The Love Is Blind Season 4 reunion was intended to be the first-ever live-streamed reality TV show reunion of its kind, but instead, it was a flop.
As Monsters and Critics previously reported, Love Is Blind viewers were outraged that Netflix didn’t deliver on its promise.
While millions of viewers logged onto Netflix, they were given an error message telling them to wait while they sorted out some technical difficulties.
However, over an hour passed, and viewers were still in the waiting room, anxiously awaiting the live reunion, while reading the error message, “Pardon the interruption. We’re having trouble playing Netflix. Please check your internet and try again.”
Eventually, Netflix was able to add the 13th and final episode, but not until 19 hours after viewers became disgruntled and impatient.
Now, Netflix’s co-CEOs are speaking out about the catastrophic live event fiasco, and they say they’re going to learn from the mishap and improve future live streams.
Netflix co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters apologize to Love Is Blind viewers, explain Season 4 live reunion snafu
Per Variety, co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters tackled the topic during a recent Q1 earnings interview.
“We’re really sorry to disappoint so many people,” Peters said. “We didn’t meet the standard that we expect ourselves: to serve our members and just be clear from a technical perspective.”
Peters went on to explain that although they have the infrastructure, a bug was to blame for the mishap.
“We just didn’t see this bug in internal testing because it only became apparent once we put multiple systems interacting with each other under the load of millions of people trying to watch Love Is Blind,” he explained.
A whopping 6.5 million viewers ended up watching the reunion, which was scheduled to stream live on Sunday, April 16, at 5 p.m. PT/8 p.m. ET. It eventually became available 19 hours after the fact, at 12 p.m. PT.
Peters added that he and Sarandos “hate” when these types of things happen but promised that they’ll “learn from it and will get better.”
Love Is Blind viewers weren’t happy with the reunion for more reasons than one
Those viewers who eventually watched the Love Is Blind Season 4 reunion weren’t only displeased with having to wait almost an entire day — they weren’t exactly pleased with the content of the show either.
Many who tuned in were unhappy with co-hosts Nick and Vanessa Lachey, who they have petitioned to have removed from their positions. Additionally, many viewers were unhappy with Vanessa’s perceived bias and “distasteful” interactions with the cast.
Some felt as though Vanessa wrongfully and unfairly took Jackie Bonds’ side when discussing her failed relationship with Marshall Glaze, while many more felt she focused too much on which couples would be welcoming babies.
Netflix has yet to announce whether a Season 5 of Love Is Blind is in the works, as it’s still too soon, but if there is one, viewers will be curious to find out whether give another live-streamed reunion a shot or nix the concept altogether.
Love Is Blind Season 4 is currently streaming on Netflix.