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The “Love Is Blind” tea on TikTok is, once again, piping hot.
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Fans are losing it over rumors that fan-favorite Trevor had a secret girlfriend while filming.
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Meanwhile, Jimmy debunked girlfriend rumors of his own and Jeramey addressed his past engagement.
Plenty of drama plays out on “Love Is Blind” every season. But in recent years, most of the truly jaw-dropping tea can be found on social media.
That’s thanks to TikTokers like @storytimewithrikkii and @realityashley, arguably the best-known “Love Is Blind” gossip bloggers. The former, in particular, has built her following by exhaustively breaking down all the major rumors swirling around contestants on the show.
Rikkii first became known for spilling the tea back in season three, when the Sikiru “SK” Alagbada and Raven Ross’ cheating scandal took over social media. “The girls involved in the scandal just came to me. They slid into my DMs in Instagram,” Rikkii told Business Insider over Zoom.
“I guess I’m like a safe space,” she laughed.
The latest round of “Love Is Blind” drama picked up steam over the past week. Three male contestants from season six are facing accusations.
Below, we break down what’s rumor, what’s fact, and why viewers are so into the drama.
Netflix didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Rumor: Trevor had a girlfriend during ‘Love Is Blind’ filming
The accusations against Trevor Sova are the most jarring and extreme. Naturally, they’re getting the most traction likely because the Golden Retriever beefcake boy, who professed his love for butterflies and “The Notebook” in the pods, has been hailed as an unproblematic fave since the season premiered. Alas, he hasn’t stayed that way.
After the latest episode drop, rumors began circulating that Trevor was in a serious relationship before and throughout filming the dating show.
According to Rikkii’s TikTok, which has been viewed more than 50,000 times, Trevor’s supposed ex-girlfriend, North Carolina-based bodybuilder Natalia Marrero, contacted fellow blogger Reality Ashley, wanting to share her story. Rikkii says that Ashley, who she frequently works with on “Love Is Blind” stories, shared with her alleged texts between Natalia and Trevor before and after filming, along with photos of the two together.
In the alleged texts, “Trevor” speaks lovingly to Natalia and says he’s going to marry her even while discussing his intention to go on the show. He also references events that happened during filming, like the dog collar (from his late dog Chelsea) that he gave Chelsea Blackwell during one of their pod dates and his subsequent breakup with Chelsea when she got engaged to Jimmy Presnell.
But at the end of the text exchange, “Trevor” breaks up with Natalia in early February 2024, right before the season started airing — after ghosting her for a week.
“I think people are just surprised because he seemed really genuine,” Rikkii said of fans’ reactions to the Trevor rumors. “People bought into Trevor. Teddy Bear Trevor is what they’ve been calling him.”
Trevor has yet to comment publicly on the rumors, and neither he or Natalia responded to a request for comment from Business Insider.
“I’m very curious to see his response or how he’s going to attempt to get out of this because the reunion films this weekend,” Rikkii told BI. “So, hopefully, they bring it up and ask him about it.”
Fact: Jeramey was engaged right before ‘Love Is Blind’
Immediately before the Trevor bomb blew up the fandom, many were focused on a woman claiming that her daughter was engaged to Jeramey Lutinski when he applied to be on the dating show.
“Someone was engaged and living with someone when applying for this….,” a woman using the name Jenni Gelven Daniel posted in a “Love Is Blind” season six Facebook fan group, alongside a photo of what appears to be Jeramey with a woman and child (whose face was edited out for privacy).
When a commenter asked where the poster had found the photo, the poster replied: “In my phone. That’s my daughter and grandson.”
In a video shared by @storytimewithrikkii, the daughter in question, a North Carolina hairdresser named Brittani McLiverty, can be seen dropping comments on posts by Laura Dadisman, the woman who got engaged to Jeramey on “Love Is Blind” season six.
“Did he ever tell you about his ex-fiancé from right before you? Surely not…,” she commented on Laura’s post Wednesday. “Or the house WE sold a week or two before he filmed for this show?”
“Just want all the info out there. You and Sarah Ann should know,” she wrote in a follow-up comment, referring to the other “Love Is Blind” contestant Jeramey pursued (and potentially reconnected with) during filming. “I’m happy to share proof.”
Jeramey responded with an Instagram video early Friday morning, clarifying that his relationship had ended “a number of weeks” before the “Love Is Blind” casting process started and that while his house had sold right before filming, it had been listed since “October or November” of 2022.
