I’ve allowed myself to become a die-hard fan of The Bachelor, and I have no regrets about it. I let myself be a fan of one “trash tv” show and that was it. I haven’t gotten involved in any E! or Bravo shows, which is tough because social media is dominated by clips from those shows (KUWTK, Real Housewives, Project Runway, etc.). That was until Love is Blind starting sweeping the nation as Netflix continues it’s run of dominance in every facet of Hollywood and is now producing reality tv shows.

People get engaged before ever seeing each other in person? They have to get married within a month of their engagement? It’s set in Atlanta, not Los Angeles or New York? It had all the makings of a show I thought I would hate…but I didn’t. It took an episode for me to fully commit, but after that I was hooked. I had to make it to episode ten to see if anyone got married. And surprisingly, two actually did! The craziest part about this show is that it was filmed in 2018, which means these couples had to keep their relationship a secret for over a year! Bachelor couples having to wait a couple months to announce seems hard enough, but Love is Blind took it to a whole new level.

One of the biggest issues I had with the show was that I didn’t get a “where are they now” portion in the season finale. So, when I heard they were releasing a reunion show on March 5th I was ecstatic. I had to know if Barnett and Amber and Cameron and Lauren were still together. I knew Cameron and Lauren would still be together given Cam cries every time he even thinks about how amazing Lauren is, so the big mystery in my mind was Barnett and Amber.

Amber doesn’t really have a job (by her own choosing), her living situation consists of jumping from friend’s house to friend’s house, and she has a ton of debt. In all honesty, Amber is a loser. It’s weird saying that about a girl because that term is usually reserved for men, but it’s true. She said a large portion of her debt is from buying makeup, c’mon now. And Barnett has his own home, a good job, and a good family (Amber has a good family too), so I didn’t think they’d last more than a couple months. But to my astonishment, Amber and Barnett were still together! Biggest shocker since Arie dumped Becca for Lauren on season 22 of The Bachelor.

The best part of the entire night was when Amber went OFF on Jessica for outwardly flirting with Barnett the entire time she was engaged to Mark. Jessica and Mark were never going to work, and it was surprising to that Mark couldn’t see that. She was uncomfortable about his age the minute she heard about it and seeing that he wasn’t some tall, blonde hair blue-eyed stud didn’t help his case. At the reunion, Jessica ended things friendly with Mark and attempted to do the same with Amber, but she wasn’t having it. If another woman so much as touches Barnett, she’ll beat her face in, so Jessica should just be thankful there was a room full of cameras and witnesses when she was all over Barnett.

Then there was the apology between Carlton and Diamond who ended things on the show just about as badly as I’ve ever seen a relationship end. I saw why it would’ve been hard for Carlton to come out to Diamond, but at the same time, he probably should’ve told her before they got engaged. Diamond also could’ve had a better reaction but in the moment that’s a pretty shocking thing to hear and it’s understandable why she needed some time to process. However, the minute Carlton called her a bitch it was game over. He still had only known this girl for about two weeks, so regardless of whether or not they were engaged, she wasn’t going to stand for that. But at the reunion we learned that they had been messaging each other a little bit and were friendly at that point. They’ll never date again but there will always be love, baby.

Kenny For President

I have never seen a person handle adversity as gracefully as Kenny did. He had just been dumped on the altar by a woman he was ready to marry and what does he do? He addresses the crowd in with a speech I can only assume was something out of an Abe Lincoln speech, my God.

“Today is not our day, but I love each and every one of y’all, and it’s something that I’ll cherish and be grateful for forever.”

Now THAT is a man. The guy just had his heart ripped out of his chest and he still had the courage to give family and friends a closing speech. And of course I couldn’t mention Kenny’s speech without mentioning how Kelly’s mom capped it off by whispering “God I love this guy” to someone.

I think every parent would want their little girl to end up with a guy like Kenny. Once again…KENNY FOR PRESIDENT.

We also learn that Damian and Giannina have gotten back together after he dumped her on the altar, and she went running around Atlanta presumably looking for answers. While they seem to be doing great, I still can’t make sense of the two of them. We already know that Damian isn’t phenomenal in the sack, plus he’s the most robotic person I’ve ever seen speak. Giannina on the other hand is very bubbly and has a lively personality. Apparently opposites do attract because on paper these two couldn’t be a worse fit for each other.

One of the parts about the show that really made it work was that they were all from the same city: Atlanta. My biggest concern with his process going into it was “how are they going to get married in a month when they don’t even live in the same city. That remains one of my concerns with The Bachelor. While relationships are always about compromise, moving to a different city, let alone a different state is a much bigger decision than moving in with your husband who lives 30 minutes away from you. So, I’d like to see Love is Blind come make its way to every city around the U.S. – matchmaking people that aren’t as shallow as Bachelor contestants and are prioritizing love over Instagram followers!