Why Netflix’s biggest reality shows including Love is Blind and Selling Sunset could be canceled

Netflix’s most popular reality shows like Selling Sunset and Love Is Blind could be in jeopardy as the streamer shifts away from unscripted content.

According to Deadline, Netflix just ousted their Director of Unscripted Originals Damla Dogan, along with Todd Hurvitz, who was the Director of Non-Fiction.

Their exits come just months after Netflix brought in NBCUniversal chief Jeff Gaspin as their new VP of Unscripted.

Gaspin came in with a mission to steer Netflix towards ‘bigger formats’ more in line with the family-friendly fare on mainstream broadcast networks, like The Voice, rather than catty ‘cable reality’ shows like the Real Housewives franchise.

‘The difference from the past is we want to focus on bigger formats, more of what you would call broadcast-style shows versus the cable style shows,’ he previously explained to Deadline.

Netflix’s most popular reality shows like Selling Sunset and Love Is Blind (pictured) could be in jeopardy moving forward as the streamer shifts away from unscripted content

Netflix is moving towards ‘bigger formats’ more in line with the family-friendly fare on mainstream broadcast networks

‘I’ve done both in my career from running NBC to running Bravo, so I’m familiar with both and I really do understand the difference,’ he added.

‘What’s happened with a platform like Netflix is we get a circulation that that allows for hits to be true global hits, not just hits relative to our other shows.’ 

The streamer has already filmed the star-studded competition series Building the Band, which sees a group of celebrity judges assembling a new musical group from a pool of 50 talented singers.

‘Some of the things we are going to do are definitely a little more broadcast replacement, Building The Band being one of those shows. There hasn’t been a new US-based boy band in a while,’ he explained.

Netflix’s new strategy could spell doom for cable style reality shows like Love Is Blind, Too Hot To Handle, and Selling Sunset, despite their consistently solid ratings. 

Season 7 of Love Is Blind recently hit No. 3 on the Nielsen Streaming Top 10 chart, with over 1.1 billion minutes watched in its first week. 

Season 6 brought in even bigger numbers, reaching No. 1 on the chart with over two billion minutes watched.

Despite being one of Netflix’s biggest reality TV hits, the Selling Sunset franchise could be in trouble due to the streamer’s new content strategy

Selling Sunset is a similar success, having charted in Nielsen’s top 10 for most of its eight seasons.

It was Emmy nominated in the Outstanding Unstructured Reality Program category in 2021, 2022, and 2023, while Love Is Blind has picked up six nominations over the years.

An Orange County-based spin-off called Selling The OC has also been huge for Netflix, briefly becoming Netflix’s No. 1 unscripted series globally in May. 

The news comes after Selling Sunset’s season 8 reunion was canceled amid ongoing cast drama. 

Ahead of the season’s premiere, Chrishell Stause announced on social media that she would never work with co-star Nicole Young again, citing their feud.

The drama continued with Chelsea Lazkani and Bre Tiesi feuding over claims that Tiesi uncovered allegations of infidelity involving Chelsea’s husband, Jeff Lazkani, raising questions about how the information was shared. 

Stause also accused the production team of ‘blindsiding’ Emma Hernan with Young’s affair allegations and not allowing Hernan to defend herself on camera.