The Untold Truth Of TLC's Find Love Live

Although TLC's Find Love Live is not the first reality dating show to sweep us off our feet, it is a groundbreaking series in its own right. Like The Bachelor, the series focuses on lovelorn singles trying to find romance while the cameras roll. Unlike the popular ABC show, though, each episode of Find Love Live features a pre-selected "singleton" presented with the opportunity to "interview" (i.e. shamelessly flirt with) three potential suitors as the whole thing broadcasts live.

Perhaps most unique about the series is that it takes place virtually, with the singles never actually meeting in person but attempting to get to know each other from the comfort of their respective couches. Meanwhile, viewers get to play Cupid by voting in real time via social media, offering opinions on who the episode's single should select. The show proved to be a hit with viewers, but there's much that fans may not know about the series' unique evolution. Read on to find out more about the untold truth of TLC's Find Love Live.

TLC's senior vice president of development, Jason Sarlanis, confirmed to Insider that Find Love Live was intended to launch in a completely different format. As he detailed to the publication, the original plan was for the show to be "an in-person experiment," similar to the network's hit 90 Day Fiancé, but on a far faster track than 90 days.

After pushing back the premiere date, producers scrambled to rejig the format in a digital way. As a result, television's first-ever socially-distanced, remotely-filmed dating show was born. And now we can't picture it any other way.

The series utilizes remote-conferencing software that allows video meetings (or, in this case, dates) to take place in cyberspace. Once the choice was made to proceed with the show and go digital, the potential couples' were no longer going to be able to meet in person or go on actual dates. Instead, their interactions were relegated entirely to virtual experiences. "Love is loud, love is crazy and just maybe, love can be found with a little help from America, the internet and live TV!" proclaimed TLC in its announcement for the one-of-a-kind show.

It's no secret that TLC has seen massive success with 90 Day Fiancé and its multiple spinoffs, ranging from 90 Day Fiancé: Happily Ever After? to even 90 Day Fiancé: Self-Quarantined. In fact, the success of the franchise was seen as offering evidence that a virtual dating show like Find Love Live could work, given the long-distance nature of the relationships on the 90 Day Fiancé shows. After all, the couples are typically filmed forging connections and getting to know each other face-to-laptop via Skype, FaceTime, and similar apps.

"We've always been so inspired at TLC, because of the 90 Day Fiancé franchise, to see that people can make real meaningful connections and truly fall in love in the most interesting of ways," Jason Sarlanis, TLC's senior vice president of development, explained to Insider. "Before the 90 days [are up], a lot of people fall in love over Skype and dating and they never see each other face to face."

Prior to starring in TLC's Find Love Live, host Sukanya Krishnan was relatively unknown on a national level. To counter that, TLC introduced its new host in a video, aptly titled "Meet Sukanya." Expressing her excitement at hosting the new dating show, Krishnan — who told audiences "you can call me Suki" — ran down a bit of her personal history. Married 12 years and the mother of two, she jokingly knocked on the side of her head and declared, "Knock on wood, everything's going well so far."

She also admitted she's no stranger to online dating. "Who hasn't dated online?" she remarked. Her biggest pet peeve about online dating, she admitted, was finally meeting someone she felt was a good match only to discover that person hadn't been completely honest. "False advertising!" she exclaimed. "They don't check any of the boxes they put on the profile."

She used her personal experience to issue a warning to potential Find Love Live participants: "No false advertising." She continued, saying, "Dating online can be really, really difficult, but if you're not telling the truth, that makes it even worse and more unforgivable."

Although Sukanya Krishnan held jobs as a TV news anchor prior to starring in TLC's Find Love Live, her exits from those jobs were reportedly clouded by controversy. According to a Page Six report, she left Good Day Wake Up after a "blowup" with producers. An unnamed source alleged "there were words exchanged [on the set], and then she had a meeting with management." Krishnan, however, insisted there was no "blowup" and that her exit was "amicable," explaining she was offered a new contract that led her to realize "it wasn't the right decision" for her to stay.

In 2017, Krishnan was informed by management at WPIX — where she'd been working for over a decade — that she was going to be replaced by another anchor, Betty Nguyen, according to Tuned In. The show's on-air personalities were reportedly instructed to promote Nguyen's hiring on their respective social media platform, but Krishnan "balked" at the notion and, according to anonymous sources, was fired for insubordination.

Given that 90 Day Fiancé airs on the same network as Find Love Live, it isn't totally surprising that an alum of the 90 Day franchise wound up appearing on TLC's virtual dating show. Viewers first encountered Jesse Meester in the first season of 90 Day Fiancé: Before the 90 Days, which chronicled his train-wreck relationship with Darcy Silva. 

Jesse, a native of the Netherlands, decided to take another shot at finding love on reality TV and appeared as the featured "singleton" in the debut season of Find Love Live. "When the opportunity to appear on Find Love Live came along, I thought it was an interesting avenue to explore and see if I could meet someone," Jesse said of his decision in a statement to People. Despite being sequestered, Jesse felt that remaining "quarantined at home shouldn't stop ... us from trying to make connections."

During his episode, Jesse selected a woman named Haya, and the two seemed to hit it off. "Once we started talking, it was like I had known him for a long time," she said of their virtual first date.