The reality TV star is slamming Netflix in a new interview.
Love Is Blind alum Nick Thompson is slamming the reality dating series, as well as Netflix, for what he feels are exploitative business practices.
The reality star -- who appeared on the second season of the hit dating series -- recently revealed that he is on the brink of homelessness, and lays the blame, at least in part, on his involvement with the show in 2021.
"I lost my job last November [and] I'm having an incredibly hard time finding [a new] one," Thompson recently told The Daily Mail.
"I burned through my savings that cashed out my 401(k). I've got two months left in the bank to pay my mortgage. I can't get a job because people don't take me seriously," he added. "I was a VP in software for five years, so it's not like I don't have a track record of experience or success."
According to Thompson, he was paid $10,000 for 10 weeks worth of work, and Netflix made no consideration for residuals when it came to their contract with him. Which is something Thompson says he doesn't understand or think is right "when you think about the amount of money that's being made... and the fact that anyone can go on and watch me [and yet] I'm going to be homeless."
Thompson claims that, when the figures are broken down and hours of work are factored in, he was paid approximately $7.14 per hour -- less than the federal minimum wage. Additionally, he slammed the production for how he felt they treated the cast.
"You are filming 18 to 20 hours a day... And that doesn't that necessarily mean that you're always going to be on TV, but you're mic'd up from the moment you get there in the morning, and you're mic'd up all the way until you leave," Thompson said. "Then when you go home at the end of the day, you're locked in your hotel room without a key without your wallet without money without identification."
The reality star compared the treatment of the cast to being "held captive like a prisoner" and blames Netflix for not considering and treating the casts of their reality TV shows like employees.
Thompson went on to say that he feels that being a part of Love Is Blind has "ruined [his] life completely," and he wishes he "could just go back to having a nice life that I had built for myself, instead of wondering whether my mortgage is gonna get paid."
Thompson, who appeared on season 2 of Love Is Blind and married co-star Danielle Ruhl, took to Instagram in April to announce he is a co-founding board member and executive director of outreach for the UCAN Foundation, which aims to "provide mental health and legal support to past, current, and future reality TV contestants."
Thompson explained in a lengthy caption that, "no," he and his fellow reality TV stars didn't sign up to be food and water-deprived, allegations made by several of his co-stars, including his ex.
"I signed up for a 'psychologically-based' love experiment sold as 'different from other reality shows,'" he wrote in his caption. "Love is Blind S1 made a believer out of me, and I thought the experience could work for me if I went with good intentions and stayed true to myself."
Thompson went on to say that the "vetting" process "included psych tests and evaluations, background checks, and assurances the cast members selected is 'ready for marriage.'" He also claimed being told that the psychologist that conducted his evaluation spoke to his therapist to verify the ethics and conditions of the show out of concern it would diminish his progress. He claimed none of that was true.
"I lost 15 pounds in the three weeks in the Pods and Mexico from limited access to food and water," he continued to claim in the caption. "Aside from the 'psyche evaluation,' there was no mental health support before, during, or after."
He claimed that, in Mexico, producers "withheld" from him that his partner, Ruhl, "experienced a panic attack and sent me into the hotel room to film anyway."
He said that unless one's experienced reality TV firsthand, "you have no idea what you're signing up for." He added, "I did not sign up for this."
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