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Casey Wilson: In Times Like These, We Need More Reality Garbage Like Love Is Blind


It’s a stressful time right now. There’s a lot going on in the world that is problematic and troublesome. Not to mention the global pandemic. Everything is moving fast. We all feel busy and overwhelmed. Sometimes, life just feels like a series of uncomfortable moments strung together.

And yes, we all need to resist and work hard to make the world better. But there’s so much expected of us these days—especially women. So after a full day, I want nothing more than to relax into the loving arms of screaming women on reality TV. Watching these monstrous, majestic creatures yell at each other is soothing. Really.

I’ll always consider Bravo’s Real Housewives my form of self-care, but I’ve also gotten deeply involved with Love Is Blind on Netflix. I can’t even tell you what’s going on between that show and me lately. It’s too much. For someone else, it might be Love After Lock Up, 90 Day Fiancé, or The Bachelor. Whatever reality show you prefer, I don’t think you should be ashamed if that’s your outlet to recharge. Would I love it if meditation and journaling helped me de-stress? Sure. But in reality, I’m putting my kids to bed, settling in with a glass of wine, and turning on reality garbage.

It’s fun to care so passionately and deeply about something so meaningless and silly! I’ve been watching Real Housewives for decades. I know their full histories, and it feels like I’m a part of their families. I call them my weird drunk aunts.

There’s a bonding process that happens when you meet other fans, too. My friend and Bitch Sesh podcast co-host Danielle Schneider and I love the community our listeners have built. Major, major lifelong friendships have been developed over talking about women we don’t know. We post memes. We send each other information about what’s going on. Well, information is a strong word. It’s more like, “I saw Dorinda Medley walking down the street.” That’s it. It’s frivolous, sure, but it’s all we need to get a lift for the day.

Look at sports fanatics and nerd culture—it’s no different whatsoever. The reunions are my Superbowl, and I’m not going to be a reality TV apologist about it. It’s a way to connect with people when you might not have much to talk about beyond the weather. You can have a heated, passionate debate about Jessica from Love Is Blind and know there’s nothing behind it.



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They Didn't Find Love on The Bachelor. Now They're Relationship Experts.


For Bachelor alum Taylor Nolan, it took getting off the franchise to find her voice. “I’m someone with strong opinions who isn’t scared of speaking her mind,” she says. But she found herself changing on the show. “I was heavily filtering what I was saying out of fear of backlash, out of fear of only half of what I was saying getting aired.” So Nolan uses her podcast, Let’s Talk About It, to speak openly about her dating life and mental health. “As long as one person benefits from something that my guest shared or something that I shared, that’s perfect,” she says. “There’s a lot of connection in shared pain.”

That extends to Instagram, too. When Nolan was still engaged to fellow Bachelor in Paradise contestant Derek Peth—they’ve since broken up—she made an effort not to post happy couple-y photos when things weren’t, in fact, so happy. “Our relationship was so highly romanticized on a reality TV show,” she explains. “Not posting those shiny, romantic photos when shit wasn’t actually good was fighting against some of that pressure.”

Instagram is fast becoming a cesspool of anxiety for contestants, making outlets like podcasts all the more appealing. “You get all this fame, overnight, and you’re riding this super-high high, and then the next season comes along and you lose hundreds of thousands of followers,” Gates says. “It does something to your self-worth.” The future of the post-Bachelor world, she thinks, lies beyond perfectly curated posts. “Fans don’t want the edits in photos, they want to see you as a person, which explains the rise of video, TikTok, people doing podcasts. I think everyone is craving authenticity.”

When Unglert launched Help! I Suck At Dating, he was more than happy to serve up said authenticity but was under no illusion that he had any expertise to offer. Fresh off a disastrous Bachelor in Paradise season in which he juggled two women, he had viewers call in and give him love advice. Fast forward two years: He’s graduated from the Bachelor franchise, in a committed relationship, and surprised to find that he’s become an unexpected resource for matters of the heart (something, he notes, wouldn’t have happened in “a million years” had he not gone through the show).

“I have a lot of friends who have started confiding in me a lot more for dating advice, which I think is really funny,” Unglert says, adding cheerfully, “I always preface everything by saying, ‘Look, obviously I don’t know anything I’m saying. But I think this is what you should do…’”

Thea Glassman is a freelance entertainment writer, with bylines in The New York Times, The Hollywood Reporter, Vanity Fair, and VICE. Find her on Twitter @theakglassman.





