Irina Solomonova: is she the worst villain in love is blind story?
A new season of love is blind is upon us, and with it comes a new breed of couple hopefuls and weird losers who should never have left the pod stage.
In the latter category falls Irina Solomonova, an agent of chaos who seems motivated only by her all-consuming desire to make other people unhappy.
There was a time, not too long ago, when we thought Shake Chatterjee’s title was the worst love is blind Villain would forever remain unchallenged.
But Irina certainly gave Shake a run for his money during her relatively short stint on the show.
If you’ve watched the first few episodes of the current season (if you haven’t proceeded with caution – spoilers follow!) then you know that Irina seemed to enjoy her role as the embodiment of evil.
Usually the craziest behavior at LiB is reserved for the phase when the couples have to return home and deal with real life together.
But Irina started acting during the pod portion, teaming up with “best friend” Micah Lussier to bully her fellow contestants, some of whom were already struggling emotionally.
Irina focused most of her weird, misguided anger on Bliss Poureetezadi, with whom she was vying for Zack Goytowski’s affections.
Solomonova won that fight, but she wasn’t very keen on reaping the rewards.
In fact, she didn’t seem interested in Zack from the start, telling the defense attorney that he looked like a “cartoon character” and confiding in Micah that Goytowski “gives.” [her] I like.”
Irina and Zach at least had the common sense to end it early and give him the freedom to pursue a second chance with Bliss.
These days, Irina reads the reactions to her insidious ruse and realizes she needs to do some damage control.
“The first thing I want to say is that I have privately apologized to the people I have hurt and abused,” she said in an Instagram video earlier this week.
“Secondly, I wanted to say that I’m so, so, so sorry for the people who watched the show who felt frustrated, angry and hurt because I mistreated people on the show,” she continued.
“In a lot of those situations, it was very immature and naive of me.”
Irina explained that she now realizes how deplorable her behavior was and vowed to grow and change as a result of her experiences with LiB.
“None of these people deserve to be treated the way I treated them. I know none of those things were okay,” Solomnova said.
“I feel like being on the show was like holding a mirror in front of your face in a sense that you see yourself from a different perspective,” she continued.
“It opened up so much for me and I’m still processing and going through everything that happened.”
Commentators’ reaction was decidedly mixed, with some accusing Irina of only apologizing for the sake of her reputation.
“What? Sorry… all I heard was ‘I’m posting this so I don’t get canceled entirely and this is all about me’ lolol,” one person wrote.
“Nobody will want to be associated with you and your company if you treat people and laugh behind their backs,” chimed in another, adding, “I hope this is a real wake-up call for you and seek professional advice.” and help.”
Irina will likely have a hard time convincing the masses that she’s serious about her desire to become a better person.
But hey, at least she doesn’t lean into her rogue arc as completely as Shake!