LOVE is Blind star Catherine Richards has opened up about the extent to which producers actually interfere with the cast's relationships.
When the UK version of Love is Blind was aired, many viewers quickly denounced Catherine as the "real villain" of the Netflix series.
Some fans of the reality show found her generally snappy and rude towards Freddie, her fiance.
But the cherry on top came during a mixer when the existing couples met the singletons who didn't get engaged during the experiment.
After spotting Sam, who was previously interested in Nicole, Catherine remarked several times that he looked exactly like her ex.
Freddie seemed visibly unhappy with the comparison, and got even more upset when he saw Catherine chatting away to Sam only moments later.
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Audiences at home became irate when Catherine appeared to be flirting with Sam by complimenting him on a special bracelet he gave to a woman in the pods.
They took to social media to slam her for the interaction, with one person branding her "insane" for the chat, and another calling for her to "get clocked".
However, Catherine has now revealed that show bosses were the ones who orchestrated her conversation with Sam.
In an exclusive chat with the Sun, she shared: "The producers told me to talk to Sam.
"I didn't just go up there. The producers told me to talk to him because no one was talking to him.
"And then they told me to ask about his bracelet.
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"I was so shocked that Sam generally looks like my ex, I probably went on about it too long.
"But I was not attracted to him, I wasn't flirting with him."
Viewers also thought Catherine was grafting Sam because she was shown asking for his phone number.
However, she has clarified that moment was down to editing.
She added: "I said to Sam, 'I have a friend that would be perfect for you. So when I'm in London give me a call.'
"I was actually hooking him up with my friend. Which Freddie knew about because he was there."
