‘Love Is Blind’ contestant lawsuit: cast members denied water, plied with alcohol, underpaid
A contestant on the second season of Netflix’s “Love Is Blind” reality series is suing the streamer and the show’s producers, charging them with a string of
A contestant on the second season of Netflix’s “Love Is Blind” reality series is suing the streamer and the show’s producers, charging them with a string of labor-law violations, including fostering “inhumane working conditions” and paying cast members less than minimum wage.
The lawsuit, filed by Jeremy Hartwell, alleges “Love Is Blind” producers plied the cast with alcohol and deprived them of food and water — while paying rates that were below Los Angeles County’s minimum wage. The suit, filed in California Superior Court in L.A., names as defendants Netflix, production company Kinetic Content and Kinetic’s casting company Delirium TV.
Variety has reached out to Netflix and Kinetic Content for comment.
Hartwell, who is director at a mortgage company in Chicago, claims he spent several days recovering from the effects of sleep deprivation, lack of access to food and water and copious amounts of alcohol that he was provided. “Love Is Blind” Season 2 premiered on Netflix in February 2022.
Nick and Vanessa Lachey talk about new dating show ‘Love Is Blind’Feb. 3, 202005:31According to the lawsuit, “Love Is Blind” contestants should have been classified under California state law as employees rather than independent contractors because producers dictated the timing, manner and means of their work. During the production, producers paid contestants a flat rate of $1,000 per week — despite forcing them to work up to 20 hours per day, seven days per week. That works out to as little as $7.14 per hour, well under the minimum wage in Los Angeles County of at least $15 per hour, according to the complaint.
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