Labor Board says "Love is Blind" contestants are employees in reality TV bombshell

Driving the news: The complaint alleges that the production companies behind the show — Delirium TV and Kinetic Content — had violated multiple labor laws.

• These violations allegedly included "intentionally unlawfully misclassifying its Love is Blind cast members as non-employee 'participants'" and thereby preventing them engaging in collective bargaining and other actions.
• The NLRB also accused the companies of having contestants sign contracts with "unlawful non-compete, confidentiality, and stay-or-pay provisions."

State of play: As remedy, the NLRB general counsel is seeking an order reclassifying the show's participants as employees.

• The complaint was filed from the NLRB's regional office in Minnesota. Unless a settlement is reached first, a hearing on the complaint will take place on April 22 in Milwaukee.
• A lawyer representing the producers did not immediately responded to Axios' requests for comment. Netflix — which streams the show but is not named in the complaint — declined to comment.

Zoom out: Multiple former "Love is Blind" contestants have come forward with complaints regarding their experiences on the show.

• Former contestant Renee Poche filed a lawsuit against Netflix and Delirium TV in January, claiming she "didn't feel safe" during her time on the show.
• Another former contestant, Nick Thompson, has been open about his criticisms of the show.
• "Reality TV has escaped labor laws," Thompson said on his podcast last year, the New York Times reported. "Reality TV has escaped any kind of regulation."

Go deeper: How the "Love Is Blind" experiment has worked in each city so far