John Shannon and Sarah Williams, Love Is Blind
Netflix
[Warning: The following contains spoilers for the Season 11 finale of Love Is Blind. Read at your own risk!]
Another season of Love Is Blind has come and gone, and Boston left us only one couple getting married: Sarah Williams and John Shannon. The 11th season of Netflix’s reality hit ends with the two celebrating their marriage, while we try not to think about all the work this will mean for Sarah. And we don’t even mean just teaching John that raw milk is bad and vaccines are good, but also teaching him how to clean his fridge and shower, basic knowledge all 33-year-old men should have.
But the final outcome of the season, and even the breakups we see along the way, paint a very interesting, if concerning picture about not just the dating scene in 2026, but also what this show really is at this point. It started as a dating experiment. Can you fall in love with someone without seeing their face? And, if you do, can the relationship survive once you step out of the bubble? At this point, though, the show has become something else altogether.
It’s basically a sociopolitical experiment. And the results are troubling.
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Perhaps in Season 1, Lauren and Cameron’s connection was real. Maybe Amber and Barnett, also from Season 1, really got to test what this experiment was supposed to be about. But Sarah and John prove that now in Season 11, we’re basically just studying test subjects to see how political structures, power dynamics, and social systems affect human behavior.
In simpler terms, we’re getting a front-row view at how much women are prepared to put up with for companionship and the promise of love. Sarah and John’s troubling marriage aside, the rest of the season was just sign after sign that a lot of men don’t really want wives — they want mothers. And some women entertain the notion of not just “taking care” of men, but “fixing them” for way longer than they should.
Take Blake and Erika, who somehow got to the last episode engaged despite the fact that his job takes him away from Boston for months at a time and he had absolutely no plans to change that, even if he got married. Plus, he didn’t like the idea of being an old dad, but seemed to not have processed that as a man close to 37, that meant it was time to start having kids soon.
He also seemed to find it offensive that a producer would suggest he “cried” at the breakup, presumably because men don’t cry or something. Hello, toxic masculinity.
Blake isn’t even close to the worst offender on this list. Wilson broke up with Wilnie because she didn’t want to take on her job and the role of a housewife, and he was expected to pull his weight around the house. Gasp. He did things and didn’t get thanked profusely for them, so clearly, she didn’t appreciate him enough. No mention of whether he thanked her for what she did, because he just expected her to smile and not complain.
Rob Feeley and Diana Perrone, Love Is Blind
Netflix
At least they weren’t borderline abusive, which is a very low bar to clear. Love Is Blind Season 11 also gifted us with Rob, who got drunk and belligerent on two different occasions on camera, yelled at producers, people in the restaurant they were at, and basically all other contestants. And after all of this, and Michaella breaking up with him in public, production still thought it was a good idea to let them leave together, because men who act aggressive in public are notoriously so much better in private.
Hey, at least Cam was just bad at communicating his feelings. Normal relationship problems — how we’ve missed you.
Shows like Love Is Blind often end up being a mirror of society, and the Boston season has done a lot to showcase what is behind the “male loneliness epidemic” we hear so much about. Because the people willing to come on this just keep getting worse and worse, and I don’t think it’s fair to just blame casting. Sure, they want drama, but they also can’t cast what doesn’t exist. And the dating scene out there is filled with men who need to go to therapy more than they need a relationship and women who will give them way too many chances.
And, apparently, all of those people really want to be on TV.
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The problem with this sociopolitical experiment, of course, is that it’s not very well-designed. And everyone knows that poorly designed experiments can cause unintended economic, psychological, and physical harm. The best-case scenario for a lot of these women is that they find a man they can “fix” and successfully manage to teach them how to be functioning human beings.
The worst-case scenario we haven’t even seen on screen, though Love Is Blind has faced lawsuits in the past alleging sexual assault, and Love Is Blind: Argentina contestant Santiago Martínez was sentenced to 15 years in prison for attempting to murder his wife, whom he met on the show.
None of this will stop Love Is Blind. Casting has already been announced for multiple cities, including Philadelphia, Austin, St. Louis, New Orleans, Charleston, New York City, Orlando, Tennessee, Phoenix, and Las Vegas. But at this point, the one conclusion we can draw from this experiment is that the pods aren’t better than the real-life dating scene — they just make it harder to see what you’re really dealing with. Plus, more people will judge you for your choices. Don’t forget about that.
Love Is Blind Season 11 is now streaming on Netflix.