Who is Love is Blind's Cole and why is he making show fans upset?

When Love Is Blind season 3 kicked off, many viewers had pegged Bartise as the one they wouldn’t be a fan of in the latest installment. However, as episodes five to seven became available, Love is Blind’s Cole Barnett suddenly emerged as this season’s persona non grata. Despite viewers’ early-on affection for Cole, he’s managed to earn their newfound criticism for his interactions with his soon-to-be wife, Zanab Jaffrey. 

However, before we jump into what exactly he did to draw such a strong response from the public, let’s dive into who he is. 

Who is Love Is Blind's Cole? 

Love Is Blind fans met the now 27-year-old Cole as the "quirky" and energetic guy who was interesting to watch operate in the pods. For some, Cole seemed to embody the personality of season 2’s Shayne and season 1’s Barnett.  

With that said, Cole is indeed his own person. He’s currently a realtor in the Fort Worth area of Texas, and is a huge fan of the great outdoors. Just looking through his Instagram account, he spends quite a bit of time fishing, and he enjoys hitting the golf course and stand-up paddleboarding. 

When Cole came on the show, he was looking for a woman "who lives in faith with God," and oddly enough, is a fantastic driver. 

How did Cole from Love Is Blind season 3 upset fans? 

The downward spiral of Cole’s popularity with Love Is Blind viewers started when he mentioned to Zanab that fellow contestant Colleen was his typical type "in the real world." If that wasn’t bad enough that he made this point abundantly clear, he then had a conversation with his fiancé that viewers weren’t privy to seeing, but the couple rehashed while in bed. 

Apparently, the pair was previously having a discussion in which the looks of the other women contestants were brought up. He said that both Colleen and Raven were 10/10 when it came to their beauty. The problem with that is he said Zanab was a 9/10. The comment understandably made Zanab feel slighted as he ranked other women’s beauty above hers. 

As the two rehashed the comparison in bed, he further dug a hole for himself claiming that it’s unrealistic for a guy not to notice other women unless he’s married to Kim Kardashian. Cole attempted to save that last tragic comment by saying Zanab happens to look like Kim K.  

Things go from bad to worse when the cast reunites in Texas for another group event and Zanab converses with Nancy and Colleen. As the three women are talking, Colleen brings up the fact that Matt was bothered by Cole’s "inappropriate" confession to Colleen that he found her physically attractive and she was his type outside of the Love Is Blind experience. This confession was new to Zanab, so she went to speak to Colleen’s fiancé Matt, before eventually having a sitdown with Cole. 

The Cole and Zanab confrontation was definitely not a smooth one. He couldn’t find the right words to get him out of trouble. She was expressing that his constant compliments about Colleen’s appearance were actually attacking her "self-esteem," and he just grew agitated as he felt they were rehashing old problems. Then came Cole’s cringeworthy comment. He said: 

"Colleen and I told each other how we feel about each other physically. But in the pods, it was very clear that emotionally we had zero connection whatsoever. And you and I had, like, 11 out of 10 connection. Like, unreal. I proposed to you without seeing you. And then I saw you, and oh my gosh, there was another girl out of the five that I thought, ‘Wow. That’s more my type. That’s kinda what I was expecting to marry. But I proposed to a girl named Zanab. You think I thought Zanab would look like the girls I dated in the past that were named like, Lily?"

Fans weren’t too keen to hear that last line about her name and the women he’s dated in the past. Zanab, obviously didn’t like the statement either as she sarcastically chuckled that she loved his "whole display." 

Love Is Blind fans react to Cole’s attraction to Colleen and Zanab’s response

Like we talked about above, fans are not fanning over Cole at the moment. Check out what they’ve been saying on Twitter. 

Love Is Blind season 3 is now streaming on Netflix.