Vanessa Lachey addresses the lack of body diversity on 'Love Is Blind' and thinks it may have to do with contestants feeling 'insecure'
Francis Specker/CBS via Getty Images
- Vanessa Lachey addressed the lack of body diversity on "Love Is Blind" in a recent interview.
- While promoting DQ's Miracle Treat Day, she said some people may feel "insecure" in the pods.
- Lachey said Netflix will be "embracing" LGBTQ love on some of its dating shows in the future.
Host Vanessa Lachey addressed the lack of body diversity on "Love Is Blind" in a recent interview with Insider.
She said she often wonders if some contestants don't make it past the "pods" stage of the experiment because they feel "insecure" and don't have enough time to make meaningful connections.
"Their whole life they've been so insecure about being themselves because of this crazy swipe generation that we are in and this catfishing world that we're in, that they're so afraid to be themselves," Lachey said of contestants who may not believe they fit into conventional beauty standards.
On the first phase of Netflix's hit dating show, male and female contestants live in separate pods and only communicate with each other in designated rooms, separated from each other by a wall. The point is to get to know each other and hopefully build a genuine connection that turns into true love before knowing what your partner looks like.
When a contestant feels like they're in love, they propose marriage and move on to the next stage of the experiment, where they finally get to meet in person and commit to exploring their relationship in the real world — with Netflix cameras following them, of course.
Adam Rose/Netflix
Lachey acknowledged that many couples who move past the pods stage fit into conventional beauty standards. She's not a part of the casting process but said she knows that "Love Is Blind" and Netflix give people with diverse bodies a "fair shot" as far as casting them on the show.
"I wonder if they truly don't have enough time in those two weeks to find themselves, A, and then be themselves to then find that spouse," Lachey continued.
She said no one on the show controls who gets engaged, so that is part of the reason why we don't see more physically diverse contestants move on to the stage of the show where they go on vacation with their partners. The "NCIS: Hawai'i" star said she often has conversations about diversity on the show with her husband and co-host, Nick Lachey.
Lachey was speaking with Insider to promote Dairy Queen's Miracle Treat Day coming up on July 28. Participating stores will donate a dollar from every Blizzard purchased to Children's Miracle Network Hospitals.
"You are bringing health and hope to local kids and also treating yourself to a summer Blizzard treat," Lachey said.
Michael Simon
As for increasing diversity on "Love Is Blind," whether that means diversifying body types or including LGBTQ people in the experiment, the solutions aren't simple.
"If you think about if you did just women, then it wouldn't be separate quarters, it would just be one big house of everybody out for themselves, I guess. And if you did the men, it would be the same," Lachey said.
This would be the only way to set up the experiment without Netflix doing matchmaking pre-production and choosing who to separate from each other, thus eliminating the blind part of the experiment.
Lachey said that despite these logistical difficulties, the streaming service is committed to "embracing" diversity and even teased "you will see some of that in the dating reality television world of Netflix soon."