This week, Ellen Digital Network announced a new reality competition series, Game Night, which will feature the show’s hosts, Love Is Blind alums Cameron Hamilton and Lauren Speed Hamilton pitted against famous couples in a series of virtual games.
This is the second time the Ellen DeGeneres content house is partnering with Lauren, who also appears on their pandemic renovation series, Design Duo.
If you aren’t familiar with Love Is Blind , what were you doing in February of this year? We were all watching as a mix between Married at First site and The Bachelor unfolded on our Netflix screens. Of the six final couples, half are still together, two of those being marriages, and they filmed the show over a year and a half ago — so, not bad?
They were a fan favourite love story, but I never saw them becoming social media influencers. A couple days after the reunion aired, they posted their first video to a new Hangin' With The Hamiltons YouTube channel. Three months later, and they’ve got over 600K subscribers. Cameron’s got 1.9 million Instagram followers. Lauren has 2.5 million. And when the pandemic hit, you better believe they both joined TikTok!
I loved them on Love Is Blind. I love an interracial couple. I’m here for the representation… but I’ve never followed them since. But they clearly have a strong appeal. I think in a sea of vloggers and influencers who work full time plugging flat tummy tea on Instagram fresh out of high school, they stand out. They’re young professionals with a fairytale love story that transcends racial lines (which was covered on the Netflix series) and, the way I see it anyway, Lauren appears to wear the pants. While the show was airing, some conversation online revolved around assumptions that Cameron was creepy or unintelligent. He was often shown on camera just staring at Lauren in silence. But he’s a freaking scientist… by occupation, literally! He was just in love, and totally willing to let his woman lead.
He still is. Lauren was working as a digital content creator before the show, and it looks like she’s using all her skills to build an online profile of her own, but also a digital empire for them as a couple. Say what you want about living too much of your life online, but it’s the new normal. Soon, in your graduating year of high school, they’re not only going to ask you what career you want, but what your ‘brand’ will be.
The most successful men have a strong woman in their corner. No discredit to their love, but I’m more excited to watch a woman, a Black woman, use a reality TV launchpad to build something sustainable. Lauren has also upped Cameron’s style game x100.
At the opposite end of the spectrum, though, it’s Mark and Jessica. If Lauren and Cameron were Love Is Blind’s fan-fave love story that lasted, Mark and Jessica were exactly the mess that you watch smutty reality dating shows to see.
Their relationship was off from the time Jessica entertained another contestant before accepting Mark’s proposal, all the way to the moment (only he) said “I do.” The entire season we watched poor Mark try to make his fiancée, who clearly wasn’t attracted to him, fall in love with him to no avail, while she shamelessly and drunkenly flirted with the aforementioned other contestant.
But now, Mark appears to be just a messy. According to People, Mark rekindled a romance with ANOTHER Love Is Blind contestant who he had connected with before proposing to Jessica. Early last month, Mark and LA Chamblin began dating until LC found a Reddit post titled, "My close friend's co-worker is dating Mark!!” – and she commented! I love when people have no shame. She called it “awkward,” before returning to thank the user, “I definitely just broke it off with Mark so I really do appreciate you posting this and saving me the energy on dating another liar.”
But the mess doesn’t stop there! E! News posted the new developments on their Instagram, and @commentsbycelebs found a personal trainer who claims Mark was sleeping with women from his gym DURING the show.
During the show? That’s Jessica’s domain, so of course she enters the conversation. “Wow. News to me, I only knew about one.”
Netflix should have kept rolling.
