Love (is Blind)'s Spots: Offscreen Drama, Political Divides & Shocking Allegations

 Hello homies, and welcome to Easily Entertained. I am your host, Maddy McClain, your pop culture sherpa, here to guide you on all things entertainment. News, internet convos, reality TV, all of the things, I'm here for you. And this week we are going to be talking about the Love is Blind reunion and all that it brings up.

So you don't necessarily have to be a giant Love is Blind fan to get into this combo. And I hope you will get into this combo because this combo needs you my girl, my guy, my they. My sweet little puppy Mac.  Anyways, welcome! I've missed you guys. It's been a full week. How you been? It's South by Southwest and Austin is boppin Bibbidi boppin  Ain't no stoppin for this town.

And it's annoying because everything is about twice as long. Takes about twice as long to get there. But that's okay. I mostly like it. I'm not a hater. I love South by for the most part. There's lots of fun shit going on everywhere. But I'm a girly that deals with FOMO, so it's hard because I'm constantly feeling FOMO for there being a constant event going on around me. 

Such a hard thing to deal with.  Alright homies, we have got to talk about the Love is Blind season 8 finale and reunion that went down this last week. Because let me tell you, it gave us what we were asking for. It did. And that may come as a surprise to you or anyone that has seen a single Love is Blind reunion show. 

Nick and Vanessa, they know how to screw up a good thing, I'll tell you that, and not ask any of the questions that anybody gives a shit about. But they did it. They did it this season, for the most part, I think, when there were six episodes in the pods. That was something that fans had asked for and wanted for a while, to get to know all of the couples.

That still didn't end up happening, there were two other couples this season that did end up getting engaged and they just were cut from the show. Can you imagine  spending X amount of time, months, on this crazy ass show that most of the people in your personal life are giving you shit about doing? Probably a little concerned, asking if you've been taking your meds, yeah. Sure about this. Like all your shit's going to get out, Joey or whoever,  but really though, can you imagine going through all of that and the mental and emotional stress of having cameras in your face 24 seven, basically while you're dating on live television for everyone to see. And then it not end up on TV at all.

I don't know. Maybe a lot of people would find that a good thing for me. I wouldn't. That's part of the gig, I guess if you got a husband out of it, that could maybe. Anyways, I would be just a bit bitter about that, but what we're going to talk about, it's a little bit bigger than the show itself, but we're also obviously going to be talking about the show itself.

We have the Alex and Madison and Mason and Meg mess, the I don't know, square, triangle, square, that was. Then we have Joey's villain arc, Ben and Sarah drama, and of course the political divides that have now seeped into our beloved reality TV. The reality, see where, see what I did there? The reality of reality television is that It absolutely cannot exist in a complete vacuum, even when you're making it so that it is a complete vacuum in theory, like love is blind.

They're literally, removing of the phones or social media, any sort of connection to the real like outside world that they are used to living in.  And then being put in pods. They call them pods. They can get out of course, but still you're literally in a room. They remove everything that you're used to.

And then they place you in what is almost like a control group of a science experiment, which is also why I love reality TV. A lot of people will tell you, because yes, it is. You're watching people like, argue and fight and date and All that good stuff and bad stuff, but it's all one big science, social, psychological experiment.

So that's why it's so entertaining to watch too. Everyone that is watching this show is simultaneously seeing how you yourself would react to whatever situation you're watching unfold before you, whether it's an argument or it's a decision in a life, keeping up with the Kardashians, love is blind.

Squid games the competition show. I don't know whatever it is. It's all the same at the core of it What I mean by that is that a lot of people Determine that if you like reality TV and you watch a lot of shows like that you're stupid But I've actually come across an article. It's true that  Historically, I guess numerically statistically.

There we go Statistically, I'm doing a great job at proving to you that I'm smart Statistically Smarter people, more intelligent people, tend to watch reality television. Okay? I said it.  I didn't come up with it, but I said it. Anyways, so now that we've gotten that, on the table that I'm smart and watch reality TV just like you, we can now move forward.

