‘Love Is Blind’ Season 5 Cast Member Renee Poche Sues Netflix, Calls Experience on Show ‘Traumatic’

Love Is Blind Season 5 featured plenty of intense moments, but the real drama is happening off-screen.

The Netflix reality show is facing another lawsuit from a cast member who says she was put in unsafe situations while filming. Renee Poche is suing Netflix and production company Delirium TV, claiming they violated California labor law and intentionally inflicted emotional distress. Poche’s lawsuit follows another suit from fellow cast member Tran Dang, who says production failed to step in after her fiancé sexually assaulted her during filming.

Renee Poche’s legal battle with Netflix and ‘Love Is Blind’ producers

Poche was one of 30 Houston singles selected for the fifth season of Netflix’s popular reality dating series. During her time in the pods, she developed a relationship with fellow cast member Carter Wall. But their romance wasn’t featured in the final episodes. That prompted Poche to speak out about her time on the show. She even called on the streamer to “release the Renee cut.”

After Poche sounded off about her negative Love Is Blind experience, Delirium TV and Netflix claimed that she violated her NDA. They’re demanding $4 million from Poche via private arbitration, Variety reported.

Poche – who earned just $8,000 for appearing on Love Is Blind – responded by suing Netflix and Delirium. She’s claiming “unlawful employment practices” and “intentional infliction of emotional distress,” according to a copy of the complaint obtained by People. Poche and her lawyers want to nullify her “illegal and unenforceable” Love Is Blind contract.

Renee ‘didn’t feel safe’ while filming ‘Love Is Blind’

Poche’s problems with Love Is Blind stem from her relationship with Wall, whom she says was not properly screened by production prior to filming. That lack of due diligence led to a “traumatic” filming experience for the Texas veterinarian.

“I felt like a prisoner and had no support when I let Delirium know that I didn’t feel safe,” she told Variety. “I tried to deal with these emotions over time and eventually felt like I needed to share what had happened. I felt it was only right to let others know the truth of what all of the castmates had to endure.”

At first, Poche enjoyed her time on Love Is Blind. She fell hard for Wall in the pods and “had a blast” during their honeymoon in Mexico, she said during an appearance on the Out of the Pods podcast. But even then, there were warning signs that something wasn’t right. The volatile side of Wall’s personality emerged when he clashed with production over filming certain scenes, Poche shared.

However, “it wasn’t until we got back [to Houston] that things took a turn,” she said. That’s when Wall’s “true colors” came out.

Carter Wall had a ‘really big temper,’ Renee says

In addition to Wall’s anger issues, Poche began to notice other red flags once they returned to Texas. He was unemployed, which she knew when they got engaged. They’d agreed that he needed to find a job before they got married. But Wall made no effort to find employment, she said. Instead, he spent his days drinking and partying. He also had an overdrawn bank account. Wall even had to borrow money from another cast member to pay his cell phone bill.

The more time they spent together, the more concerned Poche became. Eventually, she told her husband-to-be that she was “legitimately scared” of him.

“He’s a huge guy with a really big temper,” she said. “I didn’t feel safe [in the apartment].”

Even though Poche expressed her concerns to production, they didn’t step in and pressured her to keep filming, she said.

The ‘Love Is Blind’ cast member says production forced her to spend time with ‘erratic’ Carter

In her lawsuit, Poche describes Wall as “homeless, violent, estranged from his family and actively addicted to drugs and alcohol.”

“Wall’s erratic and alarming behavior and emotional instability became glaringly obvious to Poche and the production staff,” according to court documents obtained by Us Weekly. “Poche became utterly terrified to be around him and made her misgivings clear to production.”

Despite her concerns, Poche says in her lawsuit that she was “forced to spend long stretches of time along with [Wall].” Delirium threatened legal action if she stopped filming, she says. Ultimately, she and Wall made it all the way to the altar, where she rejected him. But their storyline was cut from the final episodes.

“Although Poche was told that it was because production did not want her to have to relive her experience with Wall, that explanation seems obviously false given the complete lack of concern for her well-being and safety throughout,” she claimed. “Poche is informed and believes, and based thereon alleges, that Wall threatened to commit suicide if footage of him was aired.”

Netflix and Delirium have not commented on Poche’s allegations.

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