‘Love Is Blind’ Contestants Are Employees, Says National Labor Relations Board, Opening Door To Reality Unionization

deadline.com:

A complaint against Netflix dating show Love Is Blind could open the door to widespread unionization in the unscripted television world, hastening a reality reckoning.

The National Labor Relations Board has issued a complaint against Kinetic Content, the company behind the hit show, and its subsidiary Delirium TV.

The filing came from Jennifer Hadsall, regional director of the board in Minnesota. It was filed after complaints from contestants including Renee Poche and Nick Thompson and has demanded that the producers “reclassify all ‘participants’ since January 19, 2023, as employees and notify them in writing that they are employees for purposes of the Act”.

In the claim, the NLRB said by not doing so contestants were “deprived” of their workers’ rights. In January, Season 5 participant Poche took Delirium and Netflix to court to put the brakes on the multi-million arbitration action the producers took against her in November 2023 over violations of the NDA she signed as a part of the reality romance series.