My lukewarm take is that Love in general is not blind. I think falling in love is blind. Yes, I don't think staying in lasting love is blind.  Despite Netflix's best efforts at putting together a legit social love experiment, whatever you want to call it, I don't think that's what it really has ever been.

Let's be real everybody that's been on the show is at least moderately attractive to very attractive. And now, once you've done one season, everybody knows about the show, so the applicants and the people that end up going on the show and becoming contestants,  they already know too much. You know what I mean?

Which all comes in to the conversation today, because if anything that we saw from this finale and this reunion is that love is political, and who would have thought in Midwest Minnesota, like we talked about in the last episode. Minnesota, the city itself, is a character entirely in and of itself throughout Love is Blind this season.

Just in the way that you can see Minnesotans or Midwest people may tend to skirt around subjects. Or this, what I've heard of as Minnesota nice, like a Texas nice. Like we do, like the bless her heart, and then you proceed to absolutely shred her heart into pieces to somebody else. That kind of thing, I think it's a similar version in Minnesota.

And we absolutely learn the very most in those final interviews that the producers will pull whoever said no to the other person at the altar and ask them why they declined to get married or said no. We learn the absolute most and that is very for sure. And we've never seen that more clear in this season and I think it has something to do with that Minnesota Nice because it's almost like Everybody was in this observation mode, or maybe we just simply weren't getting those interviews that could lend some insight into when everybody decided the last minute that they were not going to get married.

Mostly because it all came out of the woodworks in the latter half of the finale and in the reunion and, you guessed it, on social media. So we're obviously going to talk all about that. Starting with the square. So the couples,  yeah, the mixture of couples that never ended up getting engaged and getting out of the pods being Meg, Mason, Alex, and Madison.

Poor Madison. 3v1 is terrible. I don't think that she's necessarily the best human I've seen or witnessed on television. But I have to say, nobody deserves three people coming at them or more unless you're Tom Sandoval. That being said, they all ended up looking like a bunch of clowns. Let's be real. Meg and Mason. 

There were rumors following the show, although Meg ended up breaking off their relationship in the pods after hearing from Madison, the other girl that Mason was seeing, that Madison was Mason's first, and that he's a liar, and yada, you shouldn't trust him, and basically sabotaged the thing. Although she was not lying, she was correct.

I went back and checked on the episode. And Mason did in fact tell Madison that she was his number one. And we could just tell. So I don't think Mason's the number one guy either. So Meg and Mason though, end up after all of that, they break up. They film their own reveal, if you will. Of them seeing each other for quote, the first time.

And then they started dating for a few weeks after the show. And then it didn't work out so they decided to quote, become besties. So there they are the best friends one of them does absolutely does not want the title of best friend And I'm gonna go ahead and say that it's Mason.  No, I don't know though Meg came off as a major Pick me I hate to use the word everybody uses these days, but it really does encompass this behavior in women of just wanting male validation over everything else.

She started going after Madison like you would have thought That Madison broke up with her. I was very confused by that. She went in on her saying that she was manipulative and really disrespectful and yada. And I can't even truly remember what. She was basically standing up for Mason because Madison had said that he's a liar and is very manipulative and all of this stuff.

So she goes hard after him and then Alex joins in, the other guy that Madison was dating. To be like, yeah, seeing you be two different people between me and Mason was super off putting and really gross and all of this. And, so now we're like, okay, cool, the attention is shifted on to Alex. The reason we are wanting this attention to be shifted on to Sir Alex here is because he's gone relatively under the radar throughout the season itself, but on social media, he absolutely has not.

And I knew that Netflix would not touch this with a 10 foot pole, but basically there are rumors that Alex has very questionable behavior with women that are under 18 when he was just 19 or 20 and this all came out on Reddit. That's obviously a very serious allegation and it's just annoying to see that he gets none of the heat, none of the flack, even though that's a thing that's being talked about very out in the open, outside of the TV show.

