Those who know how reality TV works may take issue with Chris Coelen viewing “Love Is Blind” as a documentary. "We just want to know what's the truth, what's happening,” the creator of the unscripted romance hit told Salon on Thursday, “And so then you try to fill in the gaps.”

Coelen is referring to developments the audience witnessed during its recently completed and Washington, D.C.-set seventh season, and more specifically, the decision of two couples to have sensitive conversations off-camera, one of which was a soft preview to the end of their relationship.

Wednesday’s reunion episode caught up with the participants one year after their tumble through “the experiment,” as the show’s producers along with hosts Vanessa and Nick Lachey refer to its matchmaking premise. During the 88-minute spectacle, exes Timothee Godbee and Alexandra Byrd explained why everything seemed fine in one scene and the next found them on the verge of a breakup. Eventually, they did call the whole thing off, seemingly out of nowhere.

“I love that they ultimately did that on the reunion,” Coelen said, “But I think it was to their detriment that they didn't do it during the experiment itself.”

“I'm all for being really transparent and open about whatever people are talking about,” Coelen added, pointing to the couple‘s explanation from “slightly different perspectives.” Godbee voiced his concerns about how he might come across to the audience, while Byrd said she was trying to protect him and his image from the production.

To Coelen, participants who hide things during the process of “Love Is Blind” are only damaging their own relationships. “It just creates a negativity. And the people who are much more open about, ‘Hey, I’ve got an issue, “Hey, I'm feeling a certain way’ . . . ultimately, whether they work out or not, benefit from that.”

“We're not filming with them 24/7. We only know what they tell us,” he added. “And I know sometimes that's frustrating for a viewer like, why weren't they there? Because we're not ‘Big Brother.’ We aren't there all the time.”

It’s worth noting that Coelen offered this perspective unasked, and as a tangent to a conversation about the relationship “Love Is Blind” participants have to broader social and political conversations simmering throughout American culture.

Understandable. In the aftermath of the show's tea-spilling reunions, which take place a year after the action is filmed, its fandom takes to the Internet to speculate on pillory participants who may not have received the glowiest edits. (There's also the matter of published reports in The New Yorker and Business Insider detailing past contestants' claims, some of which are related to ongoing lawsuits, that producers engineer the action to create a toxic environment. Coelen's production company Kinetic Content has steadfastly denied those allegations.)

But the season’s larger tensions had nothing to do with dating across party lines or who someone voted for. Whether a couple lasted or didn’t ultimately came down to how openly they communicated. In the end, two Season 7 couples made it to the altar and are still together.

With Coelen looking ahead to the Valentine's Day 2025 premiere of the Minneapolis season, currently in post-production, we spoke to him about the topics that entered the seventh season chat, what the series tells us about dating, and what to expect next.

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The following interview transcript has been edited for length and clarity.

I’ve seen every season of “Love Is Blind,” and I don't recall if any participant in a previous season........

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