There are so many relationship reality shows out there to melt your brain, and Love is Blind is among the pack. When the show first premiered, it was not my first instinct to run to Netflix and binge. My reality tv watching preference falls more in line with the content Bravo puts out. You know, like watching delusional rich women be catty toward one another on the Real Housewives. It has to be interesting for me to watch it.
At first glance, Love is Blind is like all the rest of the dating shows. The contestants date each other until settling on a connection — the catch being they can’t see each other until after a marriage is made and accepted.
While the contestants “date,” they are separated by gender and enter what is known as “the pods” to date blindly. They get to know each other, someone gets down a knee and, if the proposal is accepted, they are finally revealed to each other. Production chooses five couples to follow on a honeymoon and then into the real world until their wedding day, where the couples either say they do or they don’t. My viewing buddies and I, as do many other fans I’m sure, turn this part of the series into a game. We try to guess which couples don’t even make it the altar, which couples actually get married and, if not, who is the person to break off the wedding.
These people completely buy into this “experiment” and go through quite a journey within the weeks of filming. The best part is it is all laid out for people like me to judge and others to take too seriously.
AD and Clay
As soon as AD talked about painting her nails red to match the red flags she sees in guys, I knew she wasn’t getting married. She knows she goes for guys with red flags, and she went for the two biggest red flags. I thought she would be the one to say no at the altar, but she was all in for Clay. Clay’s first red flag was going on a show where the premise is to not know what the other looks like and then saying he wouldn’t be able to propose without knowing what AD looked like. AD checked him quick, but that didn’t dissuade him from mostly complimenting her on her body and looks after the engagement.
Ultimately, Clay had issues committing to marriage and a fear of being a cheater like his father. After saying no at the altar, Clay tries to explain he isn’t ready and he hopes to continue dating AD. The damage, however, was done. The bottom line is if Clay wanted to get married, he would’ve gotten married. But he came on this show saying he was ready for marriage and then wasn’t. He’ll continue to explain away to AD, just like he did on the reunion show. This may just be a personal red flag of mine, but Clay also says a whole lot of nothing. He uses his long winded way of saying nothing to skirt around confirming that he was indeed not ready for marriage.
Overall, they seemed to have great chemistry as a couple and I think that may complicate things for them, more specifically AD, in the future. She seemed adamant about not continuing to date Clay, but toxic gonna toxic.
Jeramey and Laura and Sarah Ann
Welcome to the mess of this love triangle. And yes, that is how his name is spelled. As you date many people within a short amount of time, love triangles often begin to form and feelings get hurt as choices are made. Love triangles, or at least jilted pod-exes, are a common storyline on Love is Blind, with this season taking it to a new level. Laura and Jeramey seemed to be a strong connection outside of the pod phase and on the honeymoon. Then the real world happened.
Sarah Ann broke the unspoken rule of Love is Blind etiquette, which has been modified from unspoken rules of dating in the real world. That rule is “don’t reach out to an ex who is engaged to be married and say you are open to still dating them.” Some might say that message wouldn’t have been so bad if Jeramey and Sarah Ann didn’t stay out till 5am “talking” after seeing each other at a local bar. Laura quickly ended the engagement and had no issues articulating her feelings toward Jeramey. Jeramey seemed to take a step back from embracing the role as the bad guy and kept quiet on the reunion couch, while Sarah Ann came out guns blazing. The rest of the cast seemed pretty united in their dislike for the pair and, like Jessica, said a little compassion toward the situation might’ve given them some redemption. Instead, hosts Nick and Vanessa Lachey brought out all of the new couple’s dirty laundry.
After the public flaying, it seems to me (and probably to many others) that Sarah Ann and Jeramey are not going to stay together. They’ve already admitted to breaking up multiple times within the year they have already dated. The thing holding them together is their bad actions and supporting each other in blindly believing they did nothing wrong. “I didn’t mean to hurt anybody’s feelings. I just wanted to break up your engagement to get the guy I wanted.”
Chelsea and Jimmy
I would say “where do I start?”, but I know where to start. While it was definitely painful to watch Chelsea nag Jimmy, with the root of the problem being her insecurity, I think people don’t realize Jimmy probably fueled that insecurity. At some point though, Jimmy was genuinely trying to be interested in her. But she just kept nagging him. and it even became annoying to watch.
This couple went through so many fights, and for some reason they barely talked about Chelsea and Jimmy’s relationship at the reunion. There was no talk about what they went through on the show together and where their relationship stands after a year. I need answers on why there wasn’t a discussion beyond the fight that ended the engagement.
Johnny and Amy
It’s pretty easy to spot the storyline formula Love is Blind has for couples that get married at the end of the experiment. They are both likable with the only real issue being birth control, which I think Amy was being way too nice about. It was so ridiculous watching this man try to be logical with no logic. He needs to work out whatever fear he has of unplanned pregnancy (especially when he’s getting married) and then take a health class. In fact, take more then one health class.
Then they didn’t even tell us what they were using for birth control and only that they “figured it out,” so I am uber curious as to what that is. That’s obviously their own business, but they made it weird.
Kenneth and Brittany
Insider info says these two broke up on the flight home from the honeymoon and producers had them reenact the fight for the show.
There’s not much to say about them. They were cute when they were together, and then it ended. They revealed they’re friends and talk almost every day, which I think gives the audience closure and insight into probably one of the healthier relationships on the show. People may point to the phone thing, but if they broke up before then I give the phone a pass. They found out the connection wasn’t the same after the pods, quickly ended it and are now cordial after. Healthiest breakup of the season.
Trevor
He was such a promising guy and seemed so sweet. Then disaster struck for the poor thing. The internet will always find your dirty laundry. Sleuths were able to find evidence of him texting with a woman he was in a relationship with (no matter how much he wants to deny it) while getting on a flight to join the show. Nick Lachey essentially used Trevor to ward off people who sign up just to be on television. The sad little sucker had no words to defend himself, and it was the most awkward 30 seconds of television of all time. It was sorely disappointing that nothing more came out of the texts, and Trevor had nothing to add other than it was a toxic relationship. Lame.
Jessica
Jessica I find to be irrelevant, honestly. She had her time and, unfortunately for her, she picked the guy that would be easily scared off if you told him you had a kid. She definitely had that “you’re going to be sad you missed out when you see me” vibe, but it would’ve worked better in an earlier season. The other issues overshadowed Jessica’s moment of revenge on Jimmy. There was a little bit of that because, of course, Jimmy would try to find Jessica on social media after and it definitely fueled Chelsea’s insecurity.
Once her storyline was set, though, she was able to secure her spot on Perfect Match and an extended screen time. Perhaps internet reality TV fame was her ultimate goal, but I think she at least bought halfway into the experiment. She was ready for love, but the celebrity was a necessary add-on.
I never understand how these people buy into the idea that they’ve fallen in love after two weeks of knowing somebody, but I still watch for some reason. We only see so much of the couples’ lives and who they are as people through an edited lens, so its best to remember to not take it too seriously. The best way to enjoy reality TV is to just laugh at the delusion of it all.