Raven Ross, star of the third season of Netflix’s Love Is Blind, has addressed a scene that left viewers upset at her lack of sensitivity.
The 29-year-old pilates instructor was seen doing jumping jacks while listening to her potential partner, Bartise Bowden, open up about his parents’ divorce.
Bowden, 27, spoke candidly about how he felt after his parents separated and admitted he had never told anyone before.
However, although he could not see Ross due to the wall between them, he could hear her exercising and called her out after telling his story.
Speaking to People, Ross admitted that it was “horrible” timing to do jumping jacks during Bowden’s moment of vulnerability.
“Editing is always a factor, but I’m going to own up to it: it was a horrible time to do jumping jacks,” she said.
“I totally take accountability for that. However, I was working out the whole time. Sometimes you got to stay active, keep yourself awake.”
Viewers criticised Ross for working out, with one person tweeting: “Can anyone watching Love Is Blind S3 confirm this is quietly one of the most insane scenes in reality TV history?”
Another said: “I cannot believe Raven is doing jumping jacks and hip thrusts while Bartise is sharing trauma.”
“Jumping jacks as someone tells you about their parents’ marriage ending is crazy,” a third declared.
But Ross appeared to take the backlash in her stride and told the publication: “They are really trolling me, right? I think it’s funny though. Keep the memes coming. Just stay out of my DMs about it.”
Ross and Bowden did not end up engaged. Instead, Ross accepted a proposal from Sikiru “SK” Alagbada, while Bowden proposed to Nandy Rodriguez.
Elsewhere, another candidate on the show left viewers baffled after he appeared to use eye drops to “fake cry” following a rejection by Rodriguez.
While it is unclear whether he was faking the tears or suffering from dry eyes, Rodriguez reacted to the moment on Tuesday (25 October) and said Liu gave her “a lot of deception”.
“I must have superpowers in the pod to be able to tell that something was off,” she told Newsweek. “When I saw that scene, it just really confirmed and validated that I made the right choice to say ‘no’ to someone who wasn’t in this experiment and this experience for the real reasons.”