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The ‘Love Is Blind’ Reunion Show Is Here—And the Fan Reactions Are Hilarious


Warning: This post contains major Love Is Blind spoilers.

The Love Is Blind reunion show dropped on Netflix in the wee hours of Thursday, March 5—and it most certainly didn’t disappoint.

The 12 main cast members reunited with hosts Nick and Vanessa Lachey to rehash all that happened on the show—and everything that has transpired in the year and a half since. (The show filmed in 2018.) And they had a lot to say. Amber confronted Jessica over her continued flirtation with Barnett. Carlton and Diamond seemed to get some closure. Damian and Giannina told us they are back together. We all fell collectively more in love with Lauren and Cameron, who are still together—thank goodness. We don’t need that heartbreak in this dark and twisty world right now.

As they have throughout the show’s run, people on social media had strong reactions to the Love Is Blind reunion.

Of course, there was the Barnett, Amber, and Jessica of it all. “Amber dragging Jessica for filth is exactly what I needed to happen in the Love is blind reunion,” one person tweeted. Another commented on Barnett’s facial reactions during the confrontation, “Barnett’s face while amber is going in on Jessica on the love is blind reunion is a big moood.”

People continued to have a lot of opinions about what went down between Carlton and Diamond. “LMFAO the Love Is Blind reunion was interesting. Highlights, Carlton doing the most in the apology to Diamond ??‍♂️, Amber reading tf out of ‘Mess-ica’ and Lauren and Cameron being the best thing to come out of the show,” one fan wrote.

America’s sweethearts, Lauren and Cameron, did not disappoint fans. Their love feels very real—and they seem so happy. Some were clamoring for a spin-off.

We just need to know one thing: if (and when) season two is happening. Your move, Netflix.



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Love Is Blind Reunion: Everything the Cast Revealed


Carlton says the fight he had with Diamond led to him receiving death threats online. However, he’s more concerned for Diamond because she faced accusations of being homophobic and bi-phobic. “The woman I fell in love with, I’ve never felt like she was bi-phobic, homophobic,” he says. “I was just afraid we’d have some issues we’d have to work through.”

Diamond says she’s also received death threats, and that her intention with the conversation with Carlton in Mexico was to learn more about his sexuality, not attack him. “I should’ve approached it a lot differently in being more comforting,” she says. “Approach it in a way of saying, ‘I respect you as a person.'”

When asked if he wishes he would’ve told Diamond about his sexuality sooner, Carlton said, “I would’ve done whatever it took had I known then that’s what it took to sit here, happily married.”

In an emotional scene during the reunion, Carlton got down on one knee and apologized to Diamond. He returned her engagement ring and said, “I hope that you take this ring as a significant piece of our friendship and the start of something beautiful, without any type of plan.”

Giannina and Damian:

A reminder of what happened in their relationship: These two were also smitten with each other, but Giannina’s fear of marriage led to some hot-and-cold behavior about their future. By the end, though, she was ready to say, “I do.” But Giannina’s indecisiveness was a red flag for Damian, and he bowed out at the altar, causing her to (literally) run out of their wedding. In her dress.

And on the reunion:

Giannina and Damian are “so together,” says Giannina. “I don’t want to lose this. I just don’t. And I didn’t!”

Netflix

Giannina says she didn’t plan on proposing to Damian in the pods; it’s something that came to her after thinking abut their conversations about being equals.

On their wedding day drama, Giannina says she respects Damian’s decision to not go through with it: “Where we are now is just so right for us, where we can just date…We’re getting to know each other at our own pace.”

Damian has no regrets about saying, “I don’t” on their wedding day because it’s led to their strong relationship now. “It was definitely a strong love from the beginning and we pushed through a lot,” he says. “…But she was in and out of it so much.”

Lauren and Cameron:

A reminder of what happened in their relationship: These two were rock solid from the start and stayed that way through the end. The only obstacles they really faced were Lauren’s protective father and their
worries about being an interracial couple.

And on the reunion:

They are very much together. “I seriously never have been as happy as I am with Cameron,” Lauren says. “…Life is good.”

Lauren and Cameron Love Is Blind
Netflix

The two have a puppy together and say they’ve had a great time showing the other person new experiences throughout the year. “I think people often think changing who you are is a negative thing,” Cameron says. “Lauren is an amazing woman, obviously, and just being with her, I feel, has changed me in many ways. Watching the show back, it’s still me, but I’ve evolved over time.”