So that's annoying when they avoid conversations like that. At the same time, I get it. Legally, there's only so much they can say or do. It has not been officially pursued, or any of that stuff. It's just kind of allegations on social media. So they can't really do too much with that one, but  There we go.

Then Madison pulls out her printed receipts printed screenshots between texts between herself and Alex, where Alex is talking shit about Mason and Meg, and I guess Madison's point was to be like, see, he's two faced. And unfortunately for Madison, the text exchanges The text message proof didn't really do what she thought it would for us, but they then said okay, everybody, that's all.

Bye bye. And moved on from those four. Ben and Sarah. So while they did not ultimately end up getting married, and Sarah said no at the altar to Ben, Which, truthfully this No was one of the bigger, more controversial alter moments of the season. They started out pretty strong. There was some hesitation on Sarah's side about Ben's beliefs when it comes to Black Lives Matter and George Floyd and LGBTQ,  so all these social matters.

She wasn't sure about Ben's stance and how she felt about Ben's stance on said matters.  Which I think is fair if you're looking to marry this person.  She seemed to decide that was good enough to move on and get engaged. They do get engaged throughout the honeymoon, they seem happy, all of that. And then it's when they get home and they see that TikTok video that a girl released talking about how basically Ben had ghosted her and treated her horribly and several other women.

When he was living in Minnesota for college and was crying and all of this and that was when Sarah was like, oh, okay So more red flags are starting to appear for her and while all of those things are I think are totally valid to  Put a lot of weight in and the value when you're looking at a life partner I don't think that the way she handled it was great at all then we find out at the reunion that they actually After  she rejected Ben at the altar in kind of a sad way because then he was like, just smiling, everybody was smiling while they were being broken up with.

I think that if politics and those social issues were actually and are such a big deal to Sarah, that she would not have moved forward and gotten engaged in the first place. To wait and spend time to test it and see, I guess I get that they only get so much time in these pods or in this kind of journey.

So they spend 10 days dating in the pods and then they have about 28 days, three weeks before their weddings. So we're talking a little over a month maybe and they can propose at any point within those 10 days. So I suppose you want to take all the time you can to figure these things out and really.

Have those conversations. Looking at you, Virginia and Devin, who I guess just never did have those conversations before the wedding, but we'll get to them next.  That's the reason Sarah goes for ultimately leaving Ben. But then we get to the reunion, and we learn that despite all of that, they stayed dating for a few weeks afterwards, and then Sarah had a job opportunity in Nashville for a few months.

So then Ben  Is planning to move up and live together for anywhere from a few weeks to a few months with her while she does that in Nashville. Then the day before He was supposed to leave for Nashville. Sarah claims that Ben completely ghosted her and Removed her from find my friends and then decided to text her a few what she said were scripted Apologies of how basically breaking up and ending things now He can't make it to Nashville, but then Ben kind of counters that and says what no You were actually the one that ghosted us.

So we have this He said she said of ghosting, which is very ironic considering that the girl in the TikTok had claimed that Ben had ghosted her. So whether or not that makes absolute sense or it was an easy, low hanging fruit to make him the bad guy, we don't know. But I don't think either one of them are bad people.

I think it really does bring in the question. How important are politics and your values in a relationship? How much should that factor in? And I think if you were to ask somebody that ten years ago, I think far and wide, the majority would have said, Yes, it matters and is important, but wouldn't have placed it near the same page as religion or family or I don't know.

That's just my belief. I think as time goes on and as politics heat up, or maybe it's just me growing the fuck up, I don't know. It's impossible to completely separate that out from everything. That's neither here nor there. What is here is that it brings up that question. And it is a very good question, especially someone who's single, and I'm obviously not married, so it is something to consider.

