'Love is Blind' Producer Sued Over Alleged Sexual Assault 'Likely' on Video

The producers of Netflix's hit dating series Love Is Blind are facing a lawsuit for sexual assault, false imprisonment, and negligence. Tran Dang, who participated in the show's fifth season but was not featured in the episodes, filed a lawsuit in Harris County District Court on Aug. 16, 2022, against the Netflix show's production team, Kinetic Content and Delirium TV, alleging she was sexually assaulted on set by her former fiancé Thomas Smith but producers did nothing to stop it.

In the lawsuit, filed by Houston law firm Wallace & Allen LLP, Dang alleges the assault occurred in Mexico on or around May 3, 2022, while the show was filming its fifth season. The lawsuit claims Smith "incessantly groped" Dang, "exposed himself in the nude," and forcibly and repeatedly made sexual contact" without her consent. The filing adds that "due to Delirium TV and Kinetic Content's 24-hour surveillance of Plaintiff and Defendant Smith, most if not all of these traumatic acts were filmed by the production crew and within their knowledge."

Despite this, the suit says Dang "was baffled that no one had intervened to stop the harassment," and when she reached out to a Love Is Blind assistant producer, the crew member left her with the impression "that she was at fault for what had happened with Thomas Smith by not communicating effectively or somehow not taking the 'relationship' seriously." Additionally, "Delirium TV and Kinetic Content producers made attempts to mask Plaintiff's sexual assault by characterizing it as a lack of attraction on part of the Plaintiff," the suit claims.

The lawsuit, in which Dang also claims that she was "falsely imprisoned" while filming, alleges that the production companies are liable for Smith's actions since they occurred during filming, or at their "workplace," and as a contestant, he was an "employee." Dang, who left Love Is Blind Season 5 during filming, is seeking "significant damages due to Defendants' criminal, tortious, and outrageous conduct."

Responding to the lawsuit, Kinetic Content and Delirium TV called Dang's allegations "meritless." In a joint statement obtained by Deadline, the two companies noted that they "document the independent choices of adults who volunteer to participate in a social experiment. Their journey is not scripted, nor is it filmed around the clock." They added that they "have no knowledge or control over what occurs in private living spaces when not filming, and participants may choose to end their journey at any time" and they "take any and all concerns of our participants seriously and prioritize their well-being." The companies said Dang "never informed the producers of any alleged wrongdoing of any kind. Nor did she choose to end her participation in the experiment. Instead, Ms. Dang continued in the experiment for weeks after the time her lawyers now claim an incident occurred. We deny and will vigorously defend the allegations against us."

In his own statement, Kinetic CEO Chris Coelen, creator of the show, said, per PEOPLE, Dang "did not make any kind of claim of assault of any kind. We would not continue filming with someone who was expressing that an incident of that sort had happened." Meanwhile, Dang's lawyer said, "we are confident that Ms. Dang's position will be vindicated once we get there and are committed to seeing it through all of the way," he added. "We have to hold the show producers accountable. We have an ethical duty to our client to do so, but also feel a moral obligation to the next generation of reality show participants."