On the topic of kids, Lauren says, “One day.”

As for Cameron’s tense conversation with Lauren’s dad on the show, she says, “We’re family…Lauren has a strong connection with her father, so it makes sense that I would love him too.” The families even spent Thanksgiving together in 2019.

And that’s a wrap on Love Is Blind season one. Don’t make us wait long for season two, Netflix.



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Watch Amber Confront Jessica Over Barnett on the Love Is Blind Reunion


This post contains spoilers for Love Is Blind on Netflix.

Love Is Blind hive, are you as excited for the reunion show (which Netflix is releasing) on March 5 as we are?

At last, we shall know which of the couples who actually said “I do” have stayed together since filming and, perhaps, if any of those who did not have reunited. Seriously, if Lauren and Cameron haven’t made it work, the internet’s collective heart might just break. And there’s already a theory floating around that Giannina and Damian are back together.

But arguably even more fascinating will be the fallout from all the couples watching themselves on the show, in particular the dynamic between Amber and Barnett and Jessica and Mark. From the early days in the pods, there was tension, as Barnett was interested in both Jessica and Amber, and Jessica constantly wavered between him and Mark. And that didn’t stop once the engaged couples left the house and headed to Mexico and, later Atlanta, to sort out whether or not they were actually going to get married in the finale.

Netflix

Jessica appeared to be super conflicted about her feelings for her fiancé Mark over his age, his job, his relationship with his mother, but also her seemingly lingering feelings for Barnett. On multiple occasions, she pulled Barnett aside to talk. Guess who didn’t love that one she saw it onscreen? His fiancée, Amber.

Jessica on Love Is Blind

Netflix released a teaser clip from the reunion where Amber lets Jessica know exactly how she feels. “To see her throwing herself at him in Mexico, bitch, you’re sheisty,” she says. “You’re so fake. Coming to my face like we were cool, you’re so fake. I think you’re a very disingenuine [sic] person, and I hope seeing this, you do grow from it, because that is not what the world needs is women that go behind people’s back like that. You were engaged to another man that you were leading on.”

“He was engaged,” she continued. “He made his choice. Anywho, so I’m not super happy about seeing that.”

We, on the other hand, are very happy about what this Love Is Blind reunion is bringing to our lives.



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A Love Is Blind Theory Suggests Damian and Giannina Are Back Together


Damian may not have felt that Giannina was ready for marriage by the end of their run on Love Is Blind, but that doesn’t mean it’s all over for the dramatic couple.

Let’s recap, shall we? Damian said a pretty glaring “I don’t” in front of all Giannina’s family and friends. Then, she ran away from the altar, falling and staining her wedding dress, before returning to hash things out—mud splatter mysteriously missing. Bing, bang, boom: The wedding was off and the couple broke up. But that may not be the end of the story.

All of us believing love is dead during the Love Is Blind finale.

Netflix

Rumors that the pair had reconciled began when they were spotted sitting next to each other and looking pretty happy at the Love Is Blind viewing party back in February. Considering how they left things, it was kind of odd to see them so comfortable together. But, hey, the show actually filmed over a year ago. Maybe they’ve just recovered enough to be friends?

Giannina Gibelli and Damian Powers attend the Netflix's Love is Blind VIP viewing party

Do they look like exes to you?

Marcus Ingram/Netflix

But then, Love Is Blind producer Chris Coelen told Metro that the couple has “attempted to re-engage.”

Still, Giannina has been keeping their status pretty close to the chest. She told Glamour in a recent interview that she and Damian have a “mutual understanding.”

“We’re in a good place. There’s no hard feelings whatsoever,” she added. That’s where things get fishy. When asked about her relationship status, the reality star said she was focusing on herself. “I definitely am focusing on myself and just always bettering a relationship with myself and sharing that with friends, family, whoever,” she said.

Hmmm. If that’s the case, then why, oh why, did Giannina’s mom, Milady, reportedly reply to a fan on Instagram claiming that Giannina and Damian are back together?

Here’s screengrab of the supposedly-deleted response to a fan who asked why Milady still follows Damian on Instagram:

Instagram Comment
Buzzfeed

According to BuzzFeed, this is the translation: “It’s not acting, not even a little bit. I follow Damian simply because they reconciled and are still together, they love each other and it was best for [the wedding not going ahead] to happen because that way they could get to know each other better.”

Honestly, this reunion special can’t come soon enough. We need answers.



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