“Love Is Blind” creator Chris Coelen is addressing a contestant suing the fact dating show’s production company over claims of assault, false imprisonment and negligence.
Tran Dang, a contestant who filmed for Season 5 of the show but didn’t appear within the episodes, is suing Kinetic Content, claiming that the production company did nothing to stop her from being sexually assaulted on set by her former fiancé, People reported Friday.
In accordance with the grievance obtained by the outlet, Dang also claims she was falsely imprisoned while filming and producers acted with negligence.
Coelen reportedly says while he supports people coming forward about sexual assault, he insists production was “never told that she felt unsafe or experienced any of the allegations that she made.”
“If anybody ever got here to us and said they felt unsafe in any way, we might immediately remove them from the experiment and talk over with them, and take a look at to resolve it,” Coelen told People.
“Unfortunately, on this case, that type of sentiment was never addressed to us in any way, nor was any alleged wrongdoing delivered to our attention ever.”
Coelen added that Dang’s false imprisonment claims are “preposterous” as forged members are all the time welcome to depart the show, as modeled by previous contestants in recent seasons.
Kinetic Content, LLC and Delirium TV, LLC echoed that concept in a joint statement to The Post.
“We support and stand with victims of sexual assault, but Ms. Dang’s claims against the producers are meritless. We document the independent selections of adults who volunteer to take part in a social experiment. Their journey is just not scripted, neither is it filmed across the clock. We have now no knowledge or control over what occurs in private living spaces when not filming, and participants may decide to end their journey at any time,” their statement reads.
“We take any and all concerns of our participants seriously and prioritize their well-being. Obviously, we cannot address undisclosed concerns, and throughout the time that Ms. Dang was involved within the production of ‘Love Is Blind,’ she never informed the producers of any alleged wrongdoing of any kind. Nor did she decide to end her participation within the experiment.”
It concludes, that “As a substitute, Ms. Dang continued within the experiment for weeks after the time her lawyers now claim an incident occurred. We deny and can vigorously defend the allegations against us.”
The Post has contacted Coelen and Kinetic Content for comment.
Dang’s lawsuit claims that she was “aggressively recruited” by Kinetic Content to take part in the series where the forged was “intentionally sequestered for 2 weeks” within the pods, without their cell phones, passports, wallets or communicative devices.
Her filing claims Dang needed permission to do “virtually anything, including use the restroom,” and was prohibited from leaving her hotel room without express permission and kept under 24-hour surveillance.”
“Over multiple days of filming in multiple venues, including Houston, [Kinetic Content and Delirium TV] provided the forged members with alcohol—but limited food,” the lawsuit reads. “This mixture was designed to encourage them to have interaction in striking conversations and actions that may increase viewer rankings. While on set, for as much as 18 hours per day, [Kinetic Content and Delirium TV] required Ms. Dang to request permission to do virtually anything, including use the restroom. She was prohibited from leaving her hotel room without express permission and kept under 24-hour surveillance.”
Coelen nevertheless maintains that the allegations are without merit.
“Those allegations are 100% false and defamatory. It’s not true in any way … we don’t push alcohol. Everyone has consistent and regular access to food and water,” he says. “Within the pods, they’re on a 68,000-square-foot sound stage, where it’s dark, there’s a variety of people, there’s a variety of equipment, and even for me, it’s very confusing to get around from place to position,” he explains. “Due to that, and since we would like to guard the integrity of the experiment, we are not looking for them wandering around by themselves, and wandering over into [the other sex’s] living quarters, because sometimes individuals are tempted to do this — we would like to avoid that.”
“So in the event that they have to go to the lavatory, they tell us and we now have someone escort them to the lavatory,” he adds. “That’s how it really works within the pods. After they are out of the pods, they’ll go to the lavatory every time they need.”
Nonetheless, as Dang’s attorney Benjamin W. Allen argued to People, “The producers are throwing money at the issue by spending an inordinate sum of money on losing legal positions that do nothing but delay the parties from having their day in Court. They lost on three distinct legal issues before the trial court after which filed three separate appeals to multiply the proceedings we now have to wade through before finally trying this case.”
He continued: “But we’re confident that Ms. Dang’s position can be vindicated once we get there and are committed to seeing it through all of the best way. We have now to carry the show producers accountable. We have now an ethical duty to our client to accomplish that, but additionally feel an ethical obligation to the following generation of reality show participants.”
The Post has contacted Coelen and Allen for comment.
Season 5 of “Love Is Blind” is now streaming on Netflix.