UK Fans Are in Agreement About the Worst Contestant

Summary

• Fans criticize Sam on
  Love is Blind: UK
  for his focus on appearance and the insensitive things he has said, both inside the pods and out.
• Freddie in
  Love is Blind: UK
  stands out for his genuine personality, love for his family, and unique job as a funeral director.
• Viewers hope Freddie and Catherine’s genuine connection lasts, contrasting his sincere intentions with Sam’s superficial behavior.

Love is Blind is no longer just a reality show, it has become a franchise with versions all over the world. Among the eight countries and regions that have their own iterations of the reality dating series, the UK is the latest. Premiering its first four episodes on Netflix on August 7, 2024, fans instantly became drawn to the new cast of Love is Blind: UK.

The show follows the exact format of the original U.S. version with singles dating in pods without being able to see one another. Some choose to propose, meet in person, and begin a whirlwind two-week engagement before heading down the aisle (or not) and saying “I do” (or not). The cast has stand-outs just like the U.S. version. Already for Love is Blind: UK, two cast members stand out for very different reasons, one being the worst and the other the most beloved.

One Cast Member Has Ruffled Fans’ Feathers

Sam Is Too Focused on Physical Appearance

Fans are completely put off by Sam on Love is Blind: UK. The man who declares himself “just a big kid” is a 31-year-old product design manager. He comes across as spoiled, entitled, and narcissistic. He’s so focused on physical appearance, in fact, that he got a nose job and started training in the gym leading up to filming, according to Daily Mail. He made this choice to help deal with his own personal insecurities, and making moves to better your physical health is a good thing, of course. But it raises red flags as to how much attention he puts on physical appearance.

Not to mention that only starting to go to the gym right before the show makes fans wonder if he had other intentions. It’s unlikely for him to have seen a major body transformation in a short time, so fans speculate that he started this new activity just so he could answer “yes” to the inevitable “do you go to the gym?” question that’s always asked in the pods. For a show that’s all about emotionally connecting with someone, this seems counter-intuitive to the purpose.

Even if these things could be shrugged off, the red flags continued to fly with Sam. He kept telling women in the pods how ladies would see him in person from across a room and assume he was a jerk, implying that he’s conventionally handsome. When Jasmine, a mental health nurse, point-blank asked if he was just telling her what she wanted to hear during their conversations, he was furious for being called out. He turned it into a “woe is me” speech about how “good guys” never win.

Everyone Can Tell He’s There for the Wrong Reasons

Sam continued to have discussions with women about how he wanted to choose someone who would “give [him] the love and affection” he needed, and to be “a big rock in [his] life.” Yet he rarely, if at all, discussed what he planned to bring to a relationship. Sam was so focused on finding the perfect woman for him that he didn’t seem interested in trying to be the perfect woman for her. After Justine broke it off with Sam, he said in his confessional that “beggars can’t be choosers,” implying that he would now shift his attention back to Nicole, the 29-year-old head of brand marketing from Surrey, England.

Everything Sam said to the ladies in the pods seemed disingenuous and that was solidified by Benaiah’s desire to tell Nicole what he thought about Sam to protect her. After overhearing unsavory comments, Benaiah felt it crucial to tell Nicole that he didn’t think Sam was there for the right reasons. The comment that arguably pushed Benaiah to alert Nicole was when Sam went back to the men’s suite and recalled a conversation he just had with Nicole.

He told her he couldn’t wait to hug her and pick her up once he saw her in person. Nicole joked “What if you can’t?” wanting to make sure that he wasn’t just after a certain type of appearance. Back in their suite after the exchange, Sam seemed agitated about the conversation and sought reassurance from his fellow cast members that Nicole wasn’t talking about her weight. “It’s fine if somebody’s a bit like…,” and he trailed off, suggesting concern that Nicole might be larger than he desired.

