The Big Picture
- Love Is Blind producers claim that contestant Danielle Ruhl did not disclose her mental health issues prior to filming, despite her insistence that she did.
- The producers emphasize that they prioritize the well-being of participants and offer to pay for Ruhl’s therapy bills, although she has not taken them up on the offer yet.
- CEO Chris Coelen urges all potential participants to prioritize their own well-being and seek aftercare, even if they do not think they need it, as discussing feelings is an important aspect of the show’s process.
Love Is Blind isn’t an easy show to be on to begin with. Participants are thrown into a round of speed dating before picking someone to marry sight unseen with the hope it all works out. It’s rough, especially for anyone who struggles with their own mental health. For Danielle Ruhl, the show took a toll on her mental health. She spoke out against the show saying that she told producers and the creator that she let them know about her mental health issues, particularly her suicidal ideation prior to joining the pods.
She met and married Nick Thompson in Season 2. The two have since gotten divorced. In a new conversation with CEO Chris Coelen from Kinetic Content at Variety, it’s clear that Coelen and company are trying to defend their work on Love Is Blind, including making sure that they’re covering their tracks, especially with Rhul’s claims.
In regards to the allegations that Ruhl made, Coelen said the following: “These are very serious issues that she describes, and if her recent allegations about her mental health history are true, unfortunately she didn’t disclose this before filming.”
According to Ruhl though, Coelen’s response is semantics. In her response to Variety, she points out that it was not written down but something that she did disclose to producers prior to filming.“It wasn’t something I specifically noted in the application itself,” she said. “I had conversations with producers. I had conversations with therapists, but to their point, it was nothing that had been written down, so whether or not something had been communicated to them, I don’t know,” she added. “I will admit that, at the time of filming, I did say that I was in a really good mental space.”
‘Love Is Blind’ Creator Doubles Down Against Ruhl
Throughout the piece, Coelen continues to put blame onto Ruhl saying that she didn’t tell anyone even though she says that she did. “She didn’t inform the production team that she was having any thoughts of self-harm. If she had, we wouldn’t have continued to film with her,” he said. “She never asked anyone in production ever to leave the show. She was free to leave the experiment at any time, as many participants have in the past. I urge all potential participants to always prioritize their own well-being, above being on TV, or participating in this experiment, no matter how great the upside might potentially be.”
Coelen went on to say that the show offered to pay Ruhl for her therapy bills. “We’ve consistently offered to reimburse the costs of Ms. Ruhl’s post-filming therapy,” he said. “And although she hasn’t taken us up on this yet, she should know that we support her, and our offer still stands. We’ve reached out to her privately, and we’d love to be in contact with her.” He went ont to say: “We consistently reiterate to people at the end of their time in the experiment, ‘We really urge you to seek aftercare.’ Even for people who don’t feel like they ‘need it,’ I encourage it, because I think you’ve spent a lot of time here talking about your feelings, and to all of a sudden just stop talking about your feelings, to me, would not be the best course of action.”