Jeramey also said that his previous engagement wasn’t a secret — his conversations about it just weren’t shown on the series — and shared a screenshot of a conversation with “Love Is Blind” casting that started on November 30, 2022.
“Not going to give this one any more attention,” he ended the caption on his post.
Rikkii said she spoke with Brittani, who provided more details about the relationship timeline ahead of Jeramey joining “Love Is Blind.”
“Jeramey tried to say he was out on his own for a few weeks. But his ex-fiancée told me he moved out on November 20 — which was 10 days before casting reached out,” Rikkii told BI.
Jeramey, Brittani, and Jenni didn’t immediately reply to requests for comment.
Debunked rumor: Jimmy had a girlfriend during ‘Love Is Blind’ filming
The rumors about Jimmy appeared to be the first alleged tea that picked up steam about a “Love Is Blind” contestant this season. Turns out, that was “completely fake,” according to Rikkii.
“Imagine my fucking surprise when I turn on the new season of ‘Love Is Blind’ this morning and see my fucking boyfriend,” TikToker Ryann Stringfellow began in a video from a week ago that’s been viewed over 17 million times as of writing.
“Obviously I’m not going to tell you who it is. I still think he’s the love of my life, and we can work past this,” she continued. Indeed the TikToker never names her supposed boyfriend who appeared on the show, but her references to him talking to “this woman who has a child” and is “stunning” led viewers to believe she was referring to Jimmy.
Sure enough, those rumors got back to Jimmy, who took to TikTok to shut them down a few days later.
“I don’t know this woman. I’ve never met this woman. It’s not true. I gotta give it to her. It’s an incredible marketing ploy,” Jimmy said. “She is getting so many clicks and making so much money off my name. It’s insane.”
The TikToker posted a duet silently reacting to Jimmy’s response while eating chips and guac. “Two sides to every story…right?” she captioned the post.
In his response, Jimmy asked his followers to report her video. Most people, including Rikkii, seem to have decided that the TikToker’s video was satirical, and Ryann hasn’t posted anything further about it beyond her stitch reacting to Jimmy’s video.
“I guess it was supposed to be satire? Except nobody picked up on it,” Rikkii told BI. “People didn’t get that it was a joke. I didn’t take it as a joke at all. I thought this doesn’t seem real — but I thought she was faking it. We have that happen every season too.”
“She didn’t provide any proof, any receipts. That’s always what I look for when I hop onto a story,” she continued. “In the past, I’ve made the mistake of not getting the receipts and the person was completely making it up, just trying to get clout.”
The video, Rikkii said, “just seemed fishy to me, but a lot of people bought it.”
Neither Jimmy or Ryann replied to a request for comment.
This isn’t the first time TikTok exposed ‘Love Is Blind’ contestants
Perhaps most famously, the drama between Jackie Bonds, Josh Demas, and Marshall Glaze played out largely online while “Love Is Blind” season four aired last year.
If you recall, Jackie got engaged to Marshall in the pods but broke things off with him and got together with Josh, another one of her pod connections. TikTokers uncovered that Josh and Jackie were together before it was addressed onscreen, and also surfaced Jackie’s insulting texts to her friends about Marshall. (She later confirmed they were real and apologized for them.)
But even further back than that, in season one, the internet seemingly debunked season one star Mark Cuevas’ good-guy edit.
Mark got engaged to Jessica Batten on the show. Jessica, who was older than Mark, was quickly made out to be an indecisive harpy, and Mark was depicted as heartbroken when they split up at the altar in the finale.
However, allegations about Mark’s infidelity later surfaced online. According to E! News, one fan alleged in the comment section of the publication’s post that “Mark was sleeping with MULTIPLE women at the studio he trained at DURING the show.”
“Maybe show those interviews with his workers next time @Netflix,” the fan wrote.
Per E!, Jessica saw the comment and replied to the fan. “Wow. News to me, I only know about one,” she wrote.
Viewers’ appetite for tea — and the intense betrayal they feel when someone they were rooting for is seemingly revealed to be a fake — has catapulted the reach of TikTokers like Rikkii.
“The fans want to believe the show is real. They want to believe in love,” she told BI. “They just become really disappointed when they find out someone who was their favorite was a complete hoax. Finding out someone had a fiancé or a girlfriend really means you never had any intention on making a real connection.”
“People still want the Brett and Tiffanys, the Cameron and Laurens. So when you take the option away, and viewers realize we were never gonna get that from you, they’re disappointed.”
The next two episodes of “Love Is Blind” season six will air on February 28.
Read the original article on Business Insider