It’s that time of year again. Love Is Blind season 8 premiered last week on Netflix—Valentine’s Day, to be exact—and though only six episodes of the season have aired, audiences are already criticizing the show, calling out its lack of diversity as well as its lack of drama. And I agree: This season disappoints on many levels.
Since season 1, Love Is Blind has been about conflict, and how people navigate that conflict. The show became famous for exposing the real-life issues people face, like incompatible politics or financial philosophies, while simultaneously showing a diverse range of perspectives and people.
For example, the first season gave us Lauren Speed-Hamilton and Cameron Hamilton—Love Is Blind royalty. Through their story, Love Is Blind unpacked the complexities of joining two cultures together, allowing audiences to be privy to the oftentimes uncomfortable but necessary conversations.
During the pods, Lauren admitted she’d never dated a white man before—but she was open to new experiences, hence her being on the show. As a Black woman, this is a very real conversation that I have with my girlfriends, especially when it seems like our chances of marriage are slim, and only get slimmer the more educated we are and the higher our expectations of a potential partner. What does it look like for me to date someone outside of my race? How will our families combine into one? All of these questions are sincere concerns, and even five years ago, Lauren represented me and my homegirls who were curious and asking the uncomfortable questions.
We saw similarly hard conversations occur even with couples that didn’t ultimately work out, like season 7’s Marissa George and Ramses Prashad. In Marissa, who is of Black, Puerto Rican, and Trinidadian descent, and Ramses, who identifies as Venezuelan and Guyanese, audiences saw how a real-life couple tackled complex, hot-button topics, like Marissa’s military service, or the Israel-Palestine conflict.
Both Lauren and Cameron and Marissa and Ramses gave us something new and pushed the cultural zeitgeist forward. Their experiences were windows into what dating really looks like in 2025.
With the newest season of Love Is Blind, however, it seems like Netflix took a few steps backwards in terms of casting—and showing—men and women of diverse backgrounds. In the Minneapolis pods, we’re introduced to Monica Danús, 27, who identifies as half-Chilean, and gets engaged to Joey Leveille, 34. Then, we’re introduced to two Black women, Brittany Dodson, 35, and Virginia Miller, 34, both of whom end up in a love triangle with Devin Buckley, 29, the only Black man who made it to an engagement.
This lack of representation, including little Asian and Hispanic depiction, seems to be a consistent problem for reality dating shows, including The Bachelor and Love Island UK—and now Love Is Blind has fallen victim.
But when you do ensure your cast is genuinely diverse, as was the case on Love Island USA last season, it pays off. I personally believe it’s no coincidence that in 2024 Love Island USA scored its biggest streaming viewership ever.
On the other hand, it doesn’t seem like Netflix truly prioritized diversity this season—an especially sad outcome considering Minneapolis, where this season is set, was at the heart of the Black Lives Matter movement following the murder of George Floyd. As of 2022, 14.2 percent of Minneapolis residents were born outside of the country, with the population leaning 18.4 percent Black (non-Hispanic); 9.85 percent Hispanic, and 5.15 percent Asian.
Regardless of the city in which Love Is Blind is being filmed, there has to be intentionality in casting diverse range of contestants and telling different stories. After watching the first six episodes of this season, I did not see that. I was in desperate need of feeling seen, of being able to relate to the conversations on screen. And while I’m glad there is some representation this season, it’s not enough. There is no reason why I had to wait about 35 minutes into the second episode (and I checked, trust me) to see a person of color be given meaningful airtime in the dating pods.
Reality dating shows can’t continue to use communities of color in promotional trailers to get people excited to tune in, but then not give them any actual screen time. As someone who is a personal fan of reality dating shows, watching people of color being used in the background, but not given the quality air time, ultimately reinforces the idea that people of color are not worthy of love. If audiences don’t even get the chance to see how men and women of color develop or don’t develop in their relationships within the pods, it makes it hard for us to see ourselves finding love, picking out our wedding dress, and walking down the aisle.
Love Is Blind has already been renewed for seasons 9 and 10, and I hope Netflix considers giving us more diverse and interesting storylines. They’ve done it before, and that’s what people loved and are eager to see more of.
Netflix will release episodes 7-9 of Love Is Blind season 8 on Friday, February 21.
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