If you’re in need of weekend plans, I recommend binge-watching “Love is Blind” season two. “Love is Blind” is my favorite reality show; I find it easier to watch and get invested in than other shows with many more contestants and episodes like “The Bachelor.”
The show is simultaneously entertaining and toxic, which is the perfect recipe for an addictive, all-consuming watch.
The show focuses on a group of people who are getting to know each other to ultimately get married, but the gimmick is that they never physically see each other before getting engaged. This premise is meant to test to see if the emotional connection is enough to keep two people together.
Of the five couples from season one, two are still happily married, which means the show had a 40% success rate— which isn’t very good. The couples in season two seemed to be even less stable than the ones in the first season, in my opinion.
Starting from the beginning, as the couples spoke to one another through a wall in what the show calls “pods,” there were immediately many red flags. Let’s dive into the men’s biggest red flags this season, and how they ultimately played out in two of the most toxic couples.
Shake and Deepti
This wouldn’t be a proper red flag list without mentioning Shake first. He was arguably the most toxic person on the show, besides maybe Shaina.
The show is called “Love is Blind,” and Shake completely missed the memo. He went into a show based on falling in love despite the physical appearance and all he cared about was physical appearance.
Immediately in the pods he asked women questions about what size clothing they wear, how much they work out, if he’d be able to lift them up, etc. He also stated that he only likes to date blondes who are younger than him— I don’t think anyone told Shake the point of this show before he went on it.
Despite his extremely toxic start, the show seemed to go in the direction of Shake learning from his mistakes and for a second there I really thought we’d see a redemption arc for him. He ended up proposing to Deepti, an Indian woman, even though he originally stated that he didn’t date Indian women, and he seemed to really have fallen for her.
Unfortunately, this only lasted up until he saw her for the first time.
Deepti was intelligent, articulate, caring and kind, but Shake was mostly just concerned about his lack of sexual attraction toward her. Don’t get me wrong, if you aren’t physically attracted to someone and don’t want to be in a relationship with them I think that’s fine, but Shake handled the situation poorly and completely missed the point the show is trying to make.
Shake told pretty much everyone he talked to about how he didn’t feel an “animalistic attraction” toward Deepti. I don’t think I was the only one who felt uncomfortable by him using those exact words numerous times throughout the season.
He talked to everyone about this struggle, except for the only person he probably should’ve been having this conversation with: his fiancé. It was also revealed in the reunion that even more awful things Shake said about Deepti were ultimately cut from the show.
Shake never seemed to actually try to make his relationship with Deepti work, he just took her love for granted and complained about her behind her back the entire time. From the start this guy was a walking red flag, and I was super happy when Deepti realized that and chose to love herself instead of settling for him in the end.
The reunion also showed us how much the other cast members dislike Shake, especially the show’s co-host Vanessa Lachey who went off on Shake after he was continuously trying to defend himself and stated that the only person there who he was attracted to was Lachey herself. I thought the reunion would be a chance for Shake to take accountability for his actions, but in typical Shake fashion, he just dug his grave deeper.
Shayne and Natalie
While Shayne didn’t come onto “Love is Blind” and instantly start asking the women if it would be difficult to lift them onto his shoulders, he certainly displayed his own share of red flags throughout the season.
While in the pods, Shayne made two connections: one with Natalie and one with Shaina. Shayne had feelings for both these women and explored these relationships throughout his time in the pods. I don’t necessarily think there’s anything wrong with that, because the point of the show is to get to know different people and find the best match.
However, things quickly became pretty messy between Shayne, Natalie and Shaina. Shayne took things too far with both women in the pods, even going to the extent of asking Natalie to be his girlfriend, but then still wanting to flirt with Shaina.
In one of the most second-hand embarrassment-inducing scenes, Shayne mistaked Natalie’s voice for Shaina’s in the pods. While this mistake was awkward to watch and undoubtedly hurtful for Natalie, I think Shayne really messed up in how he reacted after the fact.
Shayne began to get angry with Natalie for being upset with him. This was the first of many times throughout the season that Shayne got unnecessarily angry over something that he had no reason to be angry about.
One of the most uncomfortable times this happened was when the guys all went to Wrigley Field for their bachelor party and played baseball. Everyone except Shayne hit the ball when they were up to bat, but Shayne failed to and was super mad about it, which just felt very childish and telling of Shayne’s true character.
Unsurprisingly, Shayne’s anger did ultimately become the deciding factor for Natalie in choosing to say “I don’t” at the altar. Natalie admitted that she and Shayne had a bad fight the night before their wedding during which Shayne said he hated her and that she was the worst thing to ever happen to him. This caused Natalie to leave Shayne at the altar— I think she dodged a bullet here.
Despite some cute moments where I did feel like I was rooting for this couple, like when Shayne and Natalie met each other’s parents, I think it’s best that they didn’t end up together. Natalie was a lot more emotionally mature than Shayne and, like Deepti, deserves someone who is completely on the same page as her.
All in all, I thought this season of “Love is Blind” was a fun and entertaining watch, filled to the brim with drama. I was pretty bummed that we didn’t get another great, unproblematic couple to root for like Lauren and Cameron in the first season, though.
While I’m still not sure if love is truly blind, I am sure that I will be excitedly anticipating season three and all the craziness that comes with it.