A star of the viral hit Netflix show “Love Is Blind” is coming in for backlash over her decision to leave her reality star groom-to-be at the altar because he wasn’t woke like her.
Stunning blonde oncology nurse Sara Carlton walked out of her wedding to Ben Mezzenga in a season 8 finale shocker because he didn’t have the same woke views as her on Black Lives Matter, gay marriage and “the vaccine.”
Both were dressed to the nines and moments away from tying the knot when Carlton, 29, said it wasn’t meant to be because she “always wanted a partner to be on the same wavelength” as her.
Mezzenga, 28, smiled awkwardly as Carlton delivered the news, and the camera panned around to numerous wedding guests whose mouths were open in disbelief at the last-second about-face.
“I’m sorry, but I don’t want that to be misunderstood. I still love you and everything about you is amazing. And I care about you so much,” Carlson offered in a half-hearted attempt at succor after delivering the news.
The reaction online was swift, largely condemning of Carlton and supportive of Mezzenga.
“Let’s find him a nice, conservative 20-something girl. He’ll look back and laugh at this,” wrote Fox News anchor Laura Ingraham in an X post sharing the painfully awkward scene.
“He dodged a bullet,” wrote Fox News’ Tomi Lahren in agreement.
“Her BS virtue signaling is so transparent. She doesn’t care about any of the stupid stuff she brought up, she just wants to be the center of attention,” said another, questioning Carlton’s motives for breaking off the reality TV engagement.
Even after it became clear that Carlton wasn’t going to marry him, Mezzenga tried to save the relationship.
“I care about you, too. And I love you so much, and I know I want to stay with you and keep growing our relationship if you’ll let me,” Mezzenga said.
“We’ll see,” Carlton said blithely as several guests could be heard uncomfortably laughing.
Before turning her back on her erstwhile fiancé, Carlton alludes to talks the pair has had about “the values” she holds “so close to my heart,” which she said ultimately led to her decision to bail on saying “I do.”
Moments later, sitting in the car with her mother and her sister, Carlton delves into some of the values, and how Mezzenga’s failure to toe the line wound up being a dealbreaker.
“I remember I asked him about Black Lives Matter, and I’m no expert, but when I asked him about it, he was like, ‘I guess I never really thought too much about it,” she said.
Season eight of “Love Is Blind” was shot in Minneapolis, where the Black Lives Matter movement began in 2022 with the death of George Floyd.
She claimed Mezzenga’s not having a strong opinion on the matter was particularly galling because it happened in their hometown.
“That affected me,” she added.
She also brought up the church Mezzenga attended as not having progressive enough views on “gender identity” for her liking.
“I asked him too, like, what his church’s views are, and he said he didn’t know. So then I watched a sermon online about sexual identity, and it was traditional,” she said as the SUV drove away from the church.
“I told that to Ben … he doesn’t really have that much to say about it, you know? I want someone to think about that stuff.”
In a final talking head sequence, Carlton rattles off a few more social issues she felt Mezzenga wasn’t sufficiently vocal about, including “Equality,” “religion” and “the vaccine,” an apparent reference to the COVID-19 jab.