What went wrong at Netflix’s live ‘Love Is Blind’ reunion

Netflix’s first attempt at a live show, Chris Rock’s “Selective Outrage,” went off without a hitch. The second attempt, a live reunion of the popular reality dating series “Love Is Blind,” failed.

“Love Is Blind: Live Reunion” airs live at 8pm ET/5pm PT. An IndieWire employee was ready to watch, but his browser redirected him from the Netflix queue with the following error message: “Sorry for the interruption. Having problems playing Netflix. Please check your internet and try again.” After updating, the error message persisted for the next 30 minutes. By then, like many of you, you probably gave up and watched The Succession.

Nine minutes into our hero’s wait, Netflix’s main Twitter account noticed the delay.

Promise #LoveIsBlindLIVE worth the wait…. pic.twitter.com/t7eOSLD3K6

— Netflix (@netflix) April 17, 2023

In eighty minutes thatNetflix basically went with “the bad”.

“To everyone who stayed up late, woke up early, gave up their Sunday afternoon…we are incredibly sorry that the ‘Love is Blind Live Reunion’ didn’t go as planned,” the streamer wrote at 9:29pm on Sunday. E.T. “We are shooting it now and it will be on Netflix as soon as possible. Thanks again and sorry.”

“As humanly possible” has become another watch – for some, but not for all. One Netflix user in Sacramento told IndieWire that he was able to watch the filmed show at about 7:30pm PT. It took “longer than usual” to load, but he was able to watch the entire 96-minute meeting. (The special was even longer than the Season 4 finale, which clocked in at 89 minutes; they are now the two longest episodes in the show’s history.)

IndieWire also attended the Netflix viewing party at The Vermont Hollywood club in Los Angeles. About half an hour before the live show began, Chloe Veitch, a contestant on the Netflix reality show The Circle, took the stage to announce that there were technical issues and the show was about to start. Some attendees thought it referred to problems with the club’s system, not the show itself.

Apparently, no one told Netflix’s social media team:

up to 5 minutes #LoveIsBlindLIVE – watch and see who else will be joining Nick and Vanessa on stage!

— Netflix (@netflix) April 16, 2023

Also in Hollywood in Vermont were cast members from previous seasons of “Love Is Blind,” as well as other Netflix reality dating shows (“Too Hot to Handle,” “Perfect Match”) and a few stray cast members from ABC’s “The Bachelor.” ” No lag or picture quality issues were experienced during the club screening of the filmed show on a giant screen with great sound. No one seemed to mind the hour plus delay, but the catering and open bar could help with that.

Perhaps the only way to keep us sane was to be part of the Bravo social media team last night:

We would never wait for the meeting 😉

— Bravo (@BravoTV) April 17, 2023

On Monday, Netflix waited until 3pm ET/12pm PT to officially release the reunion special. Netflix declined to comment for this story, including on technical questions about why some people were (finally) able to watch it late last night/early this morning and others apparently couldn’t.

Vanessa Lachey, who co-hosts the series with husband Nick Lachey, opened the reunion special by saying, “Welcome to ‘Love Is Blind: The Reunion!’ I want to say: I’m sorry we’re late, we’re no longer alive, but we’re finally here!”

Love Is Blind: The Reunion will be available worldwide on April 17 at 12:00 p.m. Promise. pic.twitter.com/vHKxyOiSgq

— Netflix (@netflix) April 17, 2023

Guys, I did it.

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