I've dated people in the past that have,  I'd say, significantly different  views than me, but we were both, had respect for each other's side, or at least in the beginning, there was respect there. But as long as there's respect there, and in, I, I think, as long as there is real, legitimate respect for the other person and their thoughts and a consideration for that a curiosity to understand that maybe a little bit of some sort of give there, there's at least got to be respect some sort of give, there's got to be some basis of alignment for you to marry the person, I don't think for you to be friends with someone that's a whole other thing, and I don't think so at all, but if you're marrying somebody, I do think that you should be And the reason I'm saying that is because I think the church has been pretty closely aligned on that.

I don't think every belief necessarily needs to be the same. But for instance, when it comes to Ben and Sarah and LGBTQ acceptance, that didn't seem to be a problem. Ben was like, what? No I do support quote people like that, which led me to believe that he's definitely not the best ally out there.

And then for him to say that he was not aware of his church, 

I, yeah, that's not going to work. Sarah's sister is gay. So if he doesn't seem to have any sort of real strong. Support of them. Yeah, I think that's, I think that's fair enough, honestly. What I am doing a terrible job of trying to say is that as the years go on, as time progresses, politics increasingly become more and more important.

In our relationships, and really in the world around us, because shit be crazy these days. But, this also ties into the divorce rate. A Virginia based study showed that post 2016, political disagreements led to the end of relationships for 1 in 10 couples. Additionally, in 2025, legal professionals have already observed an uptick in divorces attributed to irreconcilable differences, including political disputes. 

I do. A Reconcilable Differences, I feel like, is the vanilla of reasons to get a divorce, but this says a lot. And I think the fact that we're seeing that play out, albeit not in a divorce, but in a marriage proposal rejection, that it's even, it's coming for the younger generations too. Now you want to talk about the most dramatic example of political differences in a relationship?

Kim and Kanye, which somehow, because I'm making it, leads us to Virginia and Devin's messy breakup. In the season finale, we saw Virginia decline Devin's hand in marriage when he asked her to marry him. And honestly, that took me and clearly the entire audience at the wedding, their friends and family, by surprise.

I really thought that they were gonna end up together. Virginia throughout the season was just so laissez faire, just so  Chill girl, chill really sweet and tilty headed about everything and thanks and all of that kind of thing.  And that is not who we saw at the reunion show. And then we have Devin who, let's just be real.

Devin scored big. Virginia is an elegant, classy, gorgeous, successful woman. Devin has some student loans and. Virginia is in a different more progressed financial space in her life, so to speak. And only to find out we know this for sure ish when Virginia was liking some very messy comments on social media.

On TikTok, it sounds like someone who knows both of them was like mentioned how and not to mention Virginia was paying for literally every single meal throughout their relationship. So that tells you something and the fact that she liked it seems to pretty much confirm  that. As mentioned earlier, it's only in those post alter interviews that we really hear  like the truth of the dynamics of the relationship.

Because, none of this we heard about throughout the season, but Virginia was saying that there was a thousand dollar wedding gift check that was given to Devin by one of his family friends. And it was Devin's mom that told Virginia about this. And, I guess this was three or so days before the wedding, so there was time to tell her, and he never brought it up.

When she brought this up at the reunion, he claimed that he was holding on to it until the actual wedding was over and they were, going to ultimately be married, but since they didn't, he didn't tell her about it. Then, Virginia also mentions that she found a note from his ex girlfriend on the counter, messy, and at first she was surprised because she didn't realize that she was an ex.

Because Virginia had actually met her and then it was, again, Devin's mom who filled her in on that they used to be in a relationship. So seeing those two things really affected Virginia's trust in him, which is also, again, fair. But the biggie, that we saw throughout the season, they were teasing, was this lack of Devin willing to open up to Virginia or talk about their political I'm going to be talking about the Bible and religious beliefs.

The only conversation that we really saw about it was Devon asking Virginia if she votes in alignment with her faith.  And that already tells you a lot. I am a woman of faith. I grew up in a Christian home, all of that. My beliefs are ultimately more in the relationship with God than the  establishment of religion and all of that.

