Jeremy Hartwell, who appeared on the show’s second season and married contestant Nick Thompson, says producers disregarded his mental health. Hartwell claims producers deprived participants of sleep, plied them with alcohol and restricted their access to social media and personal phone calls.
Several other former cast members spoke to Insider last year, and described long days of filming, sleep deprivation and being matched with walking red flags like Carter Wall.
Renee Poche Files Lawsuit for $4 Million
Love Is Blind contestant Renee Poche wants to open the public’s eyes to what she says was a “traumatic” experience for her on the reality dating show. The veterinarian, who appeared on season five of the hit series but had her storyline cut from the final episodes, has hired powerhouse attorneys Mark Geragos and Bryan Freedman to file a lawsuit against Netflix and production company Delirium TV.
The complaint claims that while filming, Renee Poche was matched with a man called Carter Wall, who the court document describes as a walking red flag. Wall was allegedly unemployed with a negative balance in his bank account, homeless, violent, estranged from family, and actively addicted to drugs and alcohol at the time of filming.
The lawsuit alleges that Wall was a source of stress and anxiety for Poche and other contestants. It also claims that producers deprived the women of food and water during filming. The suit says that portions of the nondisclosure agreement imposed by Delirium are unlawful under California labor law. It’s also arguing that the liquidated damages Delirium is imposing on Poche — who earned $8,000 for her participation in the show — are excessive.
She Claims She Was Forced to Marry Carter Wall
Renee Poche, who appeared on season 5 of the popular reality show, claims she was paired with “a walking red flag” in Wall, whose alleged problems include being unemployed with a negative balance in his bank account, homeless, violent, and emotionally unstable. She says she notified producers of her concerns but they encouraged her to move forward with the relationship.
She claims she felt like a prisoner while filming and was made to feel unsafe when not in the pods where contestants communicate via speaker but cannot see each other. She alleges she was told participants went through a rigorous interviewing, screening, and evaluation process including background checks and psychological examinations.
Renee Poche says she was forced to spend long stretches alone with Wall, who regularly berated her and stole from the set or places they visited. She also claims he would scream and hit her, and abused amphetamines and alcohol. Production staff even warned her that he could harm herself or others, she says.
She Says She Feels Like a Prisoner
Despite Love Is Blind’s claim to make contestants’ “well-being of paramount importance,” the popular reality dating show has been plagued with accusations from some participants. For example, Season 5 cast member Tran Dang recently sued Kinetic Content and Delirium TV for sexual assault and false imprisonment after she claims her fiance abused her during filming in Mexico.
Houston-based veterinarian Renee Poche also filed a lawsuit against the production company in November 2022, claiming that her experience on the fifth season of the show was traumatic. According to the suit, she felt like a prisoner because at the beginning of filming, production staff took away her phone, passport and driver’s license and locked her in a hotel room unless accompanied by a staff chaperone.
She also alleged that she was forced into an emotionally abusive relationship with fellow contestant Carter Wall, which ended after the show wrapped. She says her story was not included in the final edit because producers didn’t want to sully the show’s reputation.
She Says She Was Abused
Poche says she was subjected to multiple forms of emotional distress and violations of California labor and civic codes during her time on the show. She’s seeking to nullify her contract and expose what she calls abuse on the set.
On her first night of filming, she claims production staff seized her phone, passport and driver’s license and kept her locked in her hotel room. She was allowed to leave only if accompanied by a cast wrangler. Poche ended up in a showmance with Carter Wall, who she alleges was broke, jobless, unhoused, violent and addicted to amphetamines and alcohol.
Other past contestants have shared similar claims about traumatic conditions on the show, including long days of filming with little sleep, limited access to food and copious amounts of alcohol. Kinetic Content and Delirium TV have denied the claims. Poche’s suit is the latest to hit the company. It follows the filing of a lawsuit by Houston woman Tran Dang, who claimed her former fiance on the show sexually assaulted her.
