As I prepared to interview Shaina Hurley and Kyle Abrams about Love Is Blind Season 2, I found myself searching for a more polite way to phrase the question audiences would certainly have after witnessing the couple’s confusing romance: What were they thinking?!
The reasons Shaina and Kyle would not work out seem pretty obvious on paper. He’s an atheist, and she’s a Christian whose beliefs do not include evolution. There’s also the small fact that Shaina seemed to be way more into another guy from the show: Shayne Jansen, who left the pods engaged to Natalie Lee. Right after getting engaged to Kyle, in fact, viewers observe Shaina professing her deep feelings to a frustrated, emotionally confused Shayne. Again I ask: Um... what?
“I will never judge another reality star again,” Shaina told The Daily Beast during a recent interview. “Ever.”
“I’m sure looking out towards me, people are gonna think I’m, like, this villain,” the hairstylist said, “which I hope I’m not... But again, people are gonna be judging. They have their opinions. I just learned through this experience, don’t judge anybody.”
One thing Shaina hadn’t expected from her Love Is Blind experience? How hesitant she felt throughout the process. “I think people think I’m really outgoing and I’m loud,” she said. “And I was shocked with how shy I became when it came to true intimacy.”
Kyle, on the other hand, appeared to dive in head-first with Shaina. Despite the pair’s opposing views on big subjects like religion and meat-eating (Kyle breaks a years-long vegetarian diet on their first night together), the construction worker said his connection with Shaina felt strong because when they spoke, “I didn’t have to put on an act.”
“In other dates, I felt inept. I felt like I wasn’t as sharp or as smart as they wanted,” he continued. “And with Shaina, it was like playtime all the time... We were just friends at the playground, and I didn’t have to do any tricks.”
Kyle also reiterated one point he made about Shaina during the season: that she reminded him of other members of his family, especially his mother. “They’re both so charismatic and likable,” he said, “and that’s really what drew me in, was the likability factor.”
Unfortunately, Shaina and Kyle’s spark died out the moment they left the pods—especially when they landed in Mexico, where Love Is Blind sends its couples to enjoy a honeymoon period before they decide if they ultimately want to leave the show as husband and wife.
Things weren’t looking good when Shaina decided they should sleep in separate suites and then put herself to bed around 7:30 p.m. And when she sent herself home the next morning, leaving her fiancé on the beach to take a solo selfie video, the message seemed pretty clear. But Kyle chased her to Chicago, and somehow the two patched things up over green juice just long enough for him to meet her extremely skeptical family.
As painfully awkward as that sit-down appeared on the show, Kyle said he actually had a great time with Shaina’s family—all of whom told him they’d gone into the gathering ready to hate him.
“I went in knowing that they were gonna come at me with some controversial questions,” Kyle said. He recalled Shaina’s brothers telling him, “We thought you were gonna be some douchebag, but you’re actually somebody that we might hang out with.”
“That was a huge compliment to me,” he said. “I felt really good after that.”
Sadly for Kyle, Shaina still wasn’t feeling it. And so came one of reality television’s most inevitable splits: He asked to move in together, and she asked to break up. “I want a man who’s going to be able to spiritually lead me... Spiritually, I’m going to need more” she said. And then, Kyle’s most-dreaded “G” word: “No one will ever be bigger than God in my life.”
Shaina copped to being indecisive when it came to her relationships on the show, an issue she said has plagued her for much of her life.
“I just kept going back and forth... People-pleasing and again, not staying true to myself [or] being more forthright.”
“I definitely wish I would’ve been more forthright from the beginning,” she added.
OK, but what about that beachside conversation with Shayne? The one when she placed air quotes around his relationship with Natalie and told her old flame, “If you guys think you’re compatible, that is comical.”
That... seemed pretty direct!
Shaina described that flirtatious confrontation as her finally speaking her truth. “Just like, owning it.” Although she tried to make excuses for it on the show, Shaina now admits that it might not have been the best idea to text Natalie saying that if she and Shayne don’t work out, she knows another guy who might be interested—“something I should never have said.”
At the same time, she added, “Me and Shayne were also friends, you know what I'm saying? Besides us not ending up together in the show.” Yes, the conversation was messy and emotional—and yes, as Shaina put it, “I think I should have probably inquired instead of assumed.” (Natalie, I’m guessing, would likely agree!) Still, she insists, the encounter “was mainly me looking out for and caring for [Shayne].”
When asked what it felt like to be involved in one of this season’s two love triangles, Kyle had to ask who the other corner was—although he had an idea. “I’m assuming it’s about Shayne?”
“I had no idea,” he said. “So she’s good. She's good... She got me.”
In this case, love did not conquer all. But did the two at least learn something about dating from this televised social experiment? What would they do differently, if given the opportunity?
Shaina reiterated that she would be more forthright. And as for Kyle?
“Pick someone else? I don’t know.”
