Season 6 of Love is Blind is BONKERS!! Totally agreed with Kim Johnson, quoted in an interview with , below.
This got me thinking, on the eve of the LIB reunion episode, about what folx have been saying (and not saying!?) about Season 6. For the most part Chelsea has been the butt of jokes, particularly revolving around her “toxic” (i.e., insert key terms from InstaPsychologyTM) traits, as well as her (IMO decontextualized, overblown) offhand comment that her celebrity lookalike is Megan Fox. On the surface I have literally nothing in common with any cast member excepting Johnny’s birthday (BTW it’s hilarious to me that Chelsea’s quite inoffensive “quarter-half-sleeve” is just about the edgiest thing to ever air on the disturbingly regressive show). Even so, I can’t help but empathize with an all too familiar experience of dating cishet men: you are made to be the crazy one, when the reality is you’d be crazy not to feel crazy, being in a relationship with a person whose actions are clearly not in alignment (to say the least) with their words. I see you, Jimmy, and your little friends too.
Perhaps my unlikely pseudo-defense of Chelsea’s constant need for reassurance, which is admittedly very annoying (I’m sure, even to her) is because I have had to learn the hard way that when someone routinely claims you’re the love of their life while acting like they actually hate you, the only way to resolve your cognitive dissonance is to do the hard work of loving yourself enough – despite formative traumas that beget disorganized attachment – to stop letting people treat you like shit. For example, one of my exes claimed he wanted to be the father of my children. He also prioritized getting some new suits tailored (for no event in particular) over my planned birthday festivities one year, after berating me for not setting my alarm clock to enjoy his gift of breakfast, which wasn’t, for the record, on his beloved GCal so how was I to know what time IDK. I called my mother after he left for said suits, crying into a plate of soggy, uneaten pancakes. The most disturbing part of this relatively benign example is that I STAYED WITH HIM, long enough for my “soulmate” to miss my birthday the following year, too.
My point is that while it’s frankly easy (and fun!) to guffaw at the absurdity of it all, I wonder if, behind the scenes, this relatable mindfuck is truly one of the most alarming aspects* of the show. In conclusion, to quote a reel by therapist and creator Shahem Mclaurin:
“My answer [to the question what is the most toxic thing a person can do] is always the same. It’s being attracted to a man.”
*POSTSCRIPT: More alarming is that Kenneth is unwittingly cast as the lead of Get Out, the Sequel: Trapped on This Tiny Boat with My Racist Fiancée. Brittany LITERALLY SAID OUT LOUD “I'm so glad you're getting to experience the ocean” like Rudyard Kipling’s basic white girl ghost.
