TikTokers hated the 'Love is Blind' reunion — here's why
- TikTokers hated the 'Love is Blind' reunion episode, with many blaming the format and hosts.
- Many users thought the hosts failed at holding participants accountable and asked the wrong questions.
"Love is Blind" viewers, who've used social media as a de-facto chat room during this season's episodic drops, took to TikTok to talk about what they felt went wrong with Netflix's reunion episode.
First comes the obvious complaint: the streaming giant's attempt to air a "live" reunion special fell apart under technical difficulties. Fans turned the failure into a meme — volleyed jokes around the apps — in the 19-hour-long wait (inexplicably, some fans were able to view the special after about an hour's wait, while others were unable to summon the show).
Other brands also took the opportunity to dunk on the streaming giant in Instagram comments and on Twitter (including the now-mostly-defunct Blockbuster). Eventually, the episode aired on April 17, at the less-desirable time slot of 12 p.m. PT on a Monday. (As NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour host Linda Holmes tweeted alongside a Variety article, "Never good when your delay is long enough for a piece about it to publish while it's ongoing.")
Netflix did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
Unfortunately, many users expressed ire for the episode they'd waited so long to access.
TV writer and producer Franchesca Ramsey said she'd only watched ten minutes of the special before filming a reaction: "I know how to produce television," Ramsey said, "and this is so poorly made."
"My biggest thing: This did not need to be live," Ramsey told viewers. in an April 18 TikTok, "as evidenced by the fact that this reunion special is 90 minutes long. In Ramsey's telling, the reunion was the worst of both worlds: neither live, nor polished like something pre-taped, with too many rambling segments and hosting mistakes left in. "I'm 11 minutes in, and I'm already bored." (Other users echoed this complaint).
Ramsey, who hosted and executive produced the MTV series "Decoded," critiqued Vanessa Lachey for talking over guests and making too many jokes — complaints that have generated their own parodies.
TikToker @olivialayne6 complained that the reunion left viewers — who, like her, were there "for answers" — more confused than ever. The TikToker said the final product over-represented tired plot points like Irina's apologies (already played out online) and offered scant clarity on Paul and Micah's emotional breakup.
"I still don't understand anything about these two," she said on a greenscreen of Paul and Micah, "and the reunion didn't clarify anything — in fact, it made me more confused."
Jackie Bonds, who was involved in some of the season's most dramatic twists, was involved only in a short, pre-taped interview and many criticized Vanessa Lachey's failure to press Jackie on her treatment of ex-fiancé Marshall Glaze.
Viewers expressed frustration that Jackie wasn't held accountable for her actions on the show, perceiving it as disproportionate to how Vanessa Lachey was "grilling Paul like a snack wrap" and "combative with Marshall."
Others emphasized Vanessa Lachey's "invasive" and "incessant" family planning questions. In an April 17 TikTok viewed more than 1 million times, TikToker @melworeit called Vanessa Lachey the "biggest villain" to emerge from the reunion for this reason.
"In this day and age, I thought it had been well established that it is inappropriate to grill couples like this about having kids. Some of them might not want them at all, which is completely fine," she said. "For all we know, the ones that do want kids are struggling with fertility."
Now, some TikTokers are lobbying the streaming giant to replace the Lacheys with reunion show veterans like Andy Cohen. "I know he's over at Bravo," @oliviallayne6 said, "But Netflix can cut a check — because I need him here to do what needs to be done, because Nick and Vanessa — they aren't cutting it."