THE Netflix reality TV series “Love is blind» is once again embroiled in legal drama.
Tuesday, candidate Renée Poche filed a complaint against Netflix and the series' production company, Delirium TV, alleging “unlawful employment practices” as well as “unfair competition” and “intentional infliction of emotional distress.”
She wants to stop a $4 million arbitration penalty that the show's producers sought against her in November for allegedly violating a nondisclosure agreement by speaking publicly about her experiences on the show.
“My experience on ‘Love Is Blind’ was traumatic,” said Poche, who is originally from Texas and works as a veterinarian. told Variety on Wednesday. “I felt like a prisoner and had no support when I let Delirium know I didn’t feel safe.”
She went on to note, “I believe Delirium is trying to silence the abuse that happens behind the cameras and ruin me for telling the truth.” »
Poche's screen time on the fifth and most recent season of “Love Is Blind” was relatively brief. However, she was linked to her ex-fiancé Carter Wall, who is described as a “walking red flag” who was “emotionally abusive on and off camera” in court documents. quoted by “Entertainment Tonight”, among other points of sale.
Although Poche said in the complaint that she was “completely terrified of Wall” and expressed her concerns to executives at Netflix and Delirium TV, she claims she was “forced to spend long periods of time alone with him”.
To represent it, Pocket would have hired attorneys Mark Geragos – whose previous clients included Michael Jackson and Winona Ryder – and Bryan Freedman.
HuffPost reached out to Netflix representatives for comment on the suit, but did not receive a response as of Thursday evening.
“Love is blind” created on Netflix at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and became an instant hit. The series follows 15 men and 15 women from the same metropolitan area who hope to find love.
Over a 10-day period, prospective couples go on a series of “dates” in the privacy of individual pods, where they communicate via speaker but cannot see each other.
Poche's case is not the first to be filed against “Love Is Blind.” In October, it was reported that season 5 contestant Tran Dang had filed complaints of sexual assault against Thomas Smith, her former fiancé in the series. She also claimed she was “falsely imprisoned” by the show's producers, who she said acted negligently.
Series creator Chris Coelen responded to Dang's complaint by highlighting the safety measures taken during filming.
“If someone came to us and said they felt unsafe in some way, we would immediately remove them from the experience, talk to them and try to get to the bottom of it” , Coelen told People at the time. “We don't tell people what to say, what to do, we systematically tell people that this is their journey, that this is their life that they must lead as they see fit. We are here to follow him.