The Storm After Sam’s Proposal

After their proposal, Sam also declared to Nicole “I think I love you,” an odd statement for someone who had just proposed marriage to someone, and one that Nicole clearly picked up on. He continued to put his foot in his mouth when, after meeting Nicole in person, he said in his diary room confessional, “I don’t care what anything else thinks, Nicole is gorgeous.” His implication being that she isn’t a stunner (news flash: she is) but he is graciously going to love her anyway. How kind of him.

After telling Nicole repeatedly to trust him, it was obvious in Nicole’s face that she realized she made a mistake. It comes as no surprise that these two never even made it to the honeymoon vacation phase in Greece. Instead, both claim to have realized that something wasn’t right. Just as Zack did in the U.S. version when he realized he should have picked Bliss instead, Nicole reached out to Benaiah to meet in person, plead her case, and hope he might forgive her.

Based on Sam’s behavior, fans have been comparing him to the worst of the cast members from Love is Blind U.S.His constant fixation on weight and physical appearance have caused fans to draw comparisons to Shake Chatterjee from season 2 of Love is Blind U.S. He would ask women leading questions in the pods, like if they were at a concert together, could he lift them up to put them over his shoulders. After choosing Deepti, Shake continued to tell anyone who would listen how he wasn’t physically attracted to her and doubled down on his viewpoints during that season’s explosive reunion special.

It’s unclear if this will be the last fans see of Sam on the show. But if it is, no one will be sorry to see him go. He exemplifies everything the show isn’t about.

Freddie Is the Opposite of Sam

In contrast, Freddie instantly struck a chord with viewers. He has been called the most genuine and likable cast member since Cameron Hamilton from the inaugural season of Love is Blind U.S. The 32-year-old from Bolton, England has fans blown away that he’s still single and looking for love.

It’s not just his traditional good looks, light eyes, and muscular body, though these physical attributes don’t hurt, but they wouldn’t matter without the fact that Freddie seems to have a genuine heart. Working as a funeral director, he claims that this profession has historically scared women away. He adds that he loves his occupation, stating that he views what he does as looking after a family’s loved one. (Cue the “awwws.”)

Further, he has an older brother with Down syndrome, with whom he’s very close. Freddie posts photos often on his Instagram account of the two of them together. This further adds to fans’ love of the cast member, feeling that Freddie’s relationship with his brother speaks to his genuine character.

Freddie connected with 29-year-old dental nurse Catherine Richards in the pods, though fans have been worried they could have some relation to one another. She was adopted and they realized both their grandparents have the same first names. The pair also share similar interests, including spending time at the gym and feeling a close connection with their respective families. Through every conversation, Freddie comes across as someone who truly wants to find his perfect someone, a refreshing departure from the later U.S. seasons that seems to have attracted people mainly out for fame.

The Calm After Freddie’s Proposal

Freddie made the decision to propose to Catherine in the third episode of the season, and following intense tears, she said yes. They were both enamored with one another physically when they met, Catherine unable to hold in her excitement at his in-person charm and baby-faced good looks. While vacationing in Greece, Freddie appeared in one scene with his shirt off in underwear and it had viewers, and Catherine, swooning. She admitted that the pair had consummated their engagement (twice) and continued to be giddy for one another.

Fans have been waiting for the other shoe to drop, unsure how Freddie could be so seemingly perfect yet not have found his special person yet. Nonetheless, it could come down to exactly what Freddie indicated: his job has made women weirded out and has been a hindrance to him finding true love. If this is the case, and even his good looks haven’t helped women look past his morbid job, he was the perfect candidate for the Love is Blind experiment, able to prove his emotional depth and personal character outside of his physical appearance, and with someone who was aware of his occupation from the start and wasn’t bothered by it.

Freddie is the antithesis of Sam, and fans are rooting for him and Catherine to make it to the end. As for Sam, while his time might be over on the show unless he’s brought back for dramatic purposes, fans hope Nicole gets her Zack and Bliss moment and she and Benaiah can make a go of things.

Stream Love is Blind: UK on Netflix. Another batch of five episodes is scheduled for August 14 and the final two on August 21.