- By Tom Gerken
- Technology reporter
The cast of Love is Blind, season four
Netflix has apologised after the “live” Love is Blind reunion was delayed and pre-recorded, with UK viewers still waiting to see it.
The dating show, which sees couples get engaged before they meet, was due to stream live globally at 01:00 BST on 17 April.
After delays lasting 90 minutes, the livestream was cancelled and the reunion was filmed instead.
Netflix said the reunion special will be available globally at 18:00 BST.
There are no spoilers for the Love is Blind reunion in this article.
This was Netflix’s second attempt at live programming, after it successfully streamed a Chris Rock stand-up special in March this year.
The comic’s routine aired mostly without fault, with only a few users reporting problems via social media at the time, but technical errors meant the Love is Blind livestream never started at all for most people.
While some viewers in the US were able to watch the stream about 75 minutes after its scheduled start time, most were met with a screen reading “there’s an issue with the livestream”.
Netflix announced delays as time progressed and by 02:30 BST – 90 minutes after it was due to begin – the streaming giant apologised and told fans it was filming the episode instead.
“To everyone who stayed up late, woke up early, gave up their Sunday afternoon… we are incredibly sorry that the Love is Blind Live Reunion did not turn out as we had planned,” Netflix tweeted in a statement.
“We’re filming it now and we’ll have it on Netflix as soon as humanly possible. Again, thank you and sorry.”
Netflix did not give a reason for cancelling the livestream, but show host Vanessa Lachey indicated it was a technical error in a live video on Instagram, captioned: “Apparently we broke the internet.”
And Downdetector, which tracks websites, showed more than 10,000 people in the US reported the website was not functioning during the stream.
But the decision to delay the reunion caused consternation, with fans in the UK who chose sleep over the livestream waking up to find out the episode was not available.
Some called the delay in putting the episode online unacceptable, with others pointing out that it meant the spoilers were now being spread across social media.
And some global viewers have even claimed they are no longer interested in watching the show at all.
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