'Love is Blind': Nick and Vanessa Lachey Have Got To Go...And I Know Just Who Should Replace Them

Numerous Netflix reality shows have been plagued by the presence of passionless hosts Nick and Vanessa Lachey since Season 1 of Love is Blind aired in 2020. From their first episode, viewers have complained that they’re not the right fit. Count me among them; quite literally, anyone or anything could host Love is Blind, The Ultimatum, and Perfect Match better. Jessica Simpson, my dad, or a nice potted plant would all be massive improvements. The virtual assistant that hosts Too Hot To Handle runs circles around the human hosts of Love is Blind. Could we get that thing in there instead? A change.org petition to remove Nick and Vanessa Lachey as the hosts of Love is Blind has more than 48,000 signatures and counting. It’s time for Nick and Vanessa to retire from their lackluster hosting duties and pass the torch to a far more qualified couple.

On Temptation Island, Mark L. Walberg offers sincere guidance and comfort to the cast. On Drag Race, RuPaul brings hilarious one-liners, stunning looks, and sharp commentary to every episode. Love Island is made better by Ariana Madix, who is wholeheartedly invested and a clear superfan of the show. Jesse Palmer anchors The Bachelor with a charming onscreen presence, a long resume as a host, and, perhaps most importantly, his prior experience competing on the show. Nick and Vanessa Lachey, well, they show up sometimes.

Both are abysmal at hosting in their own unique ways. Vanessa enters each season with an unearned familiarity, while Nick is robotic. As hard as I’ve searched, I just can’t seem to find anything behind his eyes. In each of the rare moments they appear on screen, I feel acutely aware of the script off of which they are reading. Their participation in each of the show’s eight seasons follows a similar formula. In the premiere episode, they welcome the new cast into their living quarters, recap the concept, and then pack it up and head out. Around mid-season, they typically show up briefly, often for wedding dress and tuxedo fittings. In one season, Vanessa shows up to watch the women choose their dresses, tells them she’s there for them and wouldn’t want to be anywhere else, and promptly exits. We don’t hear from them again until the reunions.

Nick and Vanessa Know How to Ruin a Reunion

At reunions, Nick and Vanessa’s inability to host takes center stage season after season. For starters, having spent so little time with the cast throughout the season, the hosts seem not to know the cast members any better than viewers do. They have bizarre biases towards some cast members and fail to hold others accountable. For instance, in the show’s fourth season, Marshall and Jackie had a turbulent relationship; Jackie’s gender-normative ideas about men who are in touch with their emotions came between the couple and they broke up. Texts surfaced in which Jackie shared homophobic sentiments about Marshall, but when the reunion came around, it was Marshall who faced scrutiny from the hosts and Jackie got off scot-free.

The Lacheys almost never ask the questions we all want answers to. Nick sort of just sits there, and Vanessa routinely steers the reunions away from the topics viewers wish to see covered. She regularly throws softballs, asks leading questions, interjects with her own thoughts, or moves on before a conversation reaches its natural conclusion. Count on them to cut drama off at its knees almost every time.

At this season’s reunion, two men teamed up to attack the apex of their love triangle, Madison, who may have had her problems but was undeserving of the beatdown she received. Madison attempts to remain diplomatic in her responses as the two of them sit across from her, taking turns tossing jabs at her. The exchange drags on without moderation until it’s cut off abruptly by Vanessa without any resolution or a single follow-up question. The show and many of its cast members suffer at the hands of the ill-equipped Lacheys.

Who Should Replace the Lacheys as Hosts?

It’s time for Love is Blind to find someone better suited, and I believe Netflix has the perfect candidates right in front of them: the fan favorite of Love is Blind Season 6, AD Smith, and her fiance, Ollie Southerland of Love is Blind UK. AD and Ollie met on Perfect Match, which is set to air later this year. The reunion of Love is Blind Season 8 ended with a promotional video in which the couple announced they would both be on the upcoming third season of Perfect Match, but the clip didn’t end there; Ollie proposed! This was by far the best moment of a monotonous season of Love is Blind, which speaks to the pair’s star power. On a season in which neither of them participated, they stole the show.

AD and Ollie are a perfect fit for hosting Love Is Blind. Later in the reunion, AD announced her new podcast, What’s the Reality, a show that frequently features interviews with cast members of Love is Blind. On her podcast, AD proves she is adept at hosting. We already know AD to be witty and warm, but here, she shows that she knows what questions to ask and how to get the answers. She creates a welcoming environment that encourages guests to open up, has candid conversations about race we never see covered by current hosts, and knows how to get to the bottom of the show’s drama. I learned more about how Lauren’s tumultuous relationship with Dave unfolded in half an hour of What’s the Reality than I did in the entirety of Love is Blind’s eighth season. AD is perceptive, subtle, and likable. She knows how to hold people accountable and would push the reunions where we want them to go.

These two seem like an obvious answer to fans’ frustrations with Nick and Vanessa as hosts. Both endlessly charming, they would bring an energy to the show that is, as of now, notably absent. And unlike the Lacheys — both of them have been through the process. They know what it’s like to date in the pods, and while neither of them got married to their respective partners, it could benefit the show for their hosts to bring in the lessons they learned from their breakups. As a strong couple, they will also have insights to offer future casts about being in a relationship born on reality television. It’s time to update that change.org petition: remove Nick and Vanessa Lachey as hosts and bring in AD and Ollie!

Love Is Blind is streaming on Netflix in the U.S.