Netflix apologizes as ‘Love Is Blind’ reunion show is delayed by glitch

In a tweet at 9:29 p.m. Eastern, Netflix apologized and said the show will not be be seen live, and instead it would be filmed and made available to stream later. Viewers appeared to be able to stream the recorded version later Sunday night.

“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. We’re filming it now and we’ll have it on Netflix as soon as humanly possible. Again, thank you and sorry,” Netflix said.

The popular reality dating series was set to air its Season 4 reunion show live for the first time. Netflix had previously experimented by streaming a live Chris Rock standup comedy special in March, which went off smoothly.

Netflix
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had heavily promoted the reunion episode, which was to cap a buzzy and drama-filled season. Among other things, the reunion show, hosted by Nick and Vanessa Lachey, was to reveal which couples are still together.

Live streaming has been a bit of a white whale for streaming services, whose networks were not built for live events, which can strain systems due to too many viewers logging on at once. But live capabilities are now being seen as necessary in today’s media landscape, from live sports (such as Amazon’s
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Prime Video and Apple TV+
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) to comedy specials and concerts, to, potentially, live fan voting for competition shows.

Fans, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, largely had fun with the delay on Twitter: