Times Love Is Blind Fans Weren't Happy With Host Vanessa Lachey
When "Love is Blind" premiered on Netflix in February 2020, it took the reality TV world by storm. Approximately 30 singles — 15 men and 15 women — date to find their spouse. The catch? They can't see one another. Instead, they talk on either side of an opaque wall, connecting on an emotional level before they tap into the physical. After 10 days (give or take), a select few couples decide to get engaged, meet one another face-to-face, and move in together. It's part dating show and part psychological experiment ... They're given just a few weeks together over which time they're forced to come to terms with pet peeves, meet families, and interact with the other couples. Ultimately, each pair decides whether to say "I do" or "I don't" at the altar. Suffice it to say, it's a high-pressure environment.
Nick and Vanessa Lachey, both TV stars in their own right, have been hosting the series since the beginning. They've guided Netflix viewers through love triangles (it's hard to forget Barnett, Amber, and Jessica from Season 1), awkward reveals (Irina and Zack clearly did not hit it off), and genuine love stories like Brett and Tiffany from Season 4. Although quite a few couples from the show are still together, "Love is Blind" fans haven't always been happy with host Vanessa Lachey and her (sometimes invasive) line of questioning, especially during reunion specials.
Viewers thought Vanessa Lachey's baby fever was inappropriate
During Season 4's ill-fated reunion, fans were already on edge — Netflix promised a live and drama-filled streamable event. Technical difficulties got in the way, however, and viewers were greeted with a relatively tame (and extremely delayed) recorded conversation between Nick Lachey, Vanessa Lachey, and the Season 4 cast. One of the main topics of the evening revolved around one subject in particular: babies. Specifically, Vanessa's dream of welcoming a "Love is Blind" child to the Netflix cinematic universe. "Auntie Vanessa is still hoping for that 'Love is Blind' baby," she told the newlyweds, going on to ask Brett and Tiffany, Zach and Bliss, and Kwame and Chelsea about their family plans. "I was just going to make a joke, I was like, 'Jesus, y'all really put the baby pressure [on],'" said Brett, per Today.
Unsurprisingly, the platform X, formerly known as Twitter, was quick to react. "Why was Vanessa Lachey pushing everyone for a baby so hard?" read one tweet, with another fan asking, "What, is going on with Vanessa Lachey's rampant baby fever? [Why] does she keep asking couples of 1 year standing when they will reproduce[?]" (via X). All in all, according to American author Meg Elison, the host's invasive line of questioning speaks to a larger problem. "When someone asks, 'Do you have children?' and I say, 'No,' the answer is not satisfactory. They need to know where that 'no' comes from," she told The Baltimore Banner.
Vanessa Lachey takes obvious sides between cast members
As was evident during Season 4's failed "live" reunion, Vanessa Lachey isn't afraid to take sides in cast disputes. Specifically, she seemed to defend "mean girls" Micah Lussier and Irina Solomonova, instead choosing to crack down on Marshall Glaze and Paul Peden. "[Vanessa Lachey] your inner mean girl is showing by blatantly picking and taking sides with mean girls," tweeted one fan, adding, "Please retire from this show and let someone host it that can let guests finish their sentences and remain impartial." In her pre-recorded interview with Jackie Bonds and Josh Demas, a controversial last-minute Season 4 couple, Vanessa refrained from asking the hard-hitting questions.
Peden, too, called out Vanessa in an interview with Entertainment Tonight. "I was like, 'F*** man.' They kept drilling, drilling it down on me," he said, adding, "I think Vanessa might have had a little bit of personal bias in that scenario or at least I kind of detected that." After turning down Micah Lussier at the altar, Peden said he couldn't picture her as a mother — seemingly, Vanessa took direct issue. "I don't know," said Peden, "But that's just my assumption based on how she continued to drill into it after I gave my full rationale for why I felt the way that I did." Later in a conversation with People, he said she "shouldn't present as being an objective neutral party" if she'd already made up her mind about him.
Vanessa Lachey's comments regarding diversity left a lot to be desired
First and foremost, it should be made clear that Vanessa Lachey is not the creator of "Love is Blind" (that would be Chris Coelen), nor does she have control over the casting process. Still, fans took issue with the former ET correspondent's comments about the show's lack of body diversity. According to Vanessa, "insecurity" prevents some contestants — namely those with marginalized bodies — from advancing in the process. "Their whole life they've been so insecure about being themselves because of this crazy swipe generation that we are in and this catfishing world that we're in, that they're so afraid to be themselves," she told Insider in a 2022 interview. In other words (as per Vanessa's reasoning), "Love is Blind's" diversity issue is the fault of the contestants themselves, not Netflix casting teams. "People watch TV and they want to see themselves," said Cheyenne Davis on "Diet Starts Tomorrow." "They deserve to see themselves" — yes, that includes reality programming like "Love is Blind."
As for whether the popular show will ever introduce queer cast members into the mix? "If you think about if you did just women, then it wouldn't be separate quarters, it would just be one big house of everybody out for themselves, I guess. And if you did the men, it would be the same," Vanessa said in the same Insider interview, arguing that an LGBTQIA version of "Love is Blind" would be logistically difficult.
Fans started a petition to remove Nick and Vanessa Lachey from Love is Blind
Although Vanessa received the majority of criticisms — "The reunion is always nauseating to watch because of Vanessa Lachey. She picks sides, cuts people off, bullies the male cast, pushes motherhood onto women, and generally tries way too hard to be cool" one viewer wrote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter — most people aren't huge fans of Nick Lachey either. One fan even started a petition to get Nick and Vanessa fired. So far, it has over 45,000 signatures on Change.org (and counting) ... "From the initial season, the hosts felt pretty useless and out of place. They seem to be much more concerned with directing as much attention at themselves and their personal lives rather than focusing on the contestants that are actually participating in the experiment," read the November 2022 petition. So far, Netflix hasn't made any moves to replace the Lacheys.
In the wake of all these criticisms, several "Love is Blind" cast members have come to Vanessa's defense. On an episode of their podcast, "Out of the Pods," hosts Natalie Lee and Deepti Vempati (who both appeared in Season 2) stood up for Vanessa. "It feels like a dog pile," said Lee, adding, "People are being almost overly critical and [Vanessa is] taking so much heat that I'm like, I don't know that it's deserved."