'Where are you on the baby timeline?' Why everyone is talking about Vanessa and Nick Lachey.

Nick and Vanessa Lachey, hosts of the Netlfix reality show Love is Blind are making headlines this week with fans calling the recent Season 4 reunion episode a 'disaster'.

Initially billed as a live show, things got off to a bad start when technical difficulties meant that the hotly anticipated episode aired 75 minutes later than planned.

It quickly went from bad to worse, with thousands of Tweets focussed on how awkward the hosts were, as well as bias that seemed to be there for certain contestants. 

1. This reunion was NOT worth the wait
2. Netflix you should be EMBARRASSED
3. Nick & Vanessa Lachey please let this be the last season you host b/c you both are terrible
4. How was Irina there but Jackie wasn’t?!
5. Bartise was not necessary#LOVEISBLINDreunion

— S_Flattery (@shablonde_) April 17, 2023

Netflix needs to swiftly fire Nick and Vanessa. They’re clearly biased and obvi watched a different show than the rest of us. Not them having beef with Marshall and Paul and not whackie Jackie & Micah. Make it make sense! #LOVEISBLINDreunion pic.twitter.com/cIubU15VJ4

— carl (@itscarlie_) April 17, 2023

Love is Blind follows a social experiment where single men and women look for love and get engaged, all before meeting in person. The fourth season premiered on March 24, 2023 and a fifth is already in the pipeline.

A petition to oust the pair as hosts, originally started five months ago by fan Libby Cross on Change.org, received renewed interest and well over 20,000 signatures in the last few days. Cross explains the many reasons she believes the Lacheys should be replaced.

"There was A LOT wrong with this season’s reunion, and almost all of it led back to hosts Nick and Vanessa Lachey," Cross wrote in an update on April,19.

"The entire show felt very forced, rehearsed and ungenuine regardless of any editing that they did. The hosts showed bias towards certain contestants which felt like an obvious manipulation of the viewer to dislike certain contestants." 

Watch: The trailer for Love Is Blind. Post continues below.

While technical difficulties, bias and awkward moments might be forgivable with live reality TV shows, something Cross and many other fans could not get over, was how Vanessa Lachey kept asking contestants about their plan to have children.

Sitting with married contestants Chelsea and Kwame Appiah, Tiffany and Brett Brown, and Bliss and Zack Goytowski, she asked, “I need to know, who’s going to give me our first Love Is Blind baby?”

“I don’t want to ask if you’re trying because that’s TMI. Obviously, you all are intimate.” 

Which aside from being insensitive, might be the most TMI statement ever spoken.

Besides the delay, the worst part of the Love Is Blind reunion was Vanessa Lachey pressuring all of the couples to have babies. Everyone knows to be delicate around motherhood & fertility issues except Vanessa Lachey on "LIVE" national TV apparently.

— Vanessa Santos (@Vanessasantosxo) April 17, 2023

Seemingly undeterred, Lachey continued with her personal line of questioning. 

“We’ll start with Brett and Tiffany. What are you all thinking on the baby timeline?”

To which Brett replied: “I was just about to make a joke, like Jesus, ya’ll really put the baby pressure… My god.” 

Chelsea also looked like she had to say something while under similar pressure from Lachey stating that while she’s aware her “biological clock” is ticking, she’s chosen to “step back,” and enjoy married life.

While Lachey was overly keen for Love is Blind babies, it made for uncomfortable television and upset viewers.

"The final straw for me was Vanessa pressing the female contestants about when they were going to have kids," Cross wrote in an update on her petition.

"Fertility is a tough subject for many women and to be forced to answer those questions on national television was cringey and wrong."

While many felt similarly to Cross on Twitter, others were quick to defend Vanessa and Nick who share three young kids and have hosted Love is Blind since Season 1.

One more thing. The attacks on the @VanessaLachey & @NickLachey and their character is so fucked up. Y’all are bullying people YOU DONT EVEN KNOW. Talk about calling the kettle black. #LoveisBlind4 #LOVEISBLINDreunion

— Jenna Brannigan (@jenna_brannigan) April 20, 2023

Vanessa Lachey posted a photo on her own Instagram to remind those trolling them that "words have weight" and "mental health should always be treated with respect".

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Vanessa Lachey (@vanessalachey)

Prior to becoming co-hosts of Love Is Blind, the married couple were known for their long marriage and careers in the entertainment industry and for their three cute kids; sons Camden (10) and Phoenix (6) and daughter Brooklyn (8).

Nick who turns 50 later this year, was part of '90s boy band 98 degrees until he began his career as a solo artist alongside hosting a variety of TV shows and even winning the fifth season of The Masked Singer in the US. 

He famously married Jessica Simpson in 2002 but divorced three years later and not before a memorable reality captured their life as 'Newlyweds'.

Actor, model and TV host Vanessa Minnillo, 42, met Lachey when she starred in the video for his hit single 'What's Left of Me' and they wed in 2011. Together now for over 15 years, the long-married pair are a rarity in Hollywood.

The couple in 2011. Image: Getty.

"It's like dog years," Vanessa said in a previous interview.

"In, like, celebrity years, we've been together for, like, a thousand, right?"

The pair, who share the same birthday but seven years apart, credit compromise and communication for their successful partnership although it hasn't always been perfect and they admit they see a couple's therapist.

"I have to work at how I communicate with him," Vanessa said. 

"He has to work at understanding me and how I've changed and evolved. And we have to work at putting each other first, and as our therapist says, turning towards each other, not just physically, but emotionally."

"Yeah, I think, like, anything that's meaningful in your life, it's worth working at and working for," Nick added.

The co-hosting gig for Love is Blind is the first time they have worked together professionally and Vanessa says there was no hesitation in wanting the job.

"They made literally our dreams come true in terms of being able to work together, being able to spend time together, making our marriage stronger ultimately in the end," Vanessa told CBS.

We'll have to watch this space to see if the couple continue on as hosts for Love is Blind in Season 5.

Laura Jackel is Mamamia's Family Writer. For links to her articles and to see photos of her outfits and kids, follow her on Instagram and TikTok.

Feature Image: Getty.

Do you struggle with skincare concerns like dry skin, acne, or fine lines? Complete this survey now to go in the running to win a $50 gift voucher!