If you’re like me then you’ve probably been bombarded with “Love is Blind” content, whether it’s hundreds of tweets taking up your timeline or numerous videos showing up on your TikTok for-you-page. For those who don’t know, Netflix’s reality TV show “Love is Blind” just finished their fourth season, and, oh boy, did a lot happen this season! The fourth season was jam packed with the staples of the show: romantic engagements, crushing heartbreak and lots of drama. However, this specific season has picked up a lot of media attention, mainly due to two contestants on the show: Irina Solomonova and Micah Lussier.
Solomonova and Lussier found companionship with each other and would bounce inexcusable behavior off each other. Both girls had the opportunity to come onto the show and have an attempt at finding love through the experiment, but they made a lot of very questionable decisions along the way.
The two of them would gossip and make fun of other women on the show. For example, they were shown laughing and making fun of cast member Amber Wilder, who was crying and being consoled, after Paul Peden broke off their relationship to pursue Lussier. Another instance was when Solomonova and Zack Goytowski had their reveal after getting engaged, and Solomonova made many rude comments about Goytowski’s facial features.
After all episodes of season four were aired and the internet had free reign to voice their opinions on the events that transpired, both women were called out on their gross behavior. When enough comments were posted and videos made, both women apologized.
However, these apologies felt forced, with both women taking to their respective Instagram accounts and posting statements, crediting their mental health and the rush of the experiment for their behavior. Fans were left disappointed, where they expected accountability but were given half-hearted promises.
The widespread attention that both women garnered contributes to another topic that reality TV has dealt with since the beginning: the promotion of bullying culture. Watching this type of behavior and the lack of repercussions can glorify bullying and take away the seriousness of the issue. The interesting and “juicy” parts of reality TV justify aggression and give a platform to promote malicious behavior just for extra screen time. Promoting and allowing this type of behavior to be spread across the internet gives others a platform to repeat, and try to find their 15-minutes of fame.
As audience members, viewers also have a role to play in refusing the desentization of mean girl behavior. Viewers have the role of becoming an active participant, so if you are a reality TV lover yourself, please halt from writing that mean tweet or commenting something nasty on someone’s Instagram page. The more people talk about it, the bigger one’s platform becomes. If it wasn’t justified for the reality stars to act like they did, why is it okay for us, as viewers, to act the same?
There is power and unity in showing compassion and putting forth kindness towards others, and together, we can break the damaging stereotypes that are put forth in our media.