In case you missed it, there’s basically a Love Is Blind season 8 spinoff airing on TikTok — and Ben Mezzenga is at the center (holding a gopher, or whatever symbol would represent Minnesota if this was The Real Housewives).
Ben, a 28-year-old former baseball player, got engaged to oncology nurse Sara Carton on the latest season of the Netflix series. While the show is currently airing — the most recent batch of episodes premiered on February 21 — the series shook up Minneapolis when it was filming last year, with Sara, 29, receiving a video about an unnamed cast member who was quickly identified as Ben.
“That day when we were at the brewery, that’s when I saw the TikTok for the first time. I left him and his friends to have their own chat together, I go outside and I’m with my assistant producer, I am on my phone, I’m scrolling, I see a TikTok come through on a Love Is Blind girls group chat,” Sara began during an exclusive interview with Us Weekly. “At this point, it’s been posted for a couple hours and there were hundreds of comments tagging Ben specifically. I was really confused because she never specifically said his name, but I’m like, ‘How are all these people pinpointing that it’s him? And how do all these people know who he is?’ I was really trying to understand.”
After filming wrapped at the brewery, Sara confronted Ben.
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“I go up to him and I show him. I’m like, ‘Is this about you? Do you know this girl?’ And he said, ‘Yeah, I know this girl,’” Sara continued, revealing she told Ben to watch the video. “My assistant producer, obviously, had to do her job and told my producer, [so] they split us apart. We had to go back to the apartment and film.”
Back at home, Sara was sent a second TikTok from the same woman, which is what viewers saw her see on the couch.
“We watched [the second TikTok] for the first time [in front of the cameras] and that is when she said that he blocked her. … That told me it is about him,” Sara recalled.
While she noted that the allegations against her fiancé were “pretty broad,” she was naturally concerned.
“She didn’t say anything specific other than him treating girls s—-y — and that can be taken in so many ways,” she told Us. “I was like, ‘OK, what extent are we talking here? Should I be concerned for my safety?’ I didn’t feel unsafe by any means, but [I] don’t want to take this lightly if it’s something serious. But I also, like, I don’t want to take this super seriously if he was just a d-bag or something.”
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Sara explained that she was taking in all of this information in real time.
“I didn’t have enough [information] and I didn’t have enough context. I only knew Ben for, like, a month. I couldn’t gauge it,” she said.
On the show, Ben shared a few conflicting answers about the woman in the video. At one point, he said they matched on Tinder and went to dinner, but he also repeatedly said he didn’t remember much about their relationship.
When Us asked Sara about Ben’s apparent amnesia, she laughed.
“I don’t know! This is the thing: I knew I had to take it seriously and it was always in the back of my head. But also, I’m an enneagram 2 — naturally a caregiver. I was protecting Ben. I was protecting our relationship, and at the time, I was like, ‘I honestly don’t wanna talk about this more than what we need to, but we obviously need to talk about the facts and I do have questions.’ And so when he was saying he doesn’t remember, it’s like, ‘OK, then you need to tell me at least off camera what you do remember.’”
Sara hinted that Ben didn’t give her much more info at the time, but she wanted to trust his word.
“He was protecting himself and I felt bad that he was in this situation,” she added. “I thought, ‘I’m not going to dismiss her with what she says, but I fell in love with you today — not four years ago.’ And I believe people can change and evolve. That’s who we are. We’re growing people. I didn’t want to discredit him and our relationship.”
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Since the show started streaming, there have been other videos emerging online about the cast, including one user alleging Ben had given business cards advertising his YouTube channel to past hookups.
Sara confirmed to Us that she has seen the cards — but fans will have to wait and see if that becomes a topic on the series.
Prior to the TikTok drama, Sara and Ben were an unlikely match as they clashed over the importance of certain political issues in the pods.
“I talked to Ben for 20 [or] 30-plus hours [in the pods]. You literally talk about everything under the sun. You talk about family, you talk about all your interests, your background. So, of course, I did talk about values, which is shown basically for every conversation that we had, which is fine,” she said, adding that things between them actually felt “so light” and “seamless” despite what viewers saw. “We just had good banter. We were able to make each other laugh so easily. And honestly, every time I walked into the room and I heard his voice, I instantly smiled and my heart felt warm. It just felt like, overall, a really great connection. I love that we were able to talk about everything.”
One particular issue that came up was the Black Lives Matter movement, something that Sara noted hit close to home as George Floyd was murdered in Minnesota.
“I know that everyone is on a different wavelength. Everyone’s on a different path — we’re all evolving, growing people and we only know what we know, but the conversation matters,” she told Us. “That’s why having the conversation for me is important because I’m curious, but I also want a partner who’s curious, I want to live and learn and grow. We may never have all the right answers, which is fine, but being actively present in the real world of what’s happening around us I think is important. I wasn’t necessarily looking for a right or wrong answer. I have a foundation of those beliefs, but also I do like learning about different perspectives and I just wanted to have a conversation.”
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Sara insisted that Ben was “receptive” and “never came off negative” about having these conversations.
“He was never backing down out of these conversations — obviously, they are uncomfortable sometimes and they’re touchy subjects,” she continued. “And also for him to be vulnerable enough to say he hasn’t really thought about something or that he hasn’t voted or whatever, like, at least he told me that and he’s being vulnerable with me in that setting.”
Sara and Ben are one of five couples that got engaged on season 8 of Love Is Blind, but it’s still TBD if they make it down the aisle. The first nine episodes are currently streaming on Netflix and three new episodes drop on Friday, February 28.
