Entertainment- "Love Is Blind" star Abhishek "Shake" Chatterjee appears on E!'s new reality series "House of Villains."
- Shake told Insider he originally went on the series to "show a different side" of himself.
Abhishek "Shake" Chatterjee says he was never banned from the "Love Is Blind" group chat — he left of his own volition.
"I left that 'Love Is Blind' group chat. The second the reunion was filmed, I'm like, 'These people that I thought were my friends, they were just waiting till the reunion to put me on blast,'" Shake told Insider over Zoom Monday while speaking about E!'s upcoming reality series "House of Villains."
"I don't know if it was a collective agreement or what happened there, but these people aren't my friends. I don't want anything to do with these people," Shake added of the "Love Is Blind" cast.
Appearing on season two of Netflix's reality dating series, the now Miami-based veterinarian was called out for asking women leading questions to try and learn about their body size and repeatedly speaking about his lack of physical attraction to his ex-fiancée, Deepti Vempati, to cast members.
Costar Danielle Ruhl previously told Insider that Shake was banned from the cast's group chat.
After becoming known as a "Love Is Blind" villain, Shake said he's ready for viewers to learn there's more to him than meets the eye on "House of Villains."
The E! series puts 10 reality TV villains, ranging from "Vanderpump Rules" star Jax Taylor to "The Bachelor" alum Corinne Olympios, together in a house to compete for a $200,000 prize.
"That is exactly why I went on there as an opportunity to show a different side of myself, a side that was very purposefully left out on 'Love Is Blind' to kind of portray a certain image," Shake told Insider.
"I don't want to get into it too much, but I did feel that 'Love Is Blind' is kind of an exploitative show, and that's kind of what that show does to the participants on there to make good TV, which is fine, whatever," Shake said. "It ended up being very entertaining. So it is what it is."
Although he entered the house with a mindset of showing the world he wasn't necessarily a TV villain — he believes he received a bad edit on "Love Is Blind" — Shake hinted we'll see him live up to his villain status and more on this season of the E! series.
"I didn't feel very villainous going into this show. This show was 'School of Villains' for me," Shake said. "It taught me how to be a villain and it's really no surprise. We have the best villains to ever do it all in one house. And to survive in that environment, you have to learn some tricks of the trade. And that's exactly what I did. So yeah, I'd like to retract that statement. I think I'm more of a villain than I ever thought I was, and this was proof."
He added: "I did want to show a different side of myself. Ironically, the house had different plans for me because you're put into these stressful situations, you're trying to win this money, and I would dare to say anybody who goes on a show like this is going to find the villain in them for better or for worse."
"House of Villains" premieres October 12 at 10 p.m. ET on E!