'Love Is Blind': Shayne Jansen Explains Why He Defended Irina Solomonova (Exclusive)
Shayne Jansen knows all about being labeled as a villain. The Love Is Blind alum appeared in Season 2 of the show and was part of a love triangle, at least per the viewers, with his eventual fiance Natalie – and Shaina, another woman he fell for in the pods. Natalie has since spoken out against Jansen, alleging he had inappropriate contact with Shaina during their relationship. She said no at the altar, and they tried to pick back up where they left off, but ultimately failed and are not in contact. Now, he's empathetic for Season 4 participant Irina Solomonova, who has had fierce backlash from the fans.
Solomonova came under fire for her mean girl behavior with co-star Micah Lussier and her treatment towards her fiancé Zack Goytowski before they split. Jansen spoke in her defense on his Instagram Story, sharing a comment that he left on one of Solomonova's posts in which he hit back against the hatred that the Season 4 star has received. His comment read: "I know I'll get a ton of backlash for this. But these comments are honestly absolutely disgusting. Yes, what she did was horrible completely. Completely horrible I don't defend it. But seeing most of these comments the hate some of you have is sad."
In Jansen's interview with us, Jansen explained why he did so. "Because honestly, listen, I went through hell and back for my season. I went through hell and back. And I'm 33, she's 26. I couldn't imagine being 26 and going through that kind of pain and hell. And I really don't think, think Love Is Blind, although they are very, very passionate fan base, they are very, very toxic as well," he said. Participants on the show have been vocal about the emotional turmoil social media users have caused due to their criticism.
Jansen added: "There needs to be a change. And I try just to do a little something because no matter what someone does, the amount of bullying she got back in return, it doesn't make sense to me. If she's a bully, does that mean that we can all be bullies back to her? And we always press about being better people and try to teach people to be better people. And no one was defending her, and I knew how she was. I knew she was probably going to be depressed. And I knew she would be in her bed, not be able to get up, do anything like that. And no one was sticking up for her. And it wasn't OK."
He says the criticism is OK, unless it's constructive. "Like I said, we're all subject to criticism. The words that she was getting were not criticism, that was bullying back to her, and it was disgusting," he explained.