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NLRB alleges 'Love is Blind' contracts unlawfully muzzle participants


NLRB alleges 'Love is Blind' contracts unlawfully muzzle participants

After seven seasons and several international spinoffs, we're still not sure if "Love is Blind" - but we do know it may soon be unionized.

The National Labor Relations Board issued a complaint Wednesday against the popular Netflix dating show, classifying its stars as employees and accusing the program of several labor violations. The complaint is not a final ruling; it is merely the first step in the board's general counsel litigating the allegations.

The classification makes it possible for the show's cast - which turns over each time the match-making experiment moves to a new city - to unionize.

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The complaint alleges Delirium TV and Kinetic Content, the two production companies behind the hit show, "intentionally unlawfully" classified cast members as "participants," barring them from collective action.

It also accuses the companies of making stars sign contacts with "unlawful non-compete, confidentiality, and stay-or-pay provisions."

Netflix declined to comment.

USA TODAY has reached out to Kinetic and Delirium for comment.

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In a redacted version of the complaint obtained by USA TODAY Friday, a fuller picture emerges of the strict contract "Love is Blind" participants sign.

Excerpts from the contract indicate producers are allegedly granted discretion to remove participants at any time during filming, resulting in the loss of a stipend for their time on the show.

"If I propose and/or accept a proposal, I agree to appear and show up at the altar at my wedding. Notwithstanding, the decision to get married or not is my sole decision," one alleged provision from the contract reads. "Failure to appear and show up at the altar at my wedding will be considered a discontinuation of my services under Paragraph 8 and all damages under this Agreement shall be in full force and effect."

Participants are paid on a per-week basis, and there is a cap on the stipend, the complaint says. Contracts also bar participants from making any derogatory statements about the production companies, network or show in the immediate aftermath, and all publicity is at the production's discretion, according to the complaint.

The alleged provisions laid out in the contract's excerpts paint a picture of a production operation that aims to be air-tight -- both scandal and leak-proof. It appears to bind participants to a strict code of silence and takes full control of the publicity operation after the show has aired, including having final say on participant's individual social media posts about the show.

The NLRB's complaint alleges the companies "cited unlawful media, publicity, and confidentiality provisions of its Participant Agreement as basis for asserting that employees were in breach of their obligations."

A breach of obligations in this setting allegedly leads to either arbitration -- legal proceedings that do not end up in trial -- or a forfeit of a participant's stipend plus possible damages.

The complaint comes after several ex-members of the "pod squad" have criticized the show's contracts and alleged mistreatment while on set.

Renee Poche, whose love story did not end up airing during Season 5 of the show, accused production of allowing her to become engaged to a man who was a financial liability and who made her feel unsafe. Poche sued Netflix and Delirium TV in January.

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"My experience on 'Love is Blind' was traumatic. I felt like a prisoner and had no support when I let Delirium know that I didn't feel safe," Poche said in a statement provided to USA TODAY at the time of the lawsuit. Her lawsuit came in response to arbitration initiated by Delirium after she was alleged to have violated her non-disclosure agreement. Poche's lawsuit accused Delirium of charging her $4 million for breach of contract.

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In its complaint, the NLRB seemingly addressed Poche's case specifically, accusing the companies of using arbitration to "enforce unlawful provisions" and demanding "$4,000,000 in damages, costs, including attorney fees, a temporary restraining order, a preliminary injunction, and a permanent injunction."

Poche, a Texas-based veterinarian, accused Netflix and Delirium at the time of trying "to ruin her for her speaking out against the unsafe working conditions she was forced to endure."

Poche and Nick Thompson, who married but later divorced Danielle Ruhl after getting engaged during Season 2 of the show, filed complaints with NLRB.

Thompson has spoken publicly about his distaste for the show's employment practices. "You literally are held captive like a prisoner and there is absolutely no reason that you shouldn't be considered an employee when you're technically under the control of your employer for 24 hours a day," Thompson told the Daily Mail in 2023.

In 2022, Tran Dang, another ex-cast member whose love story did not make it to air, sued Delirium TV and Kinetic Content, as well as her partner on the show for false imprisonment and neglect of safety.

Dang alleged another cast member had sexually assaulted her during filming of the show and Kinetic did nothing to stop it.

That same year, Jeremy Hartwell, who was part of the Season 2 cast sued Netflix, Kinetic Content and Delirium TV, echoing Poche and Dang's claims of an unsafe environment and alleging cast members were not permitted to "move or act of their own free will while the production took place." The suit also accused the companies of levying a $50,000 penalty for breach of contract, including if they left before the show was done filming.

That penalty fits the bill for the "stay-or-pay" provision the NLRB outlined in their complaint.

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For some, Wednesday's complaint seems like a lit match finally nearing the plentiful kindling that is reality television employment.

Reality television represents a sticky gray area for labor law as stars, are not hired to play a part; rather, they invite cameras into their lives to watch them "play" themselves.

Bethenny Frankel, who once headlined "The Real Housewives of New York City," called for reality stars to unionize in 2023. She is proposing something similar to SAG-AFTRA, the actors' union that represents many other television and movie stars in the industry with the power to push studios and networks for better pay and protection.

The bevy of lawsuits facing "Love is Blind" and the NLRB's subsequent complaint have reignited a briefly latent conversation about exploitation within the industry.

"We have been inundated with hundreds of clients who all tell almost identical stories of being emotionally, physically and sexually assaulted. These clients live in fear of being sued for millions if they report workplace wrongdoing and have been misled that they must suffer in silence or like Renee be bullied by lawsuits seeking to financially ruin them," Mark Geragos, an attorney who represents both Poche and Frankel previously told USA TODAY.

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