Love Is Blindhas been consistently under fire for its run on Netflix, but Season 5 has been its most controversial yet, now being the subject of allegations of sexual assault and false imprisonment from one of the contestants on the series. According to a new case against the series and its productions companies, Kinetic Content and Delirium TV, Season 5 contestantTran Dangalleges that when she was in Mexico with her then fiancéThomas Smith, she was sexually assaulted by him while there, whichLove Is BlindcreatorChris Coelendenies. Coelen was recently in the news for how he reacted toDanielle Ruhl’s commentsabout her mental health at the time of filming the series.
When addressing theaccusations withET, Coelen says that Dang’s claims are “completely meritless.” A statement from Kinetic Content and Delirium TV also echoed the same idea toET, saying “We support and stand with victims of sexual assault, but Ms. Dang’s claims against the producers are meritless… We deny and will vigorously defend the allegations against us.” In her accusation, Dang claims that because of the 24-hour surveillance that Kinetic Content and Delirium TV keep on the contestants, there is likely to be footage of what happened to her but Coelen denies this.
Dang reported the incident to the show but she alleged that an assistant producer “gaslighted her, implying that she was at fault for what had happened with Thomas Smith by not communicating effectively or somehow not taking the ‘relationship’ seriously.” Much like in the claim with Ruhl, Coelen denies this claim as well and said the following: “We would not continue filming with someone who was expressing that an incident of that sort had happened,” he says. “We have round-the-clock psychologists, a highly trained production team, we have a whole battalion of people whose job it is to make sure that we prioritize our participant’s well-being. But the participant has to be actively involved in that process.”
Does the Show Have 24/7 Camera Footage?
In Dang’s claim, she states that they were under watch for 24-hours but Coelen says that they were not filming around the clock. “We are not filming around the clock. We are not mounting cameras in their personal living spaces. We don’t do that,” Coelen said. “We’re like a documentary. They are alone during periods of times, they are not under surveillance. We do not tell people what to say, what to do, we consistently tell people that this is their journey, this is their life to lead as they choose. We’re there to follow it.” So whether or not there is footage of the incident remains to be seen but this is yet another case of Coelen refusing to acknowledge something clearly happening behind the scenes ofLove Is Blind.