I get where Virginia's coming from, where she was a little miffed by that and said yes I do, but I, to expand on that, I fully support LGBTQ community. I believe a woman has a right to choose, all of those kinds of things. And  Devin didn't seem to really like that response. So it seems pretty clear where they lie on the sides of the spectrums.

It was only really until Virginia said no that we were made aware that this was actually a big deal. And she popped off at that reunion in a completely different voice, first of all. It was far more assertive and adult and not so juvenile. Which was a nice refreshing thing to see from her. And she was really standing on business.

She was explaining to the crowd and everybody else what her beliefs are and she wouldn't speak on his. Which Also was classy and just ultimately handled everything very classily and also slayed and looked beautiful. And Devin decided to take the tail between the legs approach, which I think in this case was probably the way to go.

Another couple that bit the dust because of supposed differing political opinions.  What are your opinions on that? How important is it to you? I genuinely want to know. You can send us a text on the podcast by simply pressing There's a link in the show notes that says send us a text. Click on that and we will get your messages directly and can respond to you.

So I would love to get a conversation started on how important politics are to you in your dating life and Married life if you're married. I don't know your engaged life, too. I'm not gonna leave anybody out  And now we come to the real villain of the season that was only revealed to us in this reunion episode.

Joey,  Senor Joey and Monica. They ultimately also did not end up together, which was another shock for me. I thought that this couple seemed to be one that would make it. I really did. They both were a little bit quirky, a little golden retrievery, giggly jokey together and seemed to have a lot of fun together.

But it turns out that's probably all that they did, and we're very much besties. Ultimately, the reasoning for both Monica and Joey, at least on the finale episode, was this lack of progressing from the friendship stage. Which also is ironic because they both have names from characters from Friends, and I love ironies.

That was the, what we were left with at the finale. But then when the reunion came around It was like a 180. Monica came back, A, looking great. Makeup was fire, by the way. Monica ultimately rejected him at the altar  after Joey, let it not be forgotten, long boarded his dirty, greasy ass hair self up to the front of the wedding ceremony to stand at the altar, mind you. 

And Monica ultimately says no. She feels like they are not in a place and have not progressed and not sure that it is, that this is just not right for them, right? And Joey makes a point after she says no to be like oh, I was gonna say no too. One of those people. That's a red flag.

Don't love that. And ultimately they leave, but we're like, okay he just it didn't work out. That's sad. Didn't see that happening. However, that was not all of the story. When we get to the reunion, we learn quite a few things. One being that throughout the time that they dated, neither one of them had said, I love you.

They had not gotten physical. There was not much romantic interaction at all. And Monica came back feeling pretty disrespected by that, looking back and watching the way that their relationship played out on TV.  And The real disrespect though comes from when we learn that Joey DM'd Madison, our girl Madison, while they were still engaged and during the filming of the show.

There was an episode where they had a mini reunion with all the other people from the pods or the pod singles that didn't end up getting engaged. And it was after that mini reunion that Joey DM'd her and said, Hey girl, good to see you. Checking up on her and told her that he liked her pink hair, but no, he's just a nice guy who likes to check up on people that he used to date in the pods.

And then, When asked if Joey and Madison had ever dated outside of the show, Joey looked all grossed out and was like, Whoa no, only in the pods. Another douchey response, okay? Let's just make that clear. Really, the strikes just keep on going for Joey. People started to point out some things that were pretty obvious, that like when he got down on a knee to propose to Monica, Joey asked if she would quote, Would you want to be engaged with me? 

Which also sounds so stupid. Instead of, anything like, will you marry me? Will you be my wife? The standards of that kind of question, right? But only asked if she would be engaged with him. So it's almost like asking or saying a lie and putting, crossing your fingers behind your back when you're five, knowing full well that you're fucking lying.

