‘Love Is Blind’: Showrunner Chris Coelen Once Explained Why Contestants Are so Attractive
Love Is Blind‘s very premise relies on two romantics connecting on personalities and common interests instead of looks.
However, some have felt that many of the reality show’s contestants have been above-average in the looks department. Because of this, an argument’s been made that this could contradict the concept of the show.
Chris Coelen once addressed the issue of ‘Love Is Blind’ contestants being too attractive
The presentation of Love Is Blind has sometimes caused a slight divide among its fanbase. Some feel most of the contestants on the hit reality show are mostly average-looking, with a few standouts mixed in the group. Others believe that Love Is Blind romantics have been attractive for the majority of the time.
The show’s most recent season might’ve only heated up the argument, with a few of its cast members boasting muscular bodies and slim, curvy physiques.
Showrunner Chris Coelen was very much aware of this criticism. Speaking with Reality Blurred in 2020, however, he confided that a person’s attractiveness had no bearing on their casting. But he also acknowledged that the criticism has a point to an extent.
“Certainly, there are a lot of attractive people on the cast,” Coelen said. “It’s funny: I saw a couple comments, [and] people were like, ‘They should have had Quasimodo.’ Why? Why would we do that? That’s not what the show’s about. If someone fell in love with Quasimodo, great, we’d follow that story. We were following the real stories that developed.”
But he reiterated the show’s philosophy, which was looks didn’t matter.
“It really did not matter to us what those people looked like,” he said. “It’s a not a show about sexuality or about looks or about race. It’s about what’s on the inside. There are certain real-world factors: some people are attracted to people certain looks, or certain gender, or many different things.”
However, in season 1, Coelen explained that the people who bonded the most in Love Is Blind just happened to be really good-looking.
“We invited the people to stay who seemed to be forming those genuine connections,” Coelen said on the Wait There’s More podcast (via Global News). “And for whatever reason, the people that were genuinely connecting, they looked like they looked. And it was really interesting to me.”
The same vetting process used for season 1, may be similar enough in the show’s later seasons, which might explain the makeup of much of the show’s cast.
Why ‘Love Is Blind’ contestants marry after the show instead of simply dating
For the couples who make it past the pods, the endgame for their relationship is usually whether or not they get married. Just as many couples seal their bond on the altar as the ones who don’t. But Coelen was presented with an intriguing question regarding this part of the show.
The showrunner was asked why Love Is Blind contestants had to get married at the end of the show. Seasons could’ve easily ended with stars finding their partners and moving on without the stipulation of marriage.
But Coelen revealed that the dating experience in the pods provided contestants the same level of intimacy and history as a real-life engaged couple.
“So much so that they really, truly want to spend the rest of their life with them,” Coelen said. “If you feel that way, and you know that—it’s like my wife would say, ‘Why don’t we just get married? What difference would it make?'”
Coelen believed that it doesn’t actually take long for lovers to decide if they want to spend the rest of their lives together.
“If you have that love, and you ultimately say and commit that you want to spend the rest of your life with them, you should be able to figure out pretty quickly whether you want to go through with it,” Coelen said. “And if you don’t go through with that, it’s probably indicative of a problem.”
