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Nobody is talking about the ickiest part of 'Love Is Blind' season 6

Feb 17, 2024, 16:49 IST
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Jimmy and AD awkwardly side-hugging on "Love Is Blind" season 6.Netflix
  • Warning: Spoilers ahead for the first six episodes of "Love Is Blind" season six.
  • Amber Desiree "AD" Smith is the subject of over-sexualization in episode six.
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"That woman is absolutely stacked."

At the point Jimmy Presnell utters this line in "Love Is Blind" season six, episode six, aptly titled "Feeling Uncomfy," I couldn't possibly be rooting harder against him and Chelsea Blackwell, two contestants involved in a love quadrangle who chose to be with one another over other potential matches.

If you need a reminder of what "Love Is Blind" is about: Gen Z and millennial couples fall in love "sight unseen." During episode six, however, the couples all finally meet each other in person and have the customary party with the entire cast during their post-engagement couples' getaway trip. Drama usually ensues during these scenes, and yes, there are tons of folks drinking from gold goblets.

And then! Jimmy decides to comment on the body of Chelsea's objectively gorgeous friend, their costar Amber Desiree "AD" Smith. AD, a former NFL cheerleader, is engaged to Clay Gravesande, who has his own hangups regarding physical appearance.

AD and Clay on "Love Is Blind" season six.Netflix

But in what's easily one of the grossest moments of the hit Netflix reality show's new season, Jimmy objectifies AD. Chelsea, who has already been struggling to believe Jimmy's assurances that he's physically attracted to her, is clearly taken aback by her fiancé commenting on another woman's body to her face.

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How does she deal with the ensuing awkwardness tinged with a dash of insecurity? She makes things 1,000 times worse by putting Jimmy on blast, repeatedly calling AD a bookshelf, and announcing to the entire party that she wasn't offended Jimmy said that. Chelsea also cleverly pointed out that she said it, too, so it's OK that Jimmy said it. (That's a lot of mental gymnastics, but sure, girl.) Jimmy is, understandably, embarrassed.

AD doesn't seem too bothered by the comment or the attention, and it's clear she's used to it. Her quick retort when Chelsea asks how she gets her butt like that — "squats and Jesus, girl" — practically rolls off her tongue and should be emblazoned on "Love Is Blind" merch, stat.

Jimmy's comment and the awkward way Chelsea tries to neutralize it seem to be brushed off by a gracious AD. She even assures Jimmy that she's not judging him. Chelsea, on the other hand, stews on the interaction for most of the night, resulting in a climactic fight with Jimmy back in their hotel room.

Chelsea is "uncomfy," but no one really seemed to care much whether AD was uncomfy.Netflix

The problem with 'bean dip'

But somehow, an entirely separate, arguably worse, objectification of AD overshadows the "stacked" moment.

Later in the episode, AD approaches Jeramey Lutinski, Jimmy, and Clay, who are discussing how well all of the couples match. While Jeramey is praising his fiancée, Laura Dadisman, he mentions that Laura introduced him to the phrase "bean dip" and told him to "bean dip" AD when they arrived at the beachside party.

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Unbeknownst to me, and apparently several other "Love Is Blind" contestants, to "bean dip" is "to flick a woman's (or man's) breast with the index finger," per Urban Dictionary. So-called because it mimics the gesture of scooping up bean dip.

"She told me to do it to you. I was like, 'I'm gonna get fucking canceled,'" Jeramey tells a horrified AD.

AD reacting to the bean dip comment.Netflix.

AD is understandably weirded out, and Clay is straight-up offended that someone even joked about another man touching his fiancée. But somehow, the moment becomes more about Laura and Jeramey and Laura's aggravation that Jeramey got them in trouble by repeating the "simple-ass joke" she'd told him in confidence.

"It's giving children. It's giving small child vibes," an annoyed Laura says, brushing off AD's attempts to explain why it was inappropriate and what a weird joke it was to make in the first place.

The bean dip fiasco escalates into a big (and very dumb) argument between Jeramey and Laura, with Jeramey even threatening to leave and go home.

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Jeramey and Laura also make AD's potential discomfort all about themselves.Netflix

In the meantime, AD, the subject of the sexualized "joke," and her feelings are brushed aside or edited out.

Of course, I can't pretend to know how AD felt about the "bean dip" joke or Jimmy's "stacked" comment. Maybe she doesn't care. The show doesn't really give her, or us as viewers, the space to unpack it. Still, watching it all unfold, I'm left, much like Chelsea, feeling "uncomfy."

'Love is Blind' is falling into a trope Black women face often on TV

AD's treatment in this episode is just the latest in a long string of examples of how Black women on reality dating shows are sexualized, objectified, and tokenized.

It's even crazier that these two moments of blatant sexualization are sandwiching a very important conversation between AD and Kenneth Gorham (a Black contestant engaged to Brittany Mills, a white woman) about race, interracial relationships, and raising Black children.

And somehow, I can't imagine that AD actually was OK with her body being such a major topic of conversation on a global stage. If you recall, her entire storyline in the pods revolved around not wanting to be judged for her physical appearance and her resistance to telling Clay what she looked like before they met.

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I want better for AD.

The next three episodes of "Love Is Blind" season six will air on February 21.

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