The season 3 star reacts to the controversial post-credits scene played after the 'Love Is Blind' reunion.
Cole Barnett is speaking out in the aftermath of the controversy surrounding him and his ex-fiancée, Zanab Jaffrey, on season 3 of Love Is Blind. The reunion special, which aired last month, found the exes at odds with Zanab throwing accusations that Cole had body shamed her and bragged about getting other girls' numbers at his bachelor party.
Zanab and her other female co-stars all spoke about unaired footage of Cole allegedly calling her out for eating two Cutie oranges ahead of their dinner. Cole begged Netflix to air the footage and they complied, sharing the scene in full as the credits for the reunion were rolling. The footage was met with mixed reactions online, with many viewers thinking it vindicated Cole.
In his first interview since the reunion aired, Cole is speaking out about the now-infamous "Cuties" scene and his entire experience on the show.
"To me, I'm just so thankful that they played the Cuties scene, because I don't know why you'd say I was body shaming you as well. I wasn't body shaming you. I was just asking and saying, 'Hey, we planned this big dinner.' I was just speaking to it and being myself," he said on the Lauren Interviews podcast. "I was trying to keep things light. And the reason that I'm using the word 'appetito' instead of appetite and speaking like a normal human is because I knew how sensitive things were with Zay on everything. I was walking on eggshells because I knew there's just trip wires everywhere. The moment I say one thing that hits her wrong, I'm now the worst. I was just trying to figure out how to even speak without saying something wrong."
Cole was also caught off-guard by his ex's speech at their wedding where she declared that he'd "shattered" her self confidence.
"She played me, 100 percent she played me," Cole said of Zanab's speech. "She told me that there was a chance that we were getting married. She said she was 100 or 1,000 percent ready to marry me at that last date and then we talked off-camera and I let her know I wasn't ready to get married."
Cole claimed that he and Zanab had discussed continuing their relationship after not getting married and seeing if it could do the distance without the pressure of the cameras.
"She verbatim told me, 'I don't want any drama at the wedding,' and then she did what she did at the wedding," Cole said. "So yeah, I got totally played and it was scripted. And it's just a lie for her at the reunion to say that she was still trying to decide on wedding day whether or not she was ready to marry me. It's like, 'Yo, if that was true then how the hell do you say what you said about me?' That would make you all sorts of messed up if you felt that way about someone and you were trying to decide if you wanted to marry them that day."
Though Cole said that the show was edited to look a certain way, he shot down the notion that Netflix producers might have encouraged Zanab's altar speech.
"The producers do not put words in your mouth. They do not coordinate things like that," he insisted. "That was 100 percent Zanab's decision. It was equally as shocking to production as it was to me."
In the wake of the reunion controversy, Zanab penned a since-edited Instagram message both to Cole and the internet, saying she stands by everything she said.
When asked if he'd still pick Zanab knowing what he knows now, he replied, "Hell no," but added that they shared "a lot of awesome moments."
He also said that of the footage that aired, "I feel like it was a fair portrayal of who I am."
As for whether he's spoken with Zay since the reunion aired, he said, "I think I sent her one message, and she just liked it. She doesn't want to talk, obviously."
He added that he hasn't received any apologies from his other female co-stars who spoke out against him both before and after the Cuties scene aired.
"They're gonna believe their girl, right? Even after the reunion they told me, Raven [Ross] told me, she was like, 'Look, I just stand up for my girls.' So I get it," he said. "No, they're not in a hurry to do that. They're gonna ride or die for each other, and that's fine. That's OK. That's what good friends kinda do."
As for moving on in the romance department, Cole said he has not been on a date since the show wrapped filming in 2021.
"I am open to dating. I will go on dates. I just haven't yet. I have not dated," he said.
Love Is Blind season 3 and the reunion special are currently streaming on Netflix.
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