🎙️ Voice is AI-generated. Inconsistencies may occur.
Love Is Blind star Abhishek "Shake" Chatterjee is making waves again, and this time, he's got his sights set on three cast members from Season 2.
In a Tuesday appearance on The Domenick Nati Show, Shake made a number of accusations, including saying that Kyle Abrams just wanted to be on TV, Shake's ex-fiancée Deepti Vempati has been playing the victim and implied Shayne Jansen may have used drugs.
Shake spoke with host Domenick Nati for about 10 minutes about a variety of topics. It started off slow, with a question about Shake's current girlfriend, Emily Wilson. Though he said he was "the happiest I've ever been," Shake added it was unlikely they'd get married this year.
"I think that's a pretty aggressive move," Shake said.
After a bit more conversation about Emily, he addressed a comment he made on Love Is Blind about needing to be able to pick up a woman and put her on his shoulders.
"That's one of like the big misrepresentations on the show. You know, I am so attracted to all types of women. I love it all. But when it comes to something like marriage, I do have a stronger preference for a certain type—for marriage," Shake said. "Like somebody says, 'My man's can't handle us thick women.' Well, there's some truth to that. I'm a scrawny dude. I'm, like, a lanky, scrawny dude. I wish I wish I was big enough and strong enough to like, pick up.. a thicker woman."
Soon, though, Shake started talking about his Love Is Blind cast members. He told Dominick that he hadn't spoken to Deepti since the reunion.
"I'm hurt, and she's playing up this victim thing so hard, when we had so much fun. And I took so good care of her," he said.
Shake hasn't kept in touch with any of the other contestants either, saying they "became people who would do anything and say anything to protect their image."
"And I started kind of seeing it and calling it out. And they did not like it. They did not like it. It turned into—people will just lie through their teeth, just to protect their image. Align with whoever they need to align with the protect their image," he continued. "No truly new information was revealed during, like, the show. But once people saw public perception, they aligned themselves with either, you know, this person or that person. 'Oh, this person is America's sweetheart now, like we're on this person's team.' I'm not gonna say any names, right?"
"These were the same people I was spending time with, like a week before—literally a week before the show came out," he added. "But once they once they knew who was going to be hated and who was going to be loved, they jumped ship and aligned themselves."
Despite earlier promising to not name names, Shake calls out Kyle for saying that he should have proposed to Deepti, when they had spent time together before the reunion, watching the Super Bowl with Deepti and Shayne.
"Like, why didn't you tell me the 50 times we hung out before? That meant that was saved on purpose to be a dramatic statement—like, kind of at my expense, even though I didn't really feel like hurt by it," he said.
Shake says he's not friends with anyone in the cast, saying the other contestants "revealed their character."
Shake wasn't done unloading on Kyle, though. He said Kyle had appeared on the show just for the fame, rather than to find love.
"I know [Kyle] applied to, like, 10 different shows. That tells me that it wasn't about love. You know, everybody else is like, 'OK, yeah, I never thought I'd be on reality TV until this popped up in my life.' And then meanwhile, like, Kyle was trying to get on any show, like taking acting lessons, doing all this s***," Shake said.
Dominick brought up rumors Shayne was using drugs, asking explicitly if he was on cocaine. Shake hedged his answer verbally, but made a big show of winking during his response.
"I'm not allowed to say. We're not allowed to say anything to that extent. But all I can say is, use your critical judgment and don't be an idiot. And everything you're thinking is probably right."
A representative for Shayne told Newsweek he denies any and all drug allegations, and acknowledges that Shake is going through a rough time right now and wishes him the best.
Newsweek reached out to Kyle and Deepti for comment.
Since the reunion, Shake has been rocking the boat. In the weeks since the special, he's announced a new podcast, Love Is Blurry, based off a comment he made in the reunion. He also complained that the only person on the Love Is Blind set he was attracted to was Vanessa Lachey, who hosts the show with her pop star husband Nick, then attacked Nick for a comment Shake saw as a slam on veterinarians.
Shake also accused the show of deceptively editing the show to make him look like the bad guy, though creator Chris Coelen disputes these claims.
"Every other member of the cast seems to think that he got a pretty good edit," he told Variety.
Update (3/23/2022, 11:05 p.m.): This article has been updated to include comment from Shayne's representative.
About the writer
Matt Keeley is a Newsweek editor based in Seattle. His focus is reporting on trends and internet culture. He has ... Read more