While the Love Is Blind 2 reunion special was marked by Abhishek "Shake" Chatterjee's outbursts—including saying that co-host Vanessa Lachey was the only person on set he found attractive—he has now apologized to his former fiancée on the show, Deepti Vempati, in a heartfelt Instagram video.
In the video, a solemn Chatterjee addresses the camera with an emotional apology. In the caption, he tags Vempati, and wrote "I'm ready to take accountability for my actions and be better."
"While I've reached out privately, I think it's also important I apologize publicly for the sake of your family and friends that I've upset as well," he added.
In the one-minute video, Chatterjee goes into more depth with his apology.
"I wanted to take this opportunity to, really just say sorry to a woman that I know I hurt. And Deepti, I am truly sorry for some of the things that I said. Things that honestly just could have been left unsaid or could have been said differently. Things that never should have been on national television. And during the time that we were filming, you were my best friend. And even though I knew our relationship wasn't gonna end in marriage, I didn't want what we had to end, either. I loved every second of it. And I'm so so sorry that I hurt you with my words. As the last thing I wanted from all this. I'm sorry," Chatterjee said.
Throughout Love Is Blind, Chatterjee revealed himself to be a controversial character. Though he did propose to Vempati, he frequently remarked on his lack of attraction to her. In the finale, Vempati decided to dump Chatterjee at the altar, explaining that she deserves to be with "somebody who knows for sure" if he wants to marry her.
Following the episode, Vempati's brother, Sunny, slammed Chatterjee for his comments and actions during the show, calling him a "loser" who "minimized" Deepti's life with "awful and cringeworthy comments about her."
"Good luck with the rest of your life, and stay the f*** away from my sister," Sunny Vempati concluded.
The reunion special was not light on Chatterjee-related drama, either. In the special, he accused the production of editing the show in a way to make him look like the villain. Show creator Chris Coelen disputed Chatterjee's claims, and told Variety that he wasn't afraid of the accusations, because the producers "want to give people the opportunity to say whatever they want to say."
"Every other member of the cast seems to think that he got a pretty good edit," Coelen added.
During the reunion, Chatterjee explained that he wasn't attracted to anyone on set—that is, except for Vanessa Lachey, who hosts the show with her husband, pop star Nick Lachey.
"Unfortunately, the only woman I'm attracted to here is Vanessa—and I wish I wasn't!" he said. "The point is, it's not a choice."
"And I've done nothing but berate you this entire time. That's a messed up relationship," Vanessa Lachey replied.
"That's what I'm saying, I don't want to. You don't choose. It's nature, baby. We're animals," Chatterjee said.
"No, you treat animals. We're human beings," Nick Lachey rejoined. "I can see now why you don't treat human beings."
"The vet community is not going to like that," Chatterjee added.
On Monday, Chatterjee took to Instagram to insult Nick Lachey with a vulgar term, and then accused Instagram of censorship for taking down his post.
"My last post about the reunion got taken down... Censor much? Didn't know we were living in Communist China," Chatterjee wrote in an Instagram Story.
Newsweek reached out to Deepti Vempati for comment.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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Matt Keeley is a Newsweek editor based in Seattle. His focus is reporting on trends and internet culture. He has ... Read more
