Love Is Blind — Netflix's premier reality romance series — is back for Season 8. This time the #PodSquad hails from Minneapolis, Minnesota, a major city known for its lakes and art. But with a population of just over 425,000, it's smaller than previous locations for the Netflix dating show — cities like Seattle, Chicago, Atlanta, and Dallas. You would think Minneapolis is even smaller if you've noticed the social media drama ahead of its Valentine's Day premiere.
Andra Berghoff, whose handle is "hopeyoufindyourdad," made a TikTok in March last year crying because she recognized some of the men who were cast. "Minneapolis is a big city, small town sort of vibe where everyone knows each other and the dating pool here is very, very small," Berghoff explained. "So if you've messed up, someone's gonna know about it." She cried about being exhausted that society rewards "shitty men who treat women terribly."
Berghoff alleges that she dated a man in the cast when she was in college, saying, "He was going to do anything for fame in my opinion." Berghoff claimed that Netflix was aware of claims made against him, and there is a rumor that women from this cast member's past come forward during his engagement. We possibly got a hint of this story in the season's trailer: "There's this girl on TikTok who's crying," a woman says. "I need you to tell me everything," Sara Carton, a cast member, tells someone in the following clip.
Berghoff later gave an update claiming that her ex and his friends treated women like disposable objects and joked about it. Berghoff said one of those men posted another male cast member's photo on his story and asked his followers to respond if this cast member had ever done anything to you, acting "as if it's hilarious." One woman commented about her alleged experience with the same guy: "He was weird to me in college. I remember ‘cause I was also new to [University of Minnesota]." Berghoff replied: "So there's a pattern of isolating the new girls."
In January of this year, Berghoff claimed to know how some of the journeys on Love Is Blind ended because those men bragged about the show at local bars. The TikToker claimed one of those men — Ben Mezzenga — was a MVP at her college's baseball team, didn't get drafted, and had a YouTube channel. Story Time With Rikkii made a TikTok saying Mezzenga was accused of allegedly leaving his YouTube card for women after they hooked up. The video included a picture of the alleged card with his face on it with his social media handles.
Berghoff is not the only person to come forward about a cast member. A woman named Ellen Rorman, whose handle is "Tacobellrockstar," claimed her former boss will be on the show. "Horrible work environment working under this person," she said in a video. "I worked under her for three years." Rorman is probably not the first person to feel like their worst boss was on Love Is Blind. But this and the more serious claims about the men of the season is a sign that the people in smaller cities like Minneapolis talk more openly about cast members.
TikTok isn't the only source of Season 8 drama. The comments on Berghoff's videos mention a Facebook group. "I [know] these men have been posted in THE Facebook AWDTSG?! If you know, you know," one person wrote. Berghoff replied to reveal she was banned from the "are we dating the same guy" group and called it "trash." She claimed that was where the rumored Love Is Blind cast was revealed.
Fans have to dodge spoilers online because of the small town chatter. We didn't see as many spoilers from cast members in Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Seattle, Houston, Charlotte, or Washington D.C. The closest we've seen to this is last season with Tyler Francis' story. The first drop of episodes showed him proposing to Ashely Adionser through the pods. The maternal grandmother of his three kids revealed on social media that he was hiding them during this process. Fans then watched the following episodes and had to wait close to their wedding for him to come clean.
There was also a discussion last season of whether producers should've cast Francis at all or at least forced him to come clean about his biological kids sooner. Love Is Blind creator, Chris Coelen, defended the decision and said producers have no obligation to report things like a participant's children to another participant. He also told The Hollywood Reporter that someone with past bad relationships or a "certain sexual experience" won't be excluded from the process. So it's not surprising that women who spoke out against a Season 8 cast member were disappointed to find out he continued through the process.
It is important for women to realize that the show doesn't promise the best dating pool in your area. The experiment takes a sample of the dating pool that already exists in your city with quality control for good television instead of a good marriage. Sadly, the pool is already smaller in small towns, and that doesn't bode well for their seasons.
Of course, there is a chance we'll still get a good love story through Minneapolis. We've all seen how bigger cities can be a "small world" in the past. Season 5 took place in Houston and exes Uche Okorha and Lydia Velez Gonzalez crossed paths in the pods. She was open to rekindling their relationship, but Uche wanted to follow the blind aspect of the experiment. He had a strong connection with Aaliyah Cosby. She left during the pods after Lydia told her personal information about him.
Similarly, the trailer for season 8 starts with a woman suspecting a man knew what she looked like in the pods, but didn't reveal that to her. Season 5 isn't a widely beloved one with it ending with one married couple, Lydia and James "Milton" Johnson IV. Hopefully Season 8 doesn't get overwhelmed with drama and still gives us love stories to root for. But if the preseason chatter is any indicator ... there will be tension between the Minnesotans in future episodes.
