“Love Is Blind” contestants Sara Carton and Ben Mezzenga became a viral phenomenon on social media when Carton declined Mezzenga’s marriage proposal at the altar in the series finale, citing their differing views on LGBTQ rights, the COVID-19 vaccine and Black Lives Matter, sparking debate over whether Carton was right to let politics impede their relationship.
The “Love Is Blind” finale and reunion aired this past week. (Photo by Daniel Boczarski/Getty … [+] Images for Netflix)
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Key Facts
Successful couples on Netflix’s “Love Is Blind”—a dating show where contestants talk, but don’t see one another, until the end—end the season by getting married, but Carton declined Mezzenga’s marriage proposal at the altar because she believed they were not on the same “wavelength.”
Carton explained to her family later in the episode she left him because of their differing views on social issues, citing an instance where she asked him about Black Lives Matter, and he said, “I’ve never really thought too much about it.”
She said she disagreed with some views espoused by Mezzenga’s church, telling her family she watched an online sermon that preached “traditional” views about sexual identity.
“He doesn’t really have much to say about it,” Carton said, stating she wants “someone to think about” these issues, including “equality, religion, [and] the vaccine,” though it’s unclear what Mezzenga’s views on vaccines are.
In an earlier exchange on the season, Carton told Mezzenga her sister is gay, to which Mezzenga said he has “no discomfort around that community at all.”
Carton’s decision to leave Mezzenga went viral on social media, with conservative critics alleging Mezzenga “dodged a bullet” because of Carton’s “woke” politics—while Carton also received plenty of support from viewers who praised her making a decision based on her values.
Chief Critics
Charlie Kirk, the conservative activist behind the Turning Point USA organization who has nearly 5 million followers on X, reposted a video of the breakup, stating: “Best thing that never happened to this guy. Dodged a bullet,” likely referring to Carton’s politics. Fox News host Laura Ingraham posted: “Let’s find him a nice, conservative 20-something girl. He’ll look back and laugh at this,” to which conservative commentator Tomi Lahren responded: “He dodged a bullet.”
Contra
Conservative commentator Ben Shapiro said he “totally disagrees” with Carton’s politics, but he said she was “correct” for leaving him at the altar and criticized Mezzenga for not making the choice to leave Carton earlier. “People are going to say, ‘Well, she’s being intolerant.’ No, she’s actually being smarter than he is. He should’ve canceled this early on,” Shapiro said. Many posts supportive of Carton went viral, including one that garnered 300,000 likes criticizing Mezzenga for allegedly having “no opinion about the world around him.” Another poster, who garnered nearly 400,000 likes supported Carton, who is a nurse, for questioning her prospective partner’s views of vaccines. “SHE dodged the bullet, not him,” the most-liked response to a widely viewed video of their breakup states.
Big Number
62 million. That’s how many views an upload of Carton and Mezzenga’s breakup has on X. Another upload of the video has 10 million views.
Are Sara Carton And Ben Mezzenga Still Together?
No, they are no longer together—but Carton says they tried to make it work after their finale breakup. After Carton declined Mezzenga’s proposal, he told her at the altar he still wanted to stay with her and make it work, prompting Carton to say: “We’ll see.” Carton told Entertainment Weekly she and Mezzenga had lived together for about a week or two after filming the finale, but “then he actually did drop me.” She said Mezzenga stopped sharing his location on Find My Friends and communicated less frequently, which “confused” and “shocked” her. She said she texted him to seek clarity, to which he “just sent pretty scripted apologies back,” and then she stopped hearing from him afterward.
How Does “love Is Blind” Work?
On “Love Is Blind,” Netflix’s flagship reality dating series, contestants meet one another while staying in isolated “pods,” in which they cannot see their prospective partners but can speak with them. The couples only see each other face to face after one extends a marriage proposal. Engaged couples then head to a marriage retreat akin to a honeymoon, before traveling home where they meet one another’s friends and family. The couples then have a wedding ceremony—but like Carton and Mezzenga, they’re not required to say, “I do.” “Love Is Blind” has been a ratings success for Netflix and has spawned spinoffs in several countries, including Brazil, Japan and Mexico.
Tangent
“Love Is Blind” faced a similar controversy in 2022 when contestant Bartise Bowden rejected Nancy Rodriguez at the altar at the end of the show’s third season. Rodriguez said Bowden “blindsided” her at the altar, but one of the cracks in their relationship shown on camera was their differing views on abortion. Bowden said he typically opposes abortion and believes a woman can only get “one pass” for it if the child would not be born into a financially stable situation. But Rodriguez told him she supports abortion rights and believes a number can’t be applied to how many abortions is acceptable: “What if the second time you get raped? And then the third time, you have sex with someone who poked a hole in the condom?” she said on the show. Rodriguez later told Netflix’s Tudum she believes Bowden used her abortion views against her by bringing up the topic when she met his parents, alleging he brought it up in a “strategic” way to make an excuse for why he didn’t want to be with her. Rodriguez said she is “thankful” the marriage with Bowden did not work out.
Further Reading
Love Is Blind star Sara reveals Ben ghosted her ‘out of nowhere’ after season 8 finale (Entertainment Weekly)