LOVE Is Blind star Nick Thompson has called for new rules to be placed on reality shows after his own experiences on the Netflix series.
Nick appeared on the third season of the dating show favorite, proposing to fellow singleton Danielle Ruhl sight unseen.
Nick wants reality shows to switch things up to protect their contestants in the future NetflixNick appeared on Love Is Blind season 3, marrying Danielle Ruhl[/caption]The pair got married by the end of the show’s run, staying together for a year before splitting in July 2022 and filing for divorce, just five months after the show aired.
Now, Nick is aiming to expose the harsh reality of being on a romantic dating show, alleging he and others on the show felt manipulated by the production team in order to get a reaction.
As part of this he’s executive producing a new movie, HIM, which follows five women filming a Bachelor-style series as those behind-the-scenes pull the strings on how they’re portrayed.
Speaking exclusively to The US Sun, Nick said this connected to his own personal experience on a dating reality show, explaining: “What I didn’t anticipate is the level of control and the level of manipulation.
“From like the highest form of being removed from the structure of your everyday life, and your support systems gone, to you’re not eating at the times you would normally eat, or drinking at the times you would normally, walks, or sunlight, the importance of these basic things that we take for granted every day, and the impact that has on your mental health and your physical health.
“Then on top of that, the information that you’re getting – and that they’re getting in this film – isn’t real. It’s not an accurate depiction. They’re forcing a narrative that you’re unknowingly a part of.”
In the movie, the five girls are presented with their contracts, in which they agree to a potentially “inaccurate and dishonest portrayal” of themselves on screen.
While they all agree to it, they later regret it, discovering an incriminating iPad showing how far producers are pulling the strings – including leaving them hungry, making them relive awkward conversations, and feeding them inaccurate information.
This was something Nick claims he felt first hand on Love Is Blind – and something he took for granted when he signed his own “29-30 page” contract.
“The contract for Love is Blind, you can see season five’s publicly, and there’s literally sections in there about how they can defame you, you will be subject to public ridicule, you might be misrepresented. This language is in the contracts,” he said.
“You’re an active participant, yes, but you don’t always know the narrative and the story that they’re going to tell. So when these shows come out, you’re watching it as a viewer and as a participant for the first time with the whole world.
“So when you find yourself misrepresented on something, you find out at the same time the whole rest of the world does.”
“I know from my experience, when I read it, I was like, ‘Well, I don’t do anything out of character. They’re not going to be able to, nothing bad can happen’,” he said of his own contract, which is currently not publicly available.
“I’m sure that most people have that feeling when they do it, because very few people think they’re a bad person or think that they’re doing something wrong when they’re doing it. Very few times do people deliberately make a decision knowing it’s the wrong decision, and so we’re saying the wrong thing, or people get reactive in high emotional situations.
Buffalo 8New movie HIM aims to expose the dark side of making a reality TV show[/caption] NetflixNick thought he ‘couldn’t be manipulated’ but had no idea how he’d be portrayed until the season aired[/caption]“So you read this, and you don’t really think anything of it, right? It’s just like, ‘Oh, I’m not going to do anything out of character. I’m just going to be me. I’m likable’.
“But you’re likable as you are to the people in your life, but then as you are portrayed via edits, or purposeful stories that they’re trying to tell, you really don’t have a lot of control over how you’re portrayed, even if you think you do.”
The US Sun has contacted Netflix for comment.
Since appearing on Love Is Blind, Nick founded the UCAN Foundation – a non-profit aiming to provide legal and mental health resources for those who have appeared on reality shows, as well as fighting for better industry practices and ethical treatment.
As part of this duty of care, he has called for small edits to the show themselves, including a reminder to avid and devoted viewers that their reality shows are more than what’s on screen to temper any potential backlash.
When these shows come out, you’re watching it as a viewer and as a participant for the first time […] you find yourself misrepresented on something, you find out at the same time the rest of the world does.
Nick Thompson“In the pods in the US, we’re filming 16/18/20 hours a day, you’re miked the entire time, you’re on video most of the time. During that time, you’re giving so much content, so much context, that then gets sort of whittled down into this 2/3/4-minute segment that actually took place over a three-hour date in the pods. So the context is lacking.
“I think of it in this way where my relationship was followed for seven/eight weeks – Including a wedding – and we’re around an hour and 14 minutes, total, across all 10 episodes.”
“I have a petition going with moveon.org that’s been going a year and a half now, to just put a disclaimer at the front of these shows, remind people it’s credited for storyline purposes and should be viewed as entertainment only,” he explained.
In the meantime, he is hoping the movie HIM, which is released on May 30th, will shed a truthful – and entertaining – light on what it takes to make a reality show.
“It’s very satirical, and that is something that was important to me, because I think if you’re going to reach the audiences and really drive awareness, you can’t just always be this dense hammer,” he explained.
“You’ve got to make it pop culture, you’ve got to make it funny. You laugh or you cry, right? That’s kind of the mentality. And I think they nailed that with the film.”
Pre-order HIM on Apple TV here.
Buffalo 8The new film shows how moments can be twisted for a TV show narrative[/caption] Instagram/nthompson513Nick has launched a non-profit to fight for better practices on reality shows[/caption] InstagramNick and Danielle were married for over a year – but split five months after the show aired[/caption] Read More Details
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