“Love Is Blind” star Nick Thompson is at risk of losing his home after struggling to find work following his appearance on the Netflix reality show.
Thompson, 38, said in a new interview that he was paid just $10,000 for 10 weeks of filming and has not received any residuals.
“When you think about the amount of money that’s being made, and the way that it’s the path for future seasons, and the fact that anyone can go on and watch me … and I’m going to be homeless,” he told the Daily Mail Tuesday, claiming he received only $7.14 an hour while being “treated like a prisoner.”
The minimum wage in Illinois, where Thompson’s season was filmed, was $12 in 2022, the year it aired.
“I lost my job last November. I’m having an incredibly hard time finding [a new] one,” he went on.
“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.”
The reality TV star-turned-mental health advocate said he worked as “a VP in software for five years.”
“It’s not like I don’t have track record of experience or success,” he noted.
Thompson went on to claim his life had been ruined by the show, which he said “exploited” him and his co-stars.
“You are filming 18 to 20 hours a day,” he alleged. “And that doesn’t that necessarily mean that you’re always going to be on TV, but you’re miked up from the moment you get there in the morning, and you’re miked up all the way until you leave.
“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.
“You literally are held captive like a prisoner, and there is absolutely no reason that you shouldn’t be considered an employee when you’re technically under the control of your employer for 24 hours a day.”
After his stint on the small screen, Thompson helped launch the Unscripted Cast Advocacy Network (UCAN), which aims to provide mental health and legal services to past, present and future reality TV stars.
“We were manipulated; our triggers were utilized against us,” he said of his time filming “Love Is Blind,” further alleging that he was contractually obligated to fork out $50,000 in damages if he left the dating experiment early.
“Anything that we shared with a producer or with a psych exam was weaponized against us,” he claimed.
Pvnew has reached out to Netflix for comment.
While he did find love with fellow contestant Danielle Ruhl on the show, the pair called it quits in August 2022 after one year of marriage.
“I know a lot of people are wondering why we ended our relationship,” Ruhl, 28, said on her Instagram Story last October.
“It really did come to just personality compatibility differences,” she clarified.
Thompson and Ruhl were the last-standing couple from the Netflix dating series’ second season.
