Though Netflix doesn’t reveal many details about viewership numbers, it’s pretty obvious that the streamer’s dating-show-with-a-twist, “Love Is Blind,” is a big hit. Season 4, which was set in Seattle, and concluded with a supposedly live reunion show that was scheduled for Sunday (more on that later), has been among Netflix’s most-watched shows, according to Netflix, anyway. Even the New York Times has taken notice, as a recent article about “the reality TV juggernaut” indicates.
Fans of the show will have also noted that among the Seattle residents who comprise most of the cast, a couple of Portlanders wound up making big impressions in the most recent season. Brett Brown, director of immersive design at Nike, which has its headquarters in Beaverton, won viewers’ hearts thanks to a swoon-worthy relationship with Tiffany Pennywell.
Another of the “Love Is Blind” Season 4 bachelors, Kwame Appiah, was a Portland-based sales development manager and former professional soccer player.
For those who haven’t watched any episodes of this particular reality TV juggernaut, “Love Is Blind” differs from “The Bachelor” franchise, for example, in that the single women and men initially go on dates where they don’t see each other. Instead, they’re in separate rooms — pods, as the show refers to them — and they talk to one another.
In the show’s ultra-accelerated timeline, the no-look conversations supposedly let the cast members fall in love without the distraction of physical attraction. Once they get to know each other, they can get engaged, and only then do they see each other. Then, they either get married, or walk away. Again, this all happens within a matter of weeks.
Season 4 has generated so much buzz because of “mean girl” behavior, break-up drama, last-minute ditching at the altar, and again, the sweet romance shared by Brown and Pennywell. In an apparent attempt to milk the social media-fueled frenzy around the show, Netflix announced that a Season 4 reunion episode would stream live, on Sunday, April 16, to be presided over by series hosts Vanessa and Nick Lachey.
Well, that was the plan, anyway. Following its first live streaming attempt, “Chris Rock: Selective Outrage,” the “Love Is Blind: The Live Reunion Show” was only Netflix’s second live streaming event. Unlike the Chris Rock comedy concert, however, the “Love is Blind” live reunion was delayed, apparently by technical glitches.
Fans who were primed to watch emotional fireworkson Sunday instead fumed on social media about their inability to access the reunion show, which was scheduled to start at 5 p.m. PT. The show finally started streaming more than an hour later, but some would-be viewers said they still couldn’t access the episode.
The official Netflix Twitter account apologized for the fiasco, with a post that said, in part, “To everyone who stayed up late, woke up early, gave up their Sunday afternoon…we are incredibly sorry that the Live Is Blind Live Reunion did not turn out as we had planned. We’re filming it now and we’ll have it on Netflix as soon as humanly possible.”
Later Sunday night, the Netflix Twitter account posted, “Love Is Blind: The Reunion will be available globally at 12pm PT on April 17. Promise.”
Noting that the season had been filmed about a year ago, on the reunion the hosts asked the couples who had gotten married at the conclusion of Season 4 what the experience has been like for them.
Pennywell said she had moved from Seattle to Portland to be with Brown, adding, “It was a big change for me.”
In a reverse move, Appiah has moved to Seattle to be with his wife, Chelsea Griffin. Appiah’s mixed emotions about moving had come through earlier in the season, as when, after Griffin came for a visit to Appiah’s Portland bachelor pad, he said, “I’m OK to move, but this is home.” Noting that he didn’t have any friends in Seattle, Appiah said that he plays soccer with friends in Portland four or five times a week, and that he has a running path that he runs every day.”
Appiah also took a dig at the cost of living in Seattle vs. Portland, using an NBA analogy. Calling Seattle “overpriced,” Appiah said the city was “Lamar Odom with Michael Jordan prices.” Ouch!
In addition to Brown and Pennywell, and Appiah and Griffin, the reunion special also featured a third married couple, Zack Goytowski and Bliss Poureetezadi. During their interview segment, Griffin said she had finally met Appiah’s mother who, as viewers saw earlier in the season, didn’t approve of her son marrying someone he’d met during a short time on a reality show.
In addition, Appiah apologized to Griffin and her family for engaging in too-flirty conversation with Micah Lussier, after Lussier had let Appiah know she was less interested in him than in another cast member, Paul Peden.
Rounding out the episode were appearances by cast members who provided much of the season’s drama, including Irina Solomonova, who apologized for how she treated Goytowski; Peden, who dumped Lussier at the altar; Lussier; and the triangle of Marshall Glaze, Jackie Bonds and Josh Demas, the latter two appearing via a pre-taped interview with Vanessa Lachey.
That was all a bit squirmy, but things ended on a more positive note, with brief visits to the homes of the married couples, including footage of Brown and Pennywell in Portland, and Appiah and Griffin in Seattle.
“Love Is Blind” Season 4 — including the reunion special — is streaming on Netflix.
— Kristi Turnquist
503-221-8227; kturnquist@oregonian.com; @Kristiturnquist
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