Netflix apologizes for "Love is Blind" live reunion's hour-long delay after viewers "broke the internet"
Netflix became the center of a reality TV storm on Sunday night when the streaming platform's second-ever live event, the "Love is Blind" season four reunion, saw a significant delay. The special was supposed to kick off at 8 p.m. ET, but did not start until over an hour later after viewers were repeatedly kicked out of the show or received pop-up messages saying it could not be played.
The streaming service had heavily marketed the live reunion for days leading up to Sunday. Nick Lachey, who hosts "Love is Blind" alongside his wife Vanessa Lachey, announced the live event on April 4.
The latest season of the show, described as a "social experiment where single men and women look for love and get engaged, all before meeting in person," focused on four couples – and a few individuals who used to be. It was a drama-filled season filled with love triangles and "mean girls," that pushed people to flock to the live reunion.
But come time, all that showed up on people's screens was a single message: "We're having trouble playing this title right now." Eventually, it changed to an alert that there was an "issue with the live stream" and that the service was "trying to fix it as soon as possible."
At one point, Vanessa Lachey posted a video from the live reunion stage saying, "apparently y'all, everybody broke the internet to see this reunion."
"We are ready to roll, we just gotta figure this out," she said. "...We are not asking any questions to anybody until we are streaming live."
But the longer people waited, the more frustrated fans of the show became. One person tweeted, "At this point, Netflix should be paying ME to subscribe."
"Not Netflix being the new Ticketmaster," another said.
Even Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez express her frustration.
"Someone call Lucia the seamstress to fix this," she said, quipping about the seamstress in the show who very quickly had to tailor the pants for one of the show's contestants on his wedding day. "I believe in her."
Almost an hour and a half after the reunion was supposed to go live, Netflix tweeted out an apology.
"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 did not turn out as we had planned," the company tweeted just before 9:30 p.m. "We're filming it now and we'll have it on Netflix as soon as humanly possible. Again, thank you and sorry."
Some people were able to see the special last night. But for those who weren't, Netflix later said it will be available starting at 12 p.m. PT/ 3 p.m. ET on Monday
