Are the Love is Blind: Denver Contestants Actually From Colorado?

The cast of the first Denver-based season of Love is Blind is out, and something is a little…off.

The 32 people hoping to find true love via a Netflix reality show include a self-admitted booger eater and a guy who drinks blended chicken breasts for breakfast — but many of the stereotypical Denver characters are missing. Where are the mountain men and granola girls? The aspiring musicians and rave babes? The borderline-homeless, couch-surfing snowboarders?

As it turns out, few of the so-called “Denver singles” are actually from Denver, or even Colorado.

Of the 32 contestants, 22 are transplants, according to their social media accounts, Love is Blind profiles and public records. Most moved to Colorado as adults, and a few have already moved out of the state since the show wrapped filming.

Their hometowns span fifteen U.S. states and five different counties, from as far as India and Russia to as near as Nebraska and Iowa.

Only ten of the cast members appear to be Colorado natives, and only two of them are men: Anastasia Lubline, Aza Weyer, Kacie McIntosh, Madison Maidenberg, Megan Walerius, Anna Yuan, Annie Lancaster, Jordan Keltner, Kaylen Johnson and Patrick Suzuki. The former five seem to originate from the Denver metro area; the others’ hometowns include Colorado Springs, Fort Collins, Kiowa and Pueblo.

It’s notable that transplants outnumber natives on the show, as some experts blame Denver’s reputation as a transitional city for the dismal state of the local dating scene.

In a Westword cover story published in the summer of 2024, Colorado matchmakers said the city can be a difficult place to find serious relationships because people move here to have fun and enjoy the outdoors, before inevitably moving somewhere else to meet a partner and plant roots.

At least three of the Love is Blind contestants had already fled the state before the show is slated to start airing. According to their social media accounts, Chase Navarro moved to Los Angeles in December, Michael Neal now lives in San Francisco, and Colorado native Kaylen Johnson relocated to Chicago in January. A fourth cast member, Nick Amato, only lives in the state part-time, splitting between Breckenridge and Summit, New Jersey.

That doesn’t bode very well for the fate of the show’s couples.

Love is Blind works like this: romantic hopefuls date one another through a wall, only meeting face-to-face after they get engaged. The bizarre setup is meant to foster deep emotional connections outside of surface-level attraction. The pairs then have around a month to honeymoon, live together, and decide if they will say “I do” or “I don’t” at the altar.

The upcoming season is the ninth in five years; the previous seasons were set in Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Seattle, Houston, Charlotte, D.C. and, most recently, Minneapolis.

It’s not the first reality dating show to film in the Mile High City. The similarly premised Married at First Sight aired its Denver-based season last year. It turned out to be the show’s least successful season ever. For the first time, none of the marriages lasted until the reunion episodes; a contestant was left at the altar, and one couple divorced in a near-record thirteen days.

Let’s hope things go better this time around. Or worse, for our viewing pleasure.

Love is Blind: Denver premieres on Wednesday, October 1, on Netflix.