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Okay, Seriously—This Man Might Be the Worst Ever ‘Love Is Blind’ Villain

By Emma Chance | TV | October 24, 2024 |

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Header Image Source: Netflix

I’ve been waiting for the Love Is Blind season seven finale to update you on the biggest villain of the season, as it keeps changing. After last week’s batch of episodes, I was convinced it was Hannah Jiles, who got engaged to Nick Dorka in the pods and then proceeded to berate him about stocks and taking out the trash for the next three weeks. Then she dumped him because he … wasn’t mature enough for her, I guess? She used the word “mature” so much it pretty much lost all meaning.

“I thought maturity was being independent and having your shit together,” Hannah told Vulture. “In the grand scheme of things, is that maturity? Probably not. I brought it up a lot because I felt he wasn’t at the same level as me in adulthood or in a relationship.”

Hannah’s treatment of Nick has since been categorized as cruel and unusual punishment by the viewers. “When you watch it, yes, my delivery was horrible,” she admitted. “Some of the things I said I never should have said. I should have been a lot kinder. But I was very, very frustrated, and you’re seeing that frustrated self.”

Even Hannah’s family seemed tired of her harsh personality. Her parents basically just rolled their eyes at her complaints about Nick, and her brother admitted to him that she was pretty mean to him too when they were alone together for five minutes. Behind closed doors, though, I bet Nick was a piece of work, so I can’t really be that mad at her. She’ll figure out for herself eventually that you can’t turn a boy into a man, no matter how hard you try. Trying hard makes it less likely, actually.

On the subject of immature men, though: Tyler Francis.

This season we had the asshole art dealer, the guy who drunk-sexted another woman during a sleep test, Hannah The Mean, and in the eleventh hour, the man who broke up with his fiancée because her energy was “too much” for him, an old classic. It was a good season for villains, but all of them pale in comparison to Tyler Francis…potentially.

Tyler and Ashley Adionser were early favorites in the pods. Their shared vulnerability felt genuine and profound, they had great chemistry and a lot of interests in common. On paper, they seemed like a perfect couple.

Until a surprising confrontation when it was uncovered that Tyler had children and hadn’t told Ashley. “Sperm babies,” they call them, because he donated his sperm to a gay couple he was friends with so they could have children, or so he claims. Tyler assured Ashley that he didn’t have a relationship with them and he wasn’t even sure if they knew what he looked like. Ashley, for her part, was patient and calm throughout the conversation, but she was upset that this information hadn’t been shared with her sooner. Like, you know, before they got engaged?

It would have been one thing if Francis had just donated some sperm to a sperm bank in college or something and went on his merry way. Helping your friends start a family in this way is a generous act, but absolutely something that should be shared with a potential partner. The dishonesty was bad enough, but then the mother of the children entered the chat.

Bri Thomas posted a series of five confessional videos on Instagram explaining the situation. She explains that Tyler was “initially only supposed to be helping” her and her ex-wife in conceiving their eldest son, and he was not to assume a fatherly role. Then the women broke up and Tyler stepped in to help Bri. Tyler asked Bri if she would “be okay” with him being a father to her son because he didn’t want him “to be raised by a single mother” like he was. Bri agreed, and she says “since that moment” Tyler has “acted” as a father to their son.

Then, there are the twins, who Bri claims were conceived naturally with Tyler. She admits to being uncomfortable “with that truth” because of her sexuality but maintains that Tyler was heavily involved in her pregnancy and the birth of the twins. “We left the hospital as parents of three children,” Bri says, adding that they lived together for over a year “in an attempt to give the kids a two-parent household,” but agreeing that they would be dating other people. She concludes that he hasn’t spoken to or seen the kids since September 30th, 2023, “the day he left for the show.” She supported him going on the show and wanted him to find love, but she didn’t think he’d “disown” his kids and lie about them in the process. She also prayed that “at some point” she’d receive “financial support” from Tyler, which she feels she and her children “are owed.”

Listen, the situation between Tyler and Bri sounds unconventional at best, and part of me feels like Tyler was understandably ashamed of their falling out and didn’t want to discuss that on camera. His initial confession to Ashley was not recorded, in fact, only the ensuing conversation. That instinct I can respect. But if Bri’s version of the story turns out to be true, he wins the villain Olympics.

Tyler hasn’t addressed this controversy beyond responding to a comment on Instagram, writing, “This is not facts. Just be patient. I’ll explain it all very soon.” The situation wasn’t addressed again on the show, and they both said yes at the altar. They’re still playing coy and not posting anything confirming if they’re still together or not, so we won’t know anything until the reunion on October 30th. Somewhere, Vanessa Lachey is cackling and rubbing her hands together maniacally.