(Spoiler alert!)
Having binged-watched season one in about two days, I was actively looking forward to the second season of this experiment. For those of you who haven’t watched Love is Blind, it’s a TV show on Netflix that depicts a ‘social experiment’, that attempts to find out ‘Is love really blind?’. Essentially, there are 14/15 men and women who date the other gender and live with their respective gender for a very short period of time. These ‘dates’ consist of going in a room (or a ‘pod’) and talking to your date through a wall, so you can’t see them at all. The idea is that you form an emotional connection and eventually ‘fall in love’ without ever seeing them, which then results in one of you proposing, and it’s only after you have proposed do you actually get to see each other. After your proposal, you’re then whisked away to a luxury holiday in Mexico to see if your emotional connection can also become a physical one by spending time with one another. After this, your relationship is put to the test by living with each other, meeting your fiancée’s friends and family and planning your wedding in a matter of weeks. This all builds up to the most dramatic moment of the show, the contestants’ weddings and seeing if they will actually say ‘I do’ or ‘I don’t’, to see if the social experiment worked.
Having watched season one and living for all the drama that unfolded (yes I’m talking about Jessica), I was inevitably excited to watch season two. However, I have to say I was honestly disappointed by this season. In the first episode, Chassidy (one of the female contestants) comments that “My physical insecurities have definitely affected my dating life…This experiment allows me to be judged for who I am as a person versus the physical”. These words from the first episode, however compelling and emotional, ultimately gave viewers a false sense of security, because guess what – Chassidy and Hope, the only two people that identified as plus-size in this season, magically disappeared for the whole season. Despite the fact that Love is Blind focuses only on the people that end up getting engaged, the show nevertheless does itself a disservice by attempting to be more diverse in body sizes, only for it to then show this ‘diversity’ for one episode. Despite their very short appearance in the show, it was incredibly refreshing to see Chassidy and Hope, and therefore more than one body size and shape being represented.
There were some worrying people that seemed to take up a lot of viewing time, given that they are evidently shallow people. For example, Shake who is a veterinarian and a DJ, who repeatedly for the whole ‘dating’ part of the show tried to figure out the size, weight, race, hair colour and age of each woman he dated in the pods. Why would you willingly be involved in an experiment where the factors that you’re so clearly interested in are ones that are deliberately hidden from you? Shake repeatedly said things like “What’s your size”, “Will I have trouble picking you up?” and “Latina vibes over there”. It does seem incredibly ironic that after Shake got engaged to Deepti, he then found there was a lack of “animalistic” lust for her and that he suffered a lack of “intense physical connection”, which really demonstrates how shallow of a person he is. It also seems controversial that the show’s title is Love is Blind, because from Shake’s point of view, it obviously isn’t. Additionally, when Shake and Deepti are ‘in the outside world’ as such, Shake seems to be telling everyone and anyone about his lack of feelings towards Deepti, without actually ever telling Deepti. Shake even went so far as to say his relationship with Deepti was like being with his Aunt. Wow.
One of the presenters of the show, Nick Lachey, says at the beginning of season two that “This experiment is now a proven approach to finding love”. It’s a bit sceptical to say “proven” when only two couples from season one got married and are still together. Whilst this isn’t a bad figure, it’s still under 50%, and given that some of the contestants seem more interested in creating drama and growing their social media presence, it’s still a bit much to claim it is “proven”.
Now of course, just like season one there is a love triangle. This season, the love triangle takes the form of Shayne, Natalie and Shaina. In the beginning few episodes, Shayne spent time with Natalie and evidently developed an emotional attachment since he wrote her name with a heart on his notebook – bit grim but okay Shayne. When Shayne next entered into the pods, he thought the woman on the other side of the wall was Shaina, and since their conversation was more sexual with the typical ‘what are you wearing?’ questions, Shayne jumped straight into these sorts of questions. However, it was Natalie and not Shaina in the room! Natalie, evidently had every right to be upset, since Shayne was not being entirely truthful about his feelings to Natalie, since he evidently liked Shaina. But in what seems to be true Shayne-fashion, he decided not to apologise or be sympathetic and understanding to Natalie, and instead decided to gaslight her. Shayne actually said to Natalie, ‘If you think I’m a dick, I think that’s kind of weird, no offence.’ Wow. But somehow, Shayne proposed to Natalie and she accepted?
Just like Jessica in season one, Shaina tried to get in between a relationship, specifically Shayne and Natalie’s relationship. Shaina, how have you not learnt from season one that this doesn’t work?! On a day out with all the couples Shaina targeted Shayne where she accused Shayne of being fake with Natalie and that their engagement was a ‘lie’. Shaina even had the audacity to call Natalie the day before to basically say that if her engagement with Shayne didn’t work out she had a “guy friend” she could set her up with instead.
I also want to briefly discuss Jarrette and Mallory. Both these people had a connection with each other, and once Jarrette discussed his desire to potentially propose to Mallory and was subsequently rejected (since Mallory got engaged to Sal), their conversation about the colour wedding rings seemed a bit odd. On a day out with the couples, Jarrette and Mallory were able to have a proper discussion of their ‘relationship’ in the pods, and Mallory had said to Jarrette she liked gold rings. But poor Sal, wasn’t aware of this, and picked out a silver ring for Mallory, which of course is one of the first things that Jarrette spotted and deliberately brought this fact up. If you were really committed in your relationship, why would you make a comment about the colour of a woman’s ring who isn’t your finacée? It also made Sal incredibly upset and disheartened because he thought he had done something wrong – he must be protected at all costs.
With the next episode coming out on the 25th February, I have to say I am highly doubtful if any couples will actually say ‘I do’, and if they do that I highly doubt they will stay together. If Love is Blind gets renewed for season three, I really hope they take into account to showcase more body diversity and find contestants who are not shallow and actually want a committed relationship. Ultimately, Lauren and Cameron’s relationship from season one was just simply iconic, and I think is unlikely to be replicated. You knew from when they first started talking to each other that they would be simply wonderful together.