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Reality television aficionados are well aware of the creative leaps we’re often forced to make while watching our favorite shows. From Real Housewives-style storylines that are so bizarre you’d think they were penned by Yorgos Lanthimos, to Survivor contestants who read like paid actors, the genre has always stretched the limit of what viewers consider “reality.”
Which is why fans of Love Is Blind, a show that is itself built on the already-shaky concept of the soulmate (*barfs in single*), have long questioned the mechanics behind each stage of the Netflix social experiment. Do the contestants simply join to amass social media clout? Is host Nick Lachey an AI generation of the input “conventionally attractive man?” Or perhaps most pressingly, how long are the Love Is Blind contestants in the pods?
How long are the Love Is Blind contestants in the pods?
Of all the stages of a given season of Love Is Blind — which comes to include weddings, honeymoons, and home visits — it’s the blind dating process of the pods that raises the most questions. Per Netflix’s official website, the pod sessions span a period of 10 days of shooting, during which contestants attempt to make connections with their pod partners.
Contestants reportedly go on about 20 dates within this ten-day period, with season three castmate Alexa Alfia revealing that dates can go on “for hours.” The pods do not come equipped with toilets, so contestants are forced to go piddle in the bathrooms near the lounge area. As for the sleeping situation, season one of Love Is Blind had contestants sleep in cots in trailers next to the lounges, though this arrangement was replaced with nearby hotel rooms for following seasons.
While the initial stages of the pod experience are quick — with rapid-fire speed dates among the 15 men and women contestants — the process is elongated once singles have narrowed down their potential love interests. Bartiste Bowden, who appeared in season three, said that dates within the pods can last three to four hours. For his part, Love Is Blind creator Chris Coelen described the 10-day pod period as “24/7 intensive therapy.”
For those more interested in the mechanics of the pods themselves (the Venn diagram of architects and Love Is Blind viewers is just a full circle), it has been revealed that the rooms are about 12 feet by 12 feet, and come stocked with food and beverages. In season one, the pods were located on a studio lot in Atlanta, but were shipped to a new sound stage in LA for the sophomore installment.