Shared from theblast.com.
“Love Is Blind” season 1 contestant Jessica Batten was a polarizing figure.
Although she walked away from her relationship with Mark, she has since gotten engaged to surgeon Benjamin McGrath since leaving the show and launched her own podcast, called “Unsettled.”
Jessica recently sat down with Us Weekly to talk about the season 2 cast, especially controversial character Abishek “Shake” Chatterjee and Shaina Hurley, who has been dubbed Jessica 2.0.
Jessica Batten Says ‘Love Is Blind’ Season 2 Is ‘Weighing Heavy’
In the interview, Jessica became emotional when she said, “I’m gonna try not to cry right now, but it’s weighing heavy on [me].”
“It’s hard for me to see someone be torn apart regardless of their actions on TV,” she explained. “And sometimes with editing and, you know, there’s entertainment for a show, sometimes you have to take accountability for things that you didn’t do. That’s my No. 1 [piece of] advice to the cast that’s reached out.”
She also said that she felt “traumatized” by watching the rest of the cast overwhelmingly condemn Shake’s behavior towards his fiancée, Deepti. Shake had previously shared an Instagram Story where he said that he “had fun” playing the “villain” of the show.
“Sometimes people aren’t mature enough to have to go outside of your ego to be able to do something just to move on and live your life and have another chance,” Jessica continued. “He’s not taking the chance at this time and he’s not willing to kind of fall on that sword, whether it’s totally, you know, his fault or not. I think there’s probably certain things that weren’t aired that he’s probably just so hurt about and caught up about [but] he’s still human, who still needs to [be] treated like a human being. And quite frankly, the scenes that I saw come out where he was being viciously attacked, I was a little traumatized by that.”
Jessica Calls Deepti Her ‘Favorite Character’ On ‘Love Is Blind’
Although she feels bad for Shake, she revealed that she has reached out to Shake’s “lovely” ex, Deepti Vempati, who revealed that she was “choosing herself” at the altar after Shake made “disrespectful” comments about his lack of physical attraction to her throughout the show.
“I love Deepti, she’s my favorite character off the show. I’ve reached out to her and she’s so lovely, but I don’t wanna see — especially with everything going on in the world right now — anyone being attacked so viciously for putting themselves out there in an experiment to find out if love is blind,” Jessica continued as she continued to address Shake’s comments during the reunion special.
“It’s not, you know, preemptive love is blind. He’s saying a lot, he’s saying too much and he’s falling all over his words, and he is not saying the right things, but I think we need to be human and try to understand and stop the piling on because this is when truly bad things can happen to people who signed themselves up for this,” she added.
Jessica Batten Comments On Shaina Being Called ‘Jessica 2.0’
Although Jessica accepted a proposal for Mark, she also had feelings for Matt Barnett, who became engaged to now-wife Amber Pike during season 1. Likewise, Shaina accepted a proposal from Kyle Abrams, although she wasn’t over Shayne Jansen, who became engaged to Natalie Lee.
“I love it. I think my behavior as seen on that show was much worse than anything that she has done. Obviously, I didn’t love the way that it looked on there, but I’ve actually spoken with her and she’s lovely,” Jessica said. “I’ve spoken with Natalie as well. They’re both very lovely people and it’s really hard because this is a competition. At the end of the day, it’s an experiment. And it’s a competition in that we’re all dating the same guys.”
“You’re gonna have the same person interested in the same guy. I mean, it’s just gonna happen. It’s just part of the show,” she continued. “There’s no other way to have drama unless you have love triangles. I feel for her because she didn’t have, you know, the perfect match [in Kyle] and maybe she had lingering feelings for Shayne.”
“I feel like it’s more of a friendship, but two, the thing people have to understand is when you go into these pods, you will fall in love with a rock. You’re so comfortable,” she added. “And the situation is so intense and you’re alone, like, you’re stripped of your friends and family and access to all the things that you’re used to. And you get into these rooms and you’re exposing yourself and they want you to talk about your innermost feelings. You’re gonna fall for these people.”
Images and Article from theblast.com