Reality TV contestants are employees, according to Labor Board

The National Labor Relations Board said this week that contestants on the show “Love Is Blind” are employees and should have the work protections that come with that classification. Once remedied, the case could become the basis for the improved working conditions that reality show stars have long awaited.

After the agency worked with two “Love Is Blind” stars who filed unfair labor practice charges in 2023, the NLRB regional office in Minnesota assigned to the case issued a filing Wednesday. It said the hit Netflix show’s production companies — Delirium TV and Kinetic Content — had misclassified contestants as “non-employee ‘participants’” and found that they had required cast mates to sign participant agreements to discourage them from participating in legally protected labor actions, such as unionizing. The production companies and their former employees must come to an agreement on remedies due to the unlawful portions of the contract or meet for a hearing before an NLRB judge on April 22.

Caption from original article by Samantha Chery.
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[patrickoriley]

Forming a union against corporations sounds like a great television show

[poutinemcflurry]

It would be so funny if the love is blind contestants who felt dissatisfied with their options formed a union for better ones halfway through the show

[boboloko]

"This could change everything." Exactly. Let's completely change reality TV.

[QuestioningYourSanity]

The whole can't talk bad about your employer thing is wild.

[carolyntalbot]

If contestants are spending their time and effort making money for a corporation, they should have fair working conditions like any other employee.

[zeusalternative]

Turns out love may be blind but justice is not.

[artemis]

How is that not considered a non-compete clause????

[fanime]

This makes me so happy. I stopped watching Love is Blind after I read an article about the horrible conditions the contestants were in. Hopefully this will lead to them actually being treated well and not manipulated into staying up and drinking alcohol.

[TheDisasterMaster]

Honestly a reality show where contestants unionize against the show would be the best reality show

[ThatOneIsSus]

This might re-light the Beast Games situation

[simianurchin]

Dropout and more specifically Game Changer is a good example of having employee contestants working surprisingly really well

[zebras]

The thing is, retail workers face drama, and reality TV contestants ARE drama.

[DaveJorgenson]

but Jeff, if you're watching this, I will gladly go on Survivor as a non-employee

[MM-jfme]

This is great! Congrats to the Love is Blind employees who fought for better working conditions!

[bearVshark]

Oh man, a union of reality show contestants. That could be a show by itself.

[gxzia]

It’s almost like the bombardment of low quality reality tv is preying on people with mental health issues and/or financial difficulties in order to make cheap content without the financial costs associated with unionized writing and performance/talent labor.

[Johnsorensen]

This is true on The Challenge except they don’t get sued they just get blacklisted. For example Zach Nichols spoke out against production and now he is blacklisted. This will likely be true of Jordan after this season.

[AustinThomasPhD]

I did not know JD Vance was on a reality show!

[agonistadenoche]

And that's why Total Drama is shot in Canada

[iam.damian]

I would love to be a fly on the wall at a reality TV contestants union meeting 😂😂😂