So that's how it feels like for Joey. Oh, and then on the reunion, he also felt the need to clarify that when Monica had said they'd slept together a few times, that in fact they had only slept together once. Another gross thing to make sure that you clarify for everybody, it was just not in good taste, not at all, and completely ruined the Golden Retriever edit that the producers did give to him.

In fact, Joey continued to ruin that Golden Retriever edit. By then blaming Monica's sister for another reason as to why their relationship didn't progress or didn't work out. Which, mind you, even in the last episode, I agree. I think that Monica's sister has some jealousy, for sure, and was really harsh and really not supportive of Monica.

When she was introduced to Joey, now looking back, feels like we all owe her a little bit.  Okay, we all owe her an apology. Right? The internet, we owe her an apology. She may still very well be jealous, and I don't think that takes away that aspect of it. That Monica, her younger sister, is getting married or engaged before her. 

But she was, in fact, a good judge of character, it turns out. You hate to learn that. It always happens when you break up with somebody. And people come out of the woodwork with their real opinions about your now ex boyfriend and you're like, Oh!  Oh! Wow! This whole time? Really? It's pretty amazing when that happens, honestly.

Also quite validating, post breakup. Not so much during the relationship. But that's a conversation for another time. Let's move on to Dave and Lauren's amicable, but still icky, reunion, so it only took Dave months later, to finally decide to believe his, now, ex fiancé that this casual hookup that she had right before coming on the show was, in fact, a casual hookup that was not to be worried about. 

And to me, it just feels like another tail between the legs, media trained, trying to come off the best because they've already done what they've done by the time the show comes out. So Reunion, it's kind of crisis PR fixing the damage that you have created upon yourself, probably. And, It's just too late.

He is bright red cheeks throughout the reunion. He's not the devil, but he just simply wasn't interested in Lauren. I really believe that, firmly believe that. He was trying to find something to get out of the relationship, or ultimately force her hand to break up with him.  Pussy move. He just never would admit that.

He still, throughout the reunion, even Vanessa, which was a great question, good job Vanessa, the host did a lot better this year, The host, Vanessa, asked him Dave, do you think that maybe Since this really wasn't that big of a deal that perhaps you were hooking on to something to find a way out and that maybe you just did not want to get married and he said no and Lauren shook her head and Lauren, she was the star of the reunion.

Let's make that clear. She looked great, but beyond, obviously we're talking about love is blind. So beyond her looks, she held herself very classily too. She's stood up for Dave at the reunion and commented on all of the super intense, negative, bullying, really rude and sensitive messages that trolls send at all times, regardless of if you're in a reality TV show or not.

And, Stood up for him and said, the words being using the words, narcissist all of these things I don't believe apply to Dave. He's not terrible and. I just want to shoot that down and say, I don't think that you're a narcissist and that's something I can respect. I think that word has been worn out and overused more than the socks in my sock drawer.

But  it's a shame too because it's a very real personality type. In fact It's actually more intense than a personality type. It's a diagnosis it's in the DSM five, which is a psychology kind of diagnosis book. Basically it has become overused where it's lost its meaning in pop culture and kind of the zeitgeist conversations that we have.

So that's annoying, but I do respect and love that she did that. She almost was too nice to him, but good for her. Good for Lauren. But really what I'm most upset about when it comes to Dave and Lauren and their coverage on the reunion, Is the lack of Dave's sister. Hello. We have talked soooo  long this season about Dave's sister and this very bizarre, strange relationship that they may have.

Or at least the way that Dave was really explaining that was strange.  Dave had been concerned the whole time because his sister did not, quote, approve of him going on the show. And she allegedly refused to meet Lauren. And really disapproved of this whole experience, and it just seems very bizarre after all of the mention of the sister and how important she is to him that we never saw her at the reunion.

We had plenty of other family members sitting out there in the audience to react, and I felt like us, at the very least, as Love is Blind fans, deserved that. We deserve to see Dave's sister's face. And here are her thoughts. I'm very curious. Now, of course, we get to the one, the only, surviving and seemingly thriving married couple from this season, Daniel and Taylor.

