Love Is Blind Season 8 star Ben Mezzenga found himself in some controversy as drama from his past resurfaced with the release of the new season.
The hit Netflix reality series is back, once again bringing together a group of single men and women attempting to find the love of their life without seeing the other person until the very end.
Mezzenga is just one of this season's cast of singles. The series follows him pursuing oncology nurse Sara, with him even getting down on one knee at one point.
The Ben Mezzenga Love Is Blind Controversy
Fans are on high alert as Love Is Blind Season 8 star Ben Mezzenga becomes the center of an online controversy.
The drama surrounding the new reality TV personality first came to light in a TikTok from user @hopeyoufindyourdad (aka Andra), as she accused Mezzenga of manipulating women in the Minneapolis area over the years.
In her first video about the Love Is Blind Season 8 contestant, which was posted in March 2024 when the show was filming (read more about Love Is Blind filming here), she claimed, he and his friends had a streak of "treating women like they were just entirely disposable objects:"
"So here's an update on the boy I know who's currently filming the next season of 'Love Is Blind here in Minneapolis who shouldn't be on the show, one, because he's not on it for the right reasons and, two, because he's just a terrible person. For so many years I just saw him and his friends treating women like they were just entirely disposable objects like just like garbage."
She claimed to have heard several experiences from women in the Minneapolis area regarding the Love Is Blind star, as well as having her own story about him that seemingly left her scarred:
"Maybe it was just m he just decided to treat me like human garbage. I was very young. I was new to the college campus. He was a whole lot older
and really shaped the way I viewed men and dating going forward. It was a very formative experience."
She said she "[did not] wanna get too deep into the details," but thinks people should be aware:
"I don't wanna get too deep into the details because that stuff doesn't matter, but I did try and talk to him vaguely about it afterwards, and he was like 'I have no idea what you're talking about,' like none of this stuff ever happened. And I was just like, 'You really have no idea what that did to me.' He was really one of the first boys to open up my eyes and make me realize, 'Oh you actually shouldn't always believe boys when they tell you things because sometimes they will say and do absolutely anything to manipulate people.'"
Essentially, she was accusing the star of mistreating women in his life, as well as using the series for attention, rather than appearing on it for its intended purpose of finding love.
While this video made waves within Love Is Blind fan circles upon its posting, it really started to catch fire as the show began to ramp up to air and more videos about the initial allegations started to make their way online.
Andra herself shared a follow-up, calling Mezzenga one of "most narcissistic men who will do anything for fame," before going into detail about what she heard about his Love Is Blind story and revealing seemingly authentic Season 8 information before it aired:
"Really difficult morning for the women here in Minneapolis, as we had to wake up and see some of the worst men in our city have been cast on this season of 'Love Is Blind.' Unfortunately, not only do I know some of them, and I've heard horrible stories about other ones, but I also already know how some of the storylines end. So, let's talk about it today cause Netflix didn't consider that if you pick some of the most narcissistic men who will do anything for fame, the second they walk off that set regardless of if you made them sign an NDA or not they're gonna head straight back to the bars and start bragging about everything that happened behind the scenes."
Andra's beef with Mezzenga even made it into the series, being teased as a part of the show's upcoming episodes. In one of the promotional videos for later episodes of Season 8, Mezzenga's partner on the series, Sara brings up a video (assumed to be Andra's), asking him what the TikTok user is talking about.
According to fellow TikToker @ghostbustersammy, several women have come out since Andra's initial video calling Mezzenga a "narcissistic abuser," but the online creator did not share any receipts aside from Andra's video.
Love Is Blind Season 8 is now streaming on Netflix.
