Global Courant 2023-04-17 16:49:51
Viewers had to wait more than an hour to watch Love Is Blind’s season 4 reunion special, which was set to stream live on Sunday in Netflix’s second-ever live event on its own platform.
Love Is Blind: The Live Reunion, hosted by Vanessa and Nick Lachey, was scheduled to stream from Los Angeles starting at 5 p.m. PT. Netflix subscribers were able to get into a waiting room 10 minutes before the show started – and those who did were still there an hour later. The show finally aired — seemingly live — around 6:16 p.m. PT, though some Netflix users were still reporting problems accessing the content.
“We’re sorry we’re late,” said Vanessa Lachey, the sole acknowledgment of the delay at the top of the broadcast.
“To everyone who stayed up late, woke up early, gave up their Sunday afternoon, we are incredibly sorry the Love is Blind Live Reunion didn’t go the way we planned,” Netflix tweeted at 6:29pm PT. “We are filming it now and we will have it on Netflix as soon as possible. Thanks again and sorry.”
A request for comment from Netflix was not immediately answered. Netflix’s first live streaming event, Chris Rock: Selective Outrage, showed no obvious technical issues.
To everyone who stayed up late, got up early, gave up their Sunday afternoon… we are incredibly sorry that the Love is Blind Live Reunion didn’t go as we planned. We are filming it now and we will have it on Netflix as soon as possible. Thanks again and…
Undetermined technical issue, says host
On Twitter, Netflix had acknowledged the delay without providing an explanation. Two minutes after the initial start time, it promised the special would start in 15 minutes. Seven minutes later, the company tweeted, “Promise. LoveIsBlindLIVE will be worth the wait…” along with a photo of one of the season’s “villains.”
The account’s latest activity was a retweet from U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez joking about the delay. With the special’s original end time approaching, nothing had been posted since — and remained so even as the show began airing for some, until the apology tweet.
Nick Lachey, left, and Vanessa Lachey, the hosts of Love Is Blind, are shown in a file photo from September 19, 2021 in Los Angeles. Vanessa Lachey apologized to viewers for the delay in Sunday night’s live broadcast. (Chris Pizzello/Invision/The Associated Press)
Before the show finally aired, Vanessa Lachey had taken to Instagram from the set — briefly live, perhaps ironically — to try and entice viewers to stay, indicating the delay was a technicality in a message thanking fans for their patience and caption: Apparently we broke the internet!”
Cast members from the Seattle season also took to the social media platform to joke about the delay. Marshall Glaze posted a photo of a man studying a series of wires: “Trying all of you,” he tweeted.
Competing streamers and networks also tapped into the drama.
“We would never keep you waiting for a reunion,” tweeted BravoTV — home to many a chaotic reunion special — with a wink.
