and crew had plenty of downtime to bond with each other away from the cameras.

15. Who pays for the wedding dresses?

Micah explained that the production team covers the cost of the dresses. He recalled a time when several dresses were already included in the budget, giving them plenty of options to pick from.

They could have chosen to pay extra for a nicer dress, but the reality show contestant said that, as far as she knew, no one ever took advantage of that option.

Regarding the wedding costs, a Netflix representative told Women’s Health that while the show provides some basic supplies, the couples are responsible for any additional expenses and covering costs if they exceed a certain amount, as these are their actual weddings.

As a lifestyle expert, I often get asked if the couples on ‘Love is Blind’ are really married, and the answer is a definite yes! There’s been some doubt out there, but I can assure you these aren’t just TV ceremonies. Lauren Speed from the first season actually told Refinery29, and I quote, ‘This is a real, legally binding marriage. This is not for TV. This is our life.’ So, it’s the real deal – these couples are truly committing to a life together!

Micah explained that the order in which people say “I do” or “I don’t” at the altar isn’t decided randomly – it’s actually determined by the show’s production crew.

Micah explained that the person who performs the ceremony doesn’t choose who speaks first. He believes they’ll ask the person they think is more likely to agree, as that way they’ll get a quicker, two-person response.

Without that initial opportunity, she explained, you miss out on the excitement of hearing someone’s first positive response.

Were the reality show cast members required to go through with the weddings? According to producer Coelen, the answer is no. He explained to TopMob News that they were free to make their own decisions on the wedding day. He added that, knowing the cast and their personal lives, he had no idea what anyone would ultimately choose.

So, why do couples on the show often wait until the actual wedding day to decide if they want to get married? Even though they aren’t obligated to go through with the ceremony, many still proceed, even if they end up breaking things off.

Micah explained on TikTok that participating in ‘Love Is Blind’ wasn’t just about getting married. It was about fully experiencing the experiment to see if a deep connection could form without initial physical attraction. She felt you had to go through the entire process to truly know if it could work.

Why aren’t more couples from Love Is Blind getting married? After only one couple wed in season eight, executive producer Ally Simpson explained that it’s becoming harder to find genuine men willing to participate, largely due to the influence of social media. They’ve even added former contestant Chelsea Griffin to the casting team to try and address this problem.

Rumors circulated online that Mark Cuevas, the youngest man on the first season of the show, was secretly dating someone while filming. He later said these rumors weren’t true.

He explained on the Be There in Five podcast that he hadn’t been in a relationship at all. He was single before, during, and after being on the show. He hadn’t had a girlfriend before and didn’t see how he could have had time for a relationship while participating in the experience.

Kelly and Kenny Barnes say they never intended to actually get married after the first season of filming. Kenny explained to People magazine that their engagement was simply a way to continue participating in the show, and they both agreed to that. Kelly also thought they would just keep dating, as they had discussed. However, Kenny confessed on their wedding day that he wasn’t emotionally ready, which Kelly found very hurtful and unexpected. She felt blindsided, wondering what had changed from their original agreement.

Jessica Batten, who sparked a lot of debate among viewers on the first season of Love is Blind, recently revealed in an interview that she asked producers to let her leave the show, but they wouldn’t allow it.

I really had no choice but to stay,” she explained to EW. “I did think about leaving, but it just wasn’t possible. On top of everything, my dog got very sick and almost died while we were filming, and I was dealing with a lot of other personal things too.

She explained that it was incredibly frustrating because she suspected Mark and she wouldn’t succeed. She tried to leave several times, having conversations about it, but couldn’t manage to do so.

The weddings featured in the first season were filmed in the fall of 2018. This meant that the two couples, Lauren and Cameron Hamilton, and Amber Pike and Matt Barnett, had to keep their relationships a secret for a year and a half before the show finally aired.

26. Love Is Blind could go on and on, with Coelen telling TopMob News, “I’m thinking season 15.”

Ever wonder where you’ve seen Carlton Morton before? He appeared on The Real Housewives of Atlanta in 2014 as Cynthia Bailey’s assistant. Reality TV fans might recall a memorable argument he had with Kenya Moore, who was new to the show at the time.

Many viewers have wondered about the gold cups frequently seen on the show. While some thought they were used to conceal the liquid level for easier editing, production designer Coelen explained they were simply chosen for their visual appeal.

He told Variety that the show has a distinctive style, making it immediately recognizable. It genuinely follows the lives of the people featured, but maintains a fun and approachable tone, offering a lighthearted connection to their stories.

Deepti explained to TopMob News that they always serve their drinks in gold goblets, calling it a tradition with special meaning for the company.

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2025-10-22 10:19