- Nick Lachey reflected on his wife Vanessa Lachey's comments about body diversity on "Love Is Blind."
- He told Insider that reality TV is a "cross-section" of "our world."
Nick Lachey addressed the lack of body diversity in "Love Is Blind" in a recent interview with Insider and reflected on his wife Vanessa Lachey's previous comments on the subject.
Insider's Ayomikun Adekaiyero asked Nick to respond to Vanessa's previous quote to Insider about body-diverse contestants possibly feeling "insecure" about themselves on the Netflix reality dating show, and therefore failing to make meaningful connections. Nick replied that "reality TV is a kind of a cross-section" and "a reality, you know, of our world."
"It's always important to cast with diversity, in every single aspect of that word," the singer, who has co-hosted all three seasons of the series with Vanessa, added. "So, I think that Netflix will continue to try and do that and, and that's a positive thing."
When asked in an interview with Insider in July 2022 about the lack of body-diverse contestants, Vanessa said she wondered if "their whole life they've been so insecure about being themselves because of this crazy swipe generation that we are in and this catfishing world that we're in, that they're so afraid to be themselves."
"I wonder if they truly don't have enough time in those two weeks to find themselves, A, and then be themselves to then find that spouse," she added.
During the pods stage of "Love Is Blind," contestants go on dates in rooms separated by a wall so that they can't see each other. The ultimate goal is to hopefully form a deep connection with a potential partner without physical appearance and sexual attraction factoring into the process of falling in love.
Nick said that diversity of all kinds 'should be an agenda for all of us' involved in the Netflix dating show universe
Lauren Speed-Hamilton, who met her husband Cameron Hamilton on the show and is still married to him, has been critical of the amount of screen-time Netflix gives to white contestants compared to Black contestants.
"I don't like how LIB be cutting all the black women. How come they are always in the trailer but not the show…" she tweeted in October 2022 when season three of "Love Is Blind" premiered.
"I know it's slim pickings but about 85% of them couples be forced (just moving forward for entertainment purposes) anyway. Y'all could at least force some more sisters to move forward throughout the show," she added in a follow-up tweet.
—Lauren Speed (@Need4LSpeed) October 24, 2022
—Lauren Speed (@Need4LSpeed) October 24, 2022
Asked to reflect on Lauren's criticism of Netflix's quality of representation for Black contestants, Nick, who hosted Netflix's latest dating show "Perfect Match" solo, said: "How people match up and who ends up being attracted to who and how people end up pairing up is, is a little bit outta everyone's hands. And so it's, it's tough for me to criticize how that plays itself out."
He noted that "Perfect Match" was cast with diversity in mind but said that "there can always be attempts to make more of an effort for that."
Nick said that while he just hosts the shows and has nothing to do with casting, he believes diversity of all kinds "should be an agenda for all of us in everything we do, including the shows that I'm a part of at Netflix. And I know it is."
"Perfect Match" is available to stream now on Netflix.