Now that the second series of Netflix’s popular dating show Love Is Blind has hit our screens, we remember why we were so obsessed the first time round. But the more we watch, the more questions we have. Here are 10 things you probably didn’t already know about it. 1. The pods are completely soundproof Although the producers originally planned for the pods to be soundproof on just a few sides while allowing sound to pass through the lit-up wall, they found that sound still bled from one pod to another. To create total privacy for the contestants, they chose to make the entire pod soundproof and had the contestants communicate through speakers instead. “We basically had a small speaker in the front wall and you would hear the other person who was in the other pod,” co-creator and executive producer Chris Coelen told Variety in 2020. “There’s no producers in there, there’s nobody else. It’s just you and the other person. That’s it.” What’s going on with Melania Trump? Her controversial 2022 so far 2. The contestants plan their dates, not the producers According to Coelen, contestants had much more input when it came to their relationships than other, more overproduced reality dating shows. He said he wanted to give contestants the chance to control their experiences within the rules of the pods. “[Contestants would] say, ‘I’d love to have a dinner of lasagna with this person’. So, we’d get them some lasagna!” Coelen told Oprah magazine in 2020. “They could do whatever they wanted, other than to touch each other or see each other … We wanted them to make the decisions and them to control their destiny” Contestants weren’t given cue cards or specific talking points, either. As Coelen told Variety , “They were never interrupted in terms of like a producer saying, ‘Hey, talk about this, talk about that,’ they just did what they wanted to do.” Who is Anna Delvey, the fake heiress in Netflix’s Inventing Anna? 3. But producers do help with the logistics of who meets who The premise of Love Is Blind is of course that contestants cannot see each other, meaning they can’t communicate outside the pod. So how did contestants end up in a pod with the person they’d like to see? Producers helped arrange dates. “They got to pick the people they wanted to keep talking to, and vice versa. Assuming that person wanted to spend more time with them, we’d make sure they got to meet in the pods,” Coelen told Oprah magazine in that same interview. 4. The season one cast originally consisted of 40 to 50 people The original Love Is Blind cast started with around 40 to 50 contestants, Coelen told E! News in 2020. Over the 10-day period spent in the pods, several contestants were sent home, narrowing the pool down to about 20 to 25 individuals. “It became evident as the process went on, from that big group of people, that there were some people that more people were gravitating towards than others,” Coelen told E! News . “There was a certain point where we did a whittling down of people just to focus internally on the people who were really connecting, to allow them more time.” Meet Michael Jackson’s secret half-sister, Joh’Vonnie 5. The dates started off short but grew into hours-long conversations The editing of Love Is Blind makes it hard to establish how long the dates in the pods actually are. However, Coelen confirmed that the lengths of the dates varied based on how far into the process the contestants were. He explained to Entertainment Weekly in 2020, “They would [talk to] each other multiple times every day … so in the beginning, just because there were so many people we had to cycle through, they’d be short, like seven to 10 minutes. Then, as time went along, they’d be spending hours together, multiple times a day.” 6. Contestants could request special activities to do with dates in the pods, as long as they followed two rules “Obviously they couldn’t see each other and they couldn’t touch each other. But other than that, they could do anything they wanted to do – we encouraged them to be creative,” Coelen told AV Club. The show’s creator said that contestants could eat dinner, play games, paint, or whatever other activities they thought would make their date more personal. 4 ways NFL star Tom Brady might add to his US$450m fortune after retiring 7. Contestants aren’t allowed computers or mobiles Like many other reality shows, the Love Is Blind contestants were stripped of their mobile phones and any other technology that would put them in contact with the outside world. This was a key aspect of the show’s premise, according to Coelen. “In today’s society, we’ve got all these ways to find love through dating apps and technology. Those things sort of counter-intuitively have made people feel disposable. They’ve made people feel like it’s all surface level,” he told Variety in 2020. “So we thought, what if we took everybody’s devices away, how could we get them to focus on connecting with other people? We did that through these pods.” Asian stars in racial controversies: from Awkwafina to RHOSLC’s Jennie Nguyen 8. Several contestants compared the experience to living in a fraternity or a sorority Cast member Lauren Speed told Oprah magazine in 2020 that her experience on the show created a sort of “sisterhood” between her and her fellow castmates. “You’d think that people would be catty because some people would like the same guy. But we actually formed a sisterhood, no lie,” she said. “We bonded through this once-in-a-lifetime experience. How else would we explain this to other people? No one else would understand. We all shared that, and it created a family.” Her castmate, Mark Cuevas, said the same was true for the men’s side, calling it a “frat house, but a little more emotional”. 9. The weddings are pretty small A spokesperson from Kinetic Connect, which produces the show, said that couples had to have a limited guest list for their weddings. “They have to pick 12-15 guests that they want,” the representative said. “And they give them a heads up because, obviously if they’re engaged, most of these folks do at least walk down the aisle. Whether they say yes or no, we all find out together, but they want their friends and family there. So they have their guest list they provide to us.” Meet Olympic snowboarder and social media sensation Chloe Kim 10. The wedding guests can’t bring their phones to the ceremony, either The representative also explained that every guest has to sign an appearance release and they can’t bring their phones to the wedding. This is to help prevent spoilers before the series drops on Netflix. Some sacrifices one must make for love. This article originally appeared on Insider Want more stories like this? Follow STYLE on Facebook , Instagram , YouTube and Twitter .