And they both look glowed up and super loved up. Yeah, Daniel, let's be real, Daniel got three times hotter. He was already a good looking guy, but let's just be real, whatever he did, keep doing it. Taylor's always been beautiful and them together cute couple.  Now, there's not a whole lot of drama to cover here because they are a happy couple that ended up together.

They bought a house and have spent a lot of time with each other's families not for great reasons both of their  Both family members have gotten sick Daniel's mom and Taylor's dad And so they've supported each other throughout that. But I think they're both on the healthy path. So that is great to hear for their parents.

And ultimately they're happy. The only major thing to call out is the fact that Daniel got a tattoo of Taylor's quote, squinty, beautiful eyes, huge on his chest. We're talking, it looked like somebody. Printed out a picture and then cut out that rectangle of Taylor's face where her eyes are and then just tattooed it on to Daniel.

It looks crazy. But,  I, it was a choice. But, as long as Taylor likes it, I think that's all that matters. Can you imagine hooking up and then  seeing your own eyes staring back at you?  On their chest.  That sounds terrifying to me. Not for me, but to each their own.  Given the fact that only one couple, Daniel and Taylor, made it out to get married and stay together after the show, that would make the season a flop.

However, I have to say, overall, the season was quite a bop. You just have to have a little bit of patience. The excitement in reality shows, they come in different places sometimes. Sometimes it's out the gate, like Real Housewives, when someone's arrested and then they cover You know, the new season, they're like still in jail or something. 

Or, it comes in the middle of the season when the real housewife gets arrested or the, all the drama starts coming out on their phones, the whole scenes where all of the other housewives start talking about have you read this article? Have you seen this article? And it's usually a Daily Mail article.

Or it could happen at the end, like love is blind reunion. And you know what? I guess I would rather have a exciting ending than just a slow and steady like release of gas to the end. They have at the end of the show, they did all of their usual tactics where they include some like Super Bowl halftime show type shit and a Bachelor Nation style promotion heavy. 

segment or two. This time they did less of them. It was their top five moments in the last five years of Love is Blind. It was their five year anniversary. I have to say, completely disagreed with all five of them and that was, again, nothing that any of us wanted in the middle of the reunion. We want more time spent on the reunion, the actual people that it's about of the season, than these stupid promotional Love is Blind moments where they are creating their own.

Version of Bachelor Nation in my opinion, but whatever. Then they had Alex Warren, who people were confused by because he looks exactly like the Alex that is casted in this current season. But he's a different guy. He was actually a co founder of TikTok's Hype House, so that's how how I have heard of him.

But his music is really good. I liked it. Just not the kind of music that they should have made the entire cast dance to at the very end of the show as we watched them roll the credits for two full minutes. As we wrap it up, they let us know that the next Season 9, so it is continuing, Season 9 will be in Denver, and I am very excited for that.

Minver, that will be a good season. I've got family over there. We love to see it. And then, based on Reddit, it looks like there's Boston coming down the pipeline. So I guess, spoiler alert for that, but Boston might be the next city.  To which I was a little confused, because there have been several lawsuits.

that have been filed against Love is Blind, the production company and the show itself. And so I wanted to get a quick update on that. I was very confused. I thought even maybe this season might not go forward, but seems like things are  moving along. The show must go on, but here's a little update on some of the ongoing legal proceedings that they've had against them in the last few years, or rather since the show started.

So in December 2024, the National Labor Relations Board issued a complaint against Kinetic Content and Delirium TV alleging that Love is Blind contestants were misclassified as independent contractors rather than employees, potentially violating federal labor laws. This is the reality reckoning that Bethany Frankel from Real Housewives of New York was previously championing of getting reality TV stars and contestants to be considered employees and classified that way rather than independent contractors like Uber or Lyft where there can be a lot more restrictive agreements and confidentiality laws, rules and all that good shit. 

