Reality AF: Love Is Blind Season 8 Preview

When Valentine’s Day rolls around you can always count on seeing three things: overpriced flowers, heart-shaped antacids with trite sayings written on them, and a new season of Love is Blind. 

The first six episodes of season eight drop on Valentine’s Day and this time around the Nick and Vanessa Lachey-hosted relationship series is set in Minnesota. Or as the locals there probably say… Minn-A-SO-TAH. While the Love is Blind formula remains mostly the same (32 singles blindly get to know each other over 10 days, some get proposals, they meet in person and freak out in good and bad ways, and drink only from golden goblets) this season the participants and the setting are quite different. 

This season of Love is Blind is unlike any of its predecessors. And while I’ve previously written about how Love is Blind is filmed, in this season eight preview I’ll be providing a spoiler-free look at this newest iteration to whet your appetite for what’s sure to be a unique experience. 

Here are the biggest takeaways from the first six episodes of everyone’s favorite visually-impaired reality relationship series. 

6 Things That Stand Out

Minnesota Nice: Love is Blind viewers are accustomed to a certain level of drama. After all, this is a show where someone applied eye drops to make themselves look like they were crying, a guy bragged about his time “in the bush” with lions and leopards, and a man explained how a 41-year-old woman in Bali taught him about orgasmic pleasure. And this was all the same person! Andrew from season three is a first ballot LIB Hall of Famer. 

Amazingly, viewers get little pod drama this season as most participants are from one of the nicest states in America, Minnesota. In one episode, Brittany calmly and politely breaks up with someone and that person handles it with grace. In another, Meg breaks the heart of the man who was her clear number one but the relationship ends amicably. 

This amount of emotional maturity is odd for a reality show, but also refreshing. Not only is there minimal drama but everyone gets along. The women build a blanket fort together. At one point one of the men says to his cohorts, “I hope we all get engaged.” Minnesota Nice won’t be destroyed by a reality show. 

Love abounds: There are a record number of love triangles this season, and even a couple of love squares. Brittany, Lauren, Madison, Meg, Molly, Virginia, Alex, David, Mason, and David are all intertwined in one way or another. 

Now that’s what I call music: I’ve previously made fun of the saccharine songs from no-name artists featured on this show. Thankfully the music budget has dramatically improved. Now viewers will get to enjoy saccharine songs from Miley Cyrus, Coldplay, Jason Mraz, Billie Eilish, Belinda Carlisle, and several other recognizable names. 

Cushy gig: I timed it and Nick and Vanessa Lachey appear for a total of 98 seconds in the first six episodes. These two make Jesse Palmer look like a workhorse. Good work if you can get it. 

Politics: You wouldn’t think the 47th President would come up in conversation on a reality dating show filmed in early 2024 but that’s exactly what happens between two singles with opposing political views. As is always the case with this cast, the chat is cordial but it’s still interesting to see politics and Donald Trump come up in a dating series because it happens so rarely. In real life this topic can lead to a breakup.