‘Love Is Blind’ Star Irina Solomonova Was the Reality TV Villain We Needed in 2023

When it comes to good reality television, well-behaved cast members rarely make history. Sure, a beautiful love story is something to behold (if that's your thing, may we recommend The Golden Bachelor), but Love Is Blind promotes the promise of something else.

Namely, a bunch of messy drama from a group of 20- and 30-somethings who live their lives chock full of delusion and narcissism, aiming to fall in love with each other by discussing their favorite colors from the comfort of a pod room floor. In fact, the show doesn't work without mess.

As seen in Love Is Blind's fifth season, which premiered in September, the show falters without the presence a grade-A disturbance. (Lydia and Uche's weird backstory just wasn't it, sorry!)

All of this explains why Irina Solomonova's calamitous presence in Season 4 was such a nostalgic breath of reality TV fresh air.

Let's make one thing clear. Is Irina good person? Maybe not. But that's not really the point.

Irina was Love Is Blind's chaos agent, harkening back to villains from the glory days of VH1 and MTV, when we all fell in love with trashy reality TV in the first place.

What made Irina such a dastardly good time was her addiction to pettiness. I mean, she sent the pods into a fury when she stole one measly birthday candle! A birthday candle! They just don't make them like Irina anymore!

Her presence was made even more impactful because she had an accomplice in the form of fellow Season 4 mean girl Micah Lussier.

Together, they were a two-headed villainous monster, destroying any man, woman or relationship they could sink their teeth into.

Watching Irina and Micah in action was like watching two hyenas set loose in a sea of kittens. They saw their prey and they attacked, even if that prey was the engagement of Kwame Appiah and Chelsea Griffin, who are still very much married despite Irina and Micah's best efforts!

In fact, Irina makes for such a great villain because she didn't succeed. There's less to feel gross about.

Shows like Love Is Blind — and all seven billion of its contemporaries — have become increasingly devoid of personality, afraid to let bad people do bad things.

In Irina, we saw a glimpse of the beauty of reality TV's past and, hopefully, all that it still can still be.

Best TV Villain of 2023 Honorable Mentions