Then, there was a season 5 participant, Renee, who filed a lawsuit in January of 2024 against Netflix and Delirium TV, claiming she was placed in a dangerous situation during filming. She ended up getting engaged and leaving the pods, and once she was living with this guy or at the honeymoon, she felt uncomfortable and unsafe for several reasons.

However, it looks like in March of last year, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge ruled that her claims must be resolved through arbitration as stipulated in her contract.  So there you go, more contracts, more reason for that first, the previous complaint I read to you to hopefully help lawsuits like that.

Then there was another settlement that they made in November of last year, which was preliminary. So something else could go down of 1. 4 million dollars between Netflix and quite a few former cast members. One being Nick, I think it, who was from season one, one of their early seasons and a few others that joined forces together.

Addressing these allegations of labor law violations that started with them, really. But I guess this settlement is awaiting  final court approval. That would explain the numerous charcuterie boards and veggie boards and food plates that they make sure that we see throughout the filming. Because they were claiming they weren't being fed properly.

And we're being, like, given a shit ton of alcohol. The show is going on, and now producers, after everybody's complaining about this most recent season's cast of men, a producer spoke with People Magazine and openly saying how they're, quote, now looking for nice men for future seasons. Oh, and how that will work out so well.

Something else did go down, though, in another kind of offshoot of Love is Blind. The Love is Blind Argentina season, they had their First inaugural season in the country. And one of the couples that did go on to get married has been in the news recently. For a very scary. Tragic reason. Emily Checo.

Who went on to get engaged to her husband, Santiago Martinez.  Went on to accuse him of gender based violence this last week when it came out that he Tried to basically beat her up Beat the crap out of her after she got back from her bachelorette party With her family and he didn't like the fact that it was a promiscuous sex show that they got back with mind you she's with her family, too, and Yeah, he then  really aggressively and  Horribly beat her up.

You can see in my show notes a link to this article. I'm not going to describe it all for you, but she went on air  with a black eye and some bruises on her arms and now Santiago Martinez has been arrested and he is in the custody of police in Argentina Casting needs to pay a whole lot more of attention to that You know when Renee the girl from season 5 that's filed a lawsuit Thank God it didn't get to anything like that, but That's the danger and one of the many really scary concerning things about reality TV is not truly knowing who you're casting, who you're going to be on a show with, who you're watching, and then you've got the added element of production and this obviously being for entertainment.

So you never really know what or who someone really is when it comes to reality TV. Here we are able to have conversations like this from reality TV. And for that, I am grateful. And for you, homies, I am also extraordinarily grateful. I guess only time will tell. Will we see nicer people  in the next seasons of Love is Blind?

I think low key, we all hope not, because it makes for much better TV. But for everybody else's safety, I hope they do find some nice men. Either way, you know that I will be watching all of the seasons that come out of Love is Blind. Denver, Boston, wherever, I'm there and I got you. Honestly, this reunion I think was one of the best that they've ever had, but it did also leave me wondering If Love is Blind can ever truly be the same again, or be successful like it was in earlier seasons because of social media and fame and the fact that it's already like a big deal now.

I don't know. I don't know. Feels like The Bachelor, where As the seasons go on, it's less and less of a chance that they'll make it long term together and that the relationship will last, but  I don't know. I'm just a girly pop who's talking to you on a podcast about it. Friends, that concludes our Love is Blind season 8 finale and reunion recap.

Please send us a text. You'll find that in the show notes of this episode down below. If you click on that link, it is a hyperlink and it will take you directly where you can ask a question. You can tell me your comments. You can tell me your favorite order from Chipotle.  But specifically, I would like to know your favorite Love Is Blind moment.

In the last five years of any season ever. Okay, and we'll share it and we'll talk about it and we'll giggle and it'll be great and you'll love it. Anyways, give us a follow anywhere you listen to podcasts and we'll see you next week